Plymouth Rocks. 
187 
heavy bone, it is clearly palpable why all who have been authorities on Rocks nght from the inception of the 
breed have insisted on good bone. Then it is essential that with the true typical-shaped Rock body, thick, 
deep, and round, the legs as well as being especially heavy in bone, must be wide apart at hocks, and 
continue right down like two parallel bars set on end : but given this beautiful, big, rounded-nff, typical 
body, and good bone and correct set of legs are nearly always found in company. On the other hand, light 
bone nearly always accompanies bad type and its almost certain attendants — weak constitution, long sloping 
backs, shallow chests, and narrow cow-hocks, or knock-knees (meaning, also, contracted breasts, unable to 
carry a decent quantity of breast meat). Remember always that sound and strong constitution should 
always be the first consideration of a breeder. Establish this in your yards, and you can always sell with a 
clear conscience ; stick to it, and your strain must soon obtain a reputation that will pay far better than 
in-breeding for some unimportant Fancy Points, and producing thereby birds that, though, perhaps, 
beautifully marked, when exposed to rough weather, or forced to liustle for their food for a few days, will 
almost certainly break down in health, and soon die. AUo, remember that the breaddi, depth, and 
width of breast, allowing plenty of lung room, wide hocks, and big-boned straight legs are the surest 
indications possible of sound and healthy constitution. Crooked breasts in Rocks, like all other weighty 
breeds, are often caused in chickenhood by narrow and high perches. Therefore, l)reeders should always 
locate these close to the ground, and na er under j inches in widlli. But if breasts decidedly crooked, and 
especially across the centre, and at the same time accoinpanied by narrow hocks, it is a common sign of 
in-breeding and weak constitution, and should then be in nearly every case a disqualification. AV shape, 
size, and set-on of tail : This is, of course, naturally a point in synmietry, and, including it, the section in 
the Standard has credit for 30 points ; but, prior to the formation of the Rock Club, some breeders here 
seemed to have a very hazy idea of what a Rock's tail should be, and the Club felt that it was so emphatic- 
ally necessary to impress upon breeders what should be the correct tail that they decided to make a 
sub-section of it. 
" Five years ago, big, erect tails, forming a sharp right angle at junction with back, were so frightfully 
common, that some people who had not studied Rock lore, but who believed themselves experts, actually 
asserted that this was a very unimportant point, as long as the colour was right. Certainly, they belonged to 
the school who always defended the type showing sure signs of ^Mediterranean blood, of which these high 
erect tails were one of the trade marks. Had these same gentlemen known that the leading American 
authorities, ever since the breed came into existence, have all united in insisting on a small conical-shaped 
tail, fitting into back with a circular sweep ; and that the eminent English breeder who edited Mr. Joseph 
Wallace's American pamphlet on Rocks, was emphatic in backing up his opinion on this subject, and at the 
same time expressed his horror of a tail forming an angle at junction with the back, almost going so far as to 
label it a disqualification when so shaped; they, no dou!)t, would have recognised their errors a little 
earlier, and less to their cost, than by having it forced home to them by the almost continued rejection of 
their erect-tailed specimens by the Club Judges. The monstrosities of a few years ago have almost totally 
disappeared from the Show pens nowadays, but one or two judges are not so severe as they might be on 
this defect still. They should keep in mind that it is radically wrong as regards the true type, and handicap all 
bad-tailed birds accordingly. Certainly, tails are wonderfully on the improve, especially in males, which were 
always worse than females in the past ; but there is room for much improvement yet in a very large majority 
of cases, and I would sooner place a bird with a mixed coloured tail than one too big, and carried in the 
wrong direction. Hens, as a rule, are far better in tail than cocks, but being so much smaller in that 
appendage when they are wrong, the defect is not nearly so noticeable ; but that is no reason why Judges 
should not be equally as severe with a glaring case in hens as in cocks. Progeny, with very few 
exceptions, get their shape from the female, and in the breeding pen true type is actually of more importance 
in the hen than in the cock. Very few hens carry their tails so high as to form a sharp acute angle at junction with 
the back. In such cases, absolute disqualification should ensue, as they are almost worthless for the breeding 
pen. With females, a common fault is a big, high, full tail (generally known as fan-tailed hens) though circular 
