SILFER LACED JVYANDOTTES. 



crosses. While anyone not a novice can see characteris- 

 tics of the above named breeds, no reliable witness appears 

 to satisfy that great interested jury composed of American 

 fanciers and poultrymen. 



"It is unreasonable to conclude that any combination 

 of bloc^d exists in Wyandottes. Some persons who worked 

 up the cross could be found. Where are they? 



"I give the result of some of my investigations: In the 

 January American Poultry Journal Mr. J. Y. Bicknell as- 

 serts that 'Wyandottes were bred in Oneida county, New 

 York, under another name twenty years ago. At that time 

 no one knew how, where or when they were originated. 

 We have no facts to show that they were produced by a 

 Hamburg or any other cross.' Mr. George F. Hull testifies: 

 'I got my first Wyandottes in 1872 from an aunt of mine 

 living in Nassau, N. Y. She got them from Sand Lake, 

 N. Y., but no one seems to know who took them there. 

 They probably came from the western part of the State, 

 where the first ones were, so far as I have been able to 

 trace them. They were an accidental cross, and no one 

 has so far been hold enough to claim having originated 

 them. In 1880 I wrote, inclosing stamp, to every one whose 

 address I could obtain who was then breeding them or had 

 ever bred them. I tried to find out from them what they 

 knew as to their ori- 

 gin, and all who an- 

 swered were frank 

 enough to say that 

 they knew no more 

 than I did. I believe 

 so far as absolute cer- 

 tainty as to the origin 

 of the Wyandottes is 

 concerned, it must al- 

 ways remain a specu- 

 lation.' Mr. L. Whit- 

 aker writes : 'Wyan- 

 dottes in 1872 were 

 known as Sebright Co- 

 chins. I first found 

 them at Honeoye, N. 

 Y. I thought at that 

 time I could see all of 

 their future popularity 

 and the result has 

 proved my prediction 

 true. In January, 1877, 

 I gave them the name 

 of American Sebrights. 

 Mr. F. A. Houdlette 

 was the first to sug- 

 gest Wyandotte. As 

 to their origin I made 

 strict search in the 

 ' years '72, '73 and '74, 

 and each inquiry 

 brought a different the- 

 ory, and on following 

 up the matter I would 

 find them all to be 

 mere guesses.' Mr. D. 

 W. Hooker writes; 'I 

 think no man living 

 knows when or how 

 Wyandottes originat- 

 ed. Some ten years 

 ago, when Kidder, of 

 Northampton, and my- 

 s e 1 f were breeding 

 them, then known as 

 Sebright Cochins, I 

 wrote wherever I could 



SILVBE WYANDOTTES. 



these years. So let us take all this late moonshine with 

 a grain of salt, giving the writers credit for nicely spun 

 stories, and get down to present-day facts — to one of Amer- 

 ica's greatest commercial and fancy fowls. 



The name Wyandotte seems to have been an accidental 

 one, as the breed when first recognized by the poultrymen 

 was known as American Sebrights, Sebright Cochins, Moon- 

 ees and by several other names, each section of the coun- 

 try where they were bred having a different name for them 

 — American Sebrights being the most common. This name 

 they- derived from their American origin and peculiar Se- 

 bright lacing, as up to the time the Wyandottes were dis- 

 covered there was no large breed of fowls having the pecu- 

 liar lacing of the Sebright Bantams. 



There ^yas some discussion as to what name they 

 should have when they were first talked of as a Standard 

 fowl and we are in doubt as to who flrSt suggested the 

 name of Wyandottes, but our oldest writers on the sub- 

 ject give the credit to Mr. Fred A. Houdlette, who was for 

 years one of our best breeders of this variety. 



The name Wyandotte was given, as we understand It, 

 in honor of a powerful tribe of American Indians that had, 

 in many instances, shown their friendship for the white 

 race. Some of the remnants of this tribe are still living, 



but whether they are 

 aware of the fact that 

 this fowl was chris- 

 tened in their honor 

 we are not able to say. 



The Early Silvers as I 

 Knew Them. 



In my first acquaint- 

 ance with Silver Wy- 

 andottes I knew them 

 as a breed nearly, if 

 not quite, as long in 

 back and body as our 

 Plymouth Rocks of to- 

 day. They were some- 

 what deeper in body 

 and the females car- 

 ried their breasts low- 

 er down, but the males 

 had a decidedly erect 

 carriage, many of 

 them equal to the In- 

 dian Games of today. 



In color they were 

 much darker than now, 

 the winning specimens 

 at our best shows hav- 

 ing very small dia- 

 mond shaped centers 

 that were nearly cov- 

 ered by the dark lac- 

 ing. There was no lac- 

 ing on body of either 

 males or females, and 

 this marking did not 

 appear for several 

 years after they were 

 admitted to the Stand- 

 ard. There was also 

 a constant fading out 

 of color and the mixed 

 white and brown pen- 

 ciling in back of fe- 



Winners of first and second prize as pullets, Kansas City Mo 1906 Note ™^^^^ '^^^ common, 

 long backs and narrow bodies. Shape was sacrificed for color at this period It ^ven among the win- 

 . ^ i^ "."^y within the past eight years that our Wyandotte breeders got down to ning birds, for more 



hear of them m order business and discarded the long-backed, narrow-bodied birds from their breed- than fiftpeii vAnrs nft 

 to trace them back, '"S P<^"^- ^'^-^^ '^^n the improvement has been little short of marvelous.-Bd. l" ^v, ^ -i 



er they were consid- 



hut the lines diverged 



Instead of converging and I at last gave it up as hopeless.' 



These testimonies from the early and prominent breed- 

 ers carry weight. If they had no light to give, where shall 

 we look for it? We may reason on probabilities, as Mr. 

 Felch does, trying to answer Mr. Bicknell. But one fact 

 would give us more aid and comfort than several assertions 

 or repeated sayings that this characteristic must have come 

 from this or that breed or mixing of breeds. 



If men who were directly interested in this breed 

 twenty-five or thirty years ago were unable to learn posi- 

 tively how they originated, it looks rather presumptuous 

 for some of our present-day theorists to try to make one 

 believe they have held the key to this important secret all 



T . . ^ ered a Standard fowl. 



In tact, there were but .few American fanciers able to 



ehmmate this defect until the English cross referred to 

 was used. 



While the English cross on American-bred birds im- 

 proved the clear white in centers of feathers, it lightened 

 the under-color of both sexes, and quite a few of the 

 chicks came pure white in plumage. While the Albinos 

 showed up m nearly every strain of Silvers we have any 

 record of they were by np means common until the Eng- 

 lish cross was used. Then we had them in great numbers. 

 From one mating of strictly choice birds there were nine 

 white chicks hatched in a litter of twenty-four showing 

 nearly 33 per cent. 



