TYPES, BREEDS, AND VARIETIES OF FOWLS 36 1 



by less careful breeders, tends to give the variety as a whole more of the for- 

 eign qualities than was intended, and to create between varieties differences 

 not in accord with the standards. Of the single-combed varieties, Brown Leg- 

 horns have had at various times infusions of blood of the Black-Red Pit Game ; 

 White Leghorns, infusions of the blood of the White Minorca ; Buff Leghorns, 

 as related, are a recent mixture ; the Ancona has had infusions of Minorca 

 blood. That the rose-combed varieties are originally indebted to the Ham- 

 burgs for their combs there is little doubt. As a result of these different in- 

 fusions of blood, rose-combed varieties generally show a little more of the 

 plumpness of the Hamburg and something of its delicacy. Single-Comb 

 Brown Leghorns are more rugged than others, except, perhaps, the blacks. 

 White Leghorns are generally a little larger than the other varieties. ^ White 

 Leghorns and Anconas lay larger eggs than the others. Buff Leghorns were 

 at first very rugged and laid a slightly tinted egg. After their first boom the 

 breeding of this variety was left largely in the hands of a few fanciers. Though 

 these made rapid improvement in color, something was lost in other directions. 



Pile Leghorns (single-comb) have a white-red color, pattern, the 

 black in the initial type being replaced by white and the red much 

 reduced in strength. The true place of such a combination in a 

 color series is not readily determined. Whether such a combina- 

 tion could be produced directly by elimination of color is not 

 known. The variety was made by combination, — by mating a 

 black-red with a white bird. It is bred only as a novelty. 



Duckwing Leghorns (single-comb) are of recent English ori- 

 gin, and are said to have been produced like Pile Leghorns, by 

 crossing Brown and White Leghorns. This is the tolerably well- 

 authenticated statement regarding the stock of the most promi- 

 nent early fanciers of the variety. According to other versions Pile 

 Game and Silver Gray Dorkings were crossed to produce the 

 Silver Duckwing Leghorn. The Silver Duckwing Leghorn has a 

 black-white color combination, the red of the black-red pattern in 

 the male being absent, leaving white. In the female the light- 

 brown ground becomes white, the dark-brown parts black, while 

 the salmon on the breast remains. In the Golden Duckwings the 

 male is of a black-bay, or buff, color pattern, the (Standard) 

 female so like the female of the silver subvariety that, as a matter 

 of fact, in English Duckwing Leghorns the silver females are 

 shown with both golden and silver males, and the golden females 

 not shown. While the Standard calls for white ground in silver 



^ This is true of general flocks ; it is not so noticeable in the showroom. 



