Plymouth Rocks. 
181 
and underlines, or as a well-known American Judge has written, like a ' basin above and a basin below.' The 
wings should be large, but well-rounded off, in conformity with the rest of the body, and covered by the 
hackles, both fore and aft. Covering such a bird should be a plumage with neither the tightness of an 
Indian Game, or the looseness of a Cochin, but a happy medium between both, and carrying rather more 
thigh feathers and fluff than the present-day Langshan. Comb single, medium in size, slightly larger than a 
Cochin's, fine in texture, straight and erect, with well-defined serrations. Beak thick, strong, and slightly 
curved. Eye hazel, large and prominent ; wattles and ear-lobes of medium size and length, well-rounded off. 
Given a bird of, or approaching to the above type, and his appearance in the Show pen will be dignified, 
stately, and grand, and in the yard or open very gay and active for such a big Fowl, and perfectly erect and 
upright in carriage. The hen should not be less than 8 lbs. in weight, and should follow the cock in 
proportion throughout in conformation with the following exceptions : — The tail may be slightly more 
upright, but not erect enough to form an angle at junction with the back, and should be very small, and 
rather pointed, and the back (as is natural with hens) may be just a trifle longer in proportion than that of 
the cock. Thus the top line of the female will be found hardly so circular as that of the male, but the 
underline should describe a perfect half-circle. The wings should be so rounded off, covered by breast and 
cushion feathers, and beautifully fitted to the body that when at rest they should, at the distance of half a chain, 
be almost invisible. 
" Coloin: 
" All Rocks should have bright yellow orange legs, feet, and beaks. The deeper the orange of the shanks 
the handsomer the effect. The comb, face, wattles, and ear-lobes should be bright red throughout. As 
regards plumage three colours are at the present time recognised in the Show pen — viz.. Barred Plymouth 
Rocks (these being the original Cuckoo variety, from which all the others have sprung). White Rocks, and 
Buff Rocks. Besides these three. Black Rocks will certainly be recognised in the near future, and also bred 
and shown as a distinct variety, and Golden Rocks are in the fusion pot, and in course of manufacture ; but 
what will eventually come out only time and patience can tell. 
The Barred Rock should be barred or cuckoo marked throughout the whole of the plumage, with 
alternate and regular bars or bands of blue and grey, each feather being barred from tip to butt. The 
barring should be far wider and more open than the pencilling of a Hamburg, and yet not so open as 
to be taken for a check. As a usual thing the markings of hens are larger than that of the cocks The 
correct shade of the barrings is dark basalt blue, barred with ash or French grey, so that the whole may be 
described as a beautiful steel-blue bird, the happy medium between the too dark shade of both sexes in 
most English strains, and the too light shade of the early importations of American cocks. Of late years, 
both in America and Australia, the above Standard of blue-grey colour has been adopted as correct. In 
England, a darker shade is the Standard, but the objections to this will be stated later on. 
" White Rocks should be snow white in plumage right throughout ■ the purer the white the better, and 
free- from ticking as possible. White Rocks in the States are said to be bred from white sports from the Barred, 
and this is very probably correct as regards the birds bred up to about six years ago, as any Whites brought here 
from America were imported in the eighties, and all showed the fault of too close in-breeding, being small, 
fine in bone, and weak in constitution ; and. as a white sport from Barred birds is a very ram avis 
(impossible in most strains), the American breeders, no doubt, had so few originals to work on that all the 
curses of in-breeding hung to the Whites they bred till somewhere about the commencement of the present 
decade. Though no importations of White Rocks have been made of recent years from the States, we learn 
that the variety has been improving very much of late, both as regards size and in popularity in U.S.A., and 
we have a shrewd suspicion that other White table breeds have been recently used in that country (as has 
been done here) to improve, by the elixir of entirely new blood, both the size and constitution of the old 
in-bred strains. White Rocks in England have been rather a misnomer as regards the birds bred and shown there 
as such, as it is quite evident to all that White Leghorn blood has been crossed in so heavily that English 
White Rocks are nothing more or less in type than big White Leghorns. A good many so-called White 
