56 POULTRY PRODUCTION 



systematic crossing of the Golden Spangled Hamburg, Buff 

 Cochin, and Dark Dorking, while another variety of the 

 same breed, the Black Orpington, traces its decent from the 

 Black Minorca, the Black Plymouth Rock (a non-standard 

 variety), and clean-legged Langshans (which are disqualified 

 by the Standard). 



Varieties may and often do have a common ancestry, as, 

 for instance, the several Wyandottes. The Whites are muta- 

 tions from the Silvers, and the Goldens coimt American 

 Seabrights, the forerunners of the modern Silver Wyan- 

 dottes, among their ancestors. 



"Standard Bred" or "Pure Bred." — In poultry terminologj', 

 "pure bred," as used in reference to farm animals, is, techni- 

 cally at least, replaced by "standard bred." 



The term "pure bred" implies that a complete record of 

 the ancestry of the individual considered may be traced 

 back to the individuals that are looked upon as the foundation 

 animals of the breed, without admixture of alien blood, 

 beyond a certain clearly defined and very small maximum, 

 usually only in distant progenitors. 



The term " standard bred" implies that in breeding prac- 

 tice only those individuals have been mated which conform 

 closely to the "standard" description of the breed which 

 they represent, or which, as in double mating, will produce 

 individuals which conform closely to that description. 



"Vyhile technically there is no " pure-bred" poultry, in that 

 the standard breeds cannot be demonstrated by record 

 and pedigree to have been bred pure for many succeeding 

 generations, practically all the old-established breeds are 

 as much " pure bred" as any breed of farm animal that is as 

 many generations removed from its beginnings.^ 



American Standard of Perfection. — In poultry-breeding, 

 the American Standard of Perfection takes the place which 

 the herd book holds in the breeding of other farm animals. 

 It safeguards the qualities of the breed, not by the exclusion 



'The term "thoroughbred" is frequently used in describing standard- 

 bred poultry. "Thoroughbred" is a proper name and refers to a breed of 

 horses. It is as inaccurate to speak of Thoroughbred chickens as it would 

 be to refer to Plymouth Rock horses. 



