134 



POULTRY PRODUCTION 



istics. This is simply one way of expressing the desirability 

 of a decidedly feminine appearance. This is likely to be 

 most heavily marked in those hens which lay most heavily. 

 Evidences of strong masculinity on the part of the males is 

 equally desirable. Great gallantry, fearlessness in fighting, 

 and a persistence in the crowing challenge, and the sidling 

 strut before the hens, taken together, denote sexual strength. 

 The cock-crowing contests in Belgium are not so far wrong 

 as a basis for the selection of breeding males. 



Fig. 68 



Barred Plymouth Rock, female. Record, 98 eggs. Notice wedge-shaped 

 conformation. (Courtesy of J. W. Parks, Altoona, Pa.) 



The Meat Type. — It would seem, perhaps, that with 

 meat an important by-product some attention should be 

 given the deepness of muscling o^•er the breast or the thick- 

 ness of flesh over the thighs. As a matter of fact, the bird 

 that enjoys the robustness of perfect health, or that is a good 

 performer at the nest, will nearly always be found to be well 

 meated. A laying hen is seldom thin. 



