SILVER LACED WYANDOTTES. 



The Standard description of ' Wyandottes in shape is 

 one of the best in the American Standard of Perfection — 

 in fact, there is but one better in the book, the one re- 

 ferred to being Cochins, this being decidedly the best word 

 description ever framed for any breed or variety of fowls, 

 due to the fact that it was framed by men who knew what 

 constituted perfection in this breed and !had no selfish ax 

 to grind. 



The present Wyandotte Standard was framed by three 

 of the best posted Wyandotte judges in this country — J. H. 

 Drevenstedt, the late T. E. Orr and W. C. Pierce. But this 

 committee was handicapped in a ■way by being compelled 

 to report to a general committee, and some changes were 

 made by this general committee, but nothing that in any 

 great measure affected the general text of the book. 



No one thing has been so detrimental to the American 

 Standard of Perfection as the persistent efforts of some 

 members of the American Poultry Association to constantly 

 tinker with the work that from a fancier's standpoint they 

 know absolutely nothing about. No one not thoroughly 



varieties with shape charts, as the shape description is the 

 same in all of them and the discounts in Silver Wyandottes 

 would fall equally as heavy on any other variety. 



In color the Silvers and Goldens can be handled under 

 one head, adding only a few separate illustrations to cover 

 some few defects found in the one that are not prevalent 

 in the other. 



Symmetry and shape will be discounted in the Silver 

 Wyandottes only as the same cuts will answer for all other 

 varieties. 



We shall now take up the breed, beginning with the 

 Silvers, and follow it through in the order they were ad- 

 mitted to the Standard. 



It is well to remember that absolute perfection will 

 never be attained in the breeding or illustrating of standard 

 poultry. There will always be something lacking In our 

 choicest specimens, and no picture, no matter how well it 

 fills the eye, is within itself perfection. A line there, a 

 touch here and a little more harmony in the forming of the 

 several sections could be added to the best illustrations 



Fig. ]. 

 STANDARD SILVER LACED WYANDOTTE MALE. 



posted on the breeding and judging of fowls has any busi- 

 ness on the Revision Board. 



The text of the experts should have careful proof- 

 reading by some one who has given this line of work years 

 of study and sufficient time should be allowed them to see 

 that every change in the description of a section, in order 

 to make it grammatically correct, does not in any way alter 

 the meaning of the original description. 



A Standard for the popular breeds, gotten out in this 

 way, will need general revision not oftener than once in 

 ten years. 



In this work of describing and valuing defects it is 

 our aim to go far enough to make it plain to the beginner, 

 and if some descriptions seem to the fancier to be too long- 

 drawn out, please bear in mind that there was a time in 

 your own life when this same description might have saved 

 you many days of worry and some money as well. 



In the outlines it will not be necessary to illustrate all 



that have been made or will be made. Constant study of 

 the best photos we have in our office of the winnin-g speci- 

 mens' that we have found in America's leading shows, in 

 order to harmonize nature's best in all of them still leaves 

 room for improvement. A line no thicker than a pencil 

 mark makes a radical difference in an outline. Only those 

 who live day in and day out in an artist's studio have the 

 faintest idea of the hard, patient work that is required to 

 furnish the readers with the illustrations that are found 

 in this book. For years the writer and the artist have 

 worked together, each in his own way trying to help the 

 other In submitting his work here we do so believ- 

 ing that the outlines and color plates are the best that 

 ever appeared or are likely to appear for years to come, 

 and in this work Mr. Burgess and the writer have striven to 

 give to the poultrymen of America a book that will live 

 alter we are gone, and if we have succeeded in this we will 

 teel well repaid for the work we have tried to do right. 



