Plymouth Rocks. 
191 
where a contest is close the least sign of ticking is a big discount. W^liite cocks, when running out, will 
tan very early in the season on both back and hackles, and in pullets and hens the hackle feathers also ; there 
are, however, some birds which possess a natural light yellow tint right throughout, somewhat similar in shade 
to that of the Pekin duck. This Pekin shading must be stamped out. These yellow or tinted birds turn 
a bright orange on the top colour when exposed to the sun for any length of time. Birds naturally of this 
colour can easily be detected by opening the plumage and examining the under-feathers, which will, if faulty 
in this respect, be almost a clear yellow right down to the skin. 
'• Cniulitiini, 10 Points. — This is an important factor in the Show pen, as no bird has a right to be 
exhibited unless fit and well. One of the principal objects in holding Shows is to bring before the notice of 
the public the perfection pure stock can be brought to by careful selection, mating, and breeding, 
and their vast superiority over the ordinary domestic specimens, which are bred and reared anyhow ; and, 
never mind how good a man's stock may be, if he is careless, and pens them dirty or in bad condition, he is 
assisting to defeat that object, and deserves to suffer accordingly, and it is only justice to the exhibitor 
who is painstaking and shows his stock in top condition and full of bloom, thus helping on the success of 
the Show, for the Judge to give him due credit for his efforts. Birds suffering from unmistakable 
contagious diseases are not unknown at our Shows, and in such cases birds disqualified on this head should 
earn their owner's disqualification also for a period of at least twelve months. 
" Having finished the dissection of the Standard, I shall conclude with a few hints for the guidance of 
Rock breeders. Foremost and before everything else in your yards see that you have a strain with a good 
and sound constitution. Remember that sound constitution in a strain means hardiness and health, and 
consequent ability to fill the egg basket far quicker than a weak or delicate strain (never mind how beautiful), 
that will turn sickly at the least hardship ; and also at the same time ability to lay on and carry a large 
amount of succulent flesh. Compelled as I am, in my calling, to travel constantly in the country 
districts, I have ceased to wonder at the cry of the Farmer that Poultry won't pay. \\'hy, if they paid as 
little attention to the breeding of their horses, cattle, and sheep, as they do to their Poultry, they would soon 
find themselves in the Insolvency Court. In-breeding is the curse of 90 per cent, of the Poultry flocks of 
Australia, and to one who has good, healthy Fowls, it is a sickening sight to visit Farm after Farm, and find 
a lot of in-bred sickly weeds, so in-bred and in-bred for generations that they have gone back 4 or 5 lbs. in 
weight, and deteriorated in every character. Twisted and undershot beaks, roach backs, crooked shallow 
breasts, wry tails, cow hocks, spindle legs, light bone, and flat slab-sides. These are the sure accompaniments 
and signs of in-breeding, and with all these death's-heads present in his flock of Poultry, and every specimen 
as narrow as a rail, and their blood chock full of hereditary roup and tuberculosis, the Farmer wonders and 
complains that they don't pay. He might as well breed his Clydesdales down to the size of Shetlands, and 
then just as reasonably expect them to draw a two-ton load, as he should expect his in-bred Fowls to fill the 
egg basket. Every student of breeding knows that constant in-breeding limits production, and it is against 
Nature to suppose that an in-bred flock can be good layers. A\'ith an almost perfect climate for the purpose, 
the South-eastern portion of Australia should be in a position to rival France in the production of table 
Poultry for the English market. Our Governments are to be commended for the money they have expended, 
and their honest endeavours to establish an export Poultry trade on a sound basis ; but this can never be, 
until the evil of in-breeding is tackled, and stamped out at its very root. Really practical experts have 
been appointed to act at the freezing stores, their business being, to block Poultry unfit for consumption 
being exported ; but if the [xnccrs that be can only be induced to show the Farmers (the class who 
raise fully 75 per cent, of the Poultry of this country) where they are wrong, and if they won't breed 
healthy Fowls, deny them the right of keeping Poultry altogether, our export turnover might soon 
be increased fourfold, and the experts at the stores find far less rejects than they do with the 
present limited supply. If a dairyman or a grazier let his herd of cattle get as full of Tuberculosis, 
as pretty well half of the Farmer's Poultry flocks are of the same disease and roup, it would simply spell 
ruin to any man of moderate means. It was always bad business to let a man's stock deteriorate till 
