APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING 523 



Fig. 545. Single-Combed White Leghorn cock 1 



sharply defined striping in 

 the hackle, a little ticking 

 (but not pronounced strip- 

 ing) in the saddle, tail coverts 

 with clean white lacings, the 

 surface black in every sec- 

 tion jet black, and the sur- 

 face white a clean white ; 

 the females should not be 

 quite so strong in color. 

 Females with black or nearly 

 black wings will usually show 

 poor striping in the hackle, 

 the black stripe too wide 

 (breaking the white edge at 

 the tip of the feather), and 

 the white margin flecked 

 with black (smutty). It is 

 better to select both males 

 and females first for good 

 striping in the hackle, and 



not reject for white in the flights unless it is excessive. In general there is a 



degree of correlation in black 



sections (a weak wing accom- 

 panying weakness of color in 



the main tail feathers and in 



the hackle), but this is not 



regular. 



To produce the now fash- 

 ionable darker type, without 



white in the upper webs of 



flight feathers and with strong 



striping in the saddles of 



the males, selection must be 



made for these points, with 



(at present) some sacrifice in 



cleanness of surface white. 



Whether it is possible ulti- 

 mately to produce the color 



pattern with striping on the 



backs of males and clean 



white surface on the backs of 



females is debatable — and 



doubtful. Such specifications 



Fig. 546. Single-Combed White Leghorn 

 cockerel, extra good breast ^ 



^ Photograph from owner. Elm Poultry Yards, Hartford, Connecticut. 



