198 
The Australasian Book of Poultry. 
Ainsworth birds, and won twelve first prizes at Sydney Shows the first five years of the breed. Mr. Hope 
was very successful with Rocks, and showed a tip-top team at the Melbourne Show in 1889. This team has 
seldom been surpassed by any exhibitor since. The ' Hope Hen,' as she was called in Victoria, had a 
grand Show career, and was one of the best coloured big- hens we have seen, being a real ' true blue,' and 
very decided in tlie barrings. She was bred by Mr. Maxfield from Hope eggs, and afterwards passed into 
the possession of Messrs. Franklin Bros., who gained many successes with her, the only hens that were ever 
placed before her being, I believe, the celebrated ' Champion Tremlett ' and ' Champion Pet.' At the '92 
Melbourne Show it took Mr. Pemell, who was Judging, a very long time to separate the ' Hope Hen ' and 
' Champion Tremlett,' and the former was in such beautiful bloom that on that occasion no injustice would 
have been done had she been placed in front of the Great Champion. At the end of the eighties and early 
in the nineties Mr. Pemell won a great many cards with Rocks on the N.S.W. side, but his strain was 
inclined to be a bit too dark in colour. 
"Following close on Mr. Poore's heels in Victoria, Mr. Fred. Thonemann started importing and breeding 
Rocks on a large scale, and amongst others had sent out to him the Palace winner (Eng.) of '86. This 
cock was the sire of Champion 'The Czar,' which Mr. Thonemann bred from the second prize Palace 
ben of the same year. In '88 the ' Czar ' was Champion as a cockerel, and in '89 won the same distinction 
as a cock. He was a beautifully-coloured bird, especially blue on the back and saddle (where so many 
otherwise good-coloured birds fail) ; in fact, he was about the best I can remember in that particular, 
and, as is very uncommon, retained his wonderful top-colour right into old age. Though good in 
shape of body, he was a trifle too close in hocks, and all his cockerels were so distinctly faulty in this 
respect (the majority worse than their sire) that breeders were at one time inclined to consider him 
a failure as a sire, even though he stamped his own grand colour into nearly every chicken ; but 
when his sons and grandsons were mated to big wide-hocked, Yankee blood hens of the Poore strain, the 
progeny, with but an occasional exception, came wide and strong in legs, while at the same time inheriting to 
a marked degree the wonderful good even colour of their ancestor, the old ' Czar.' Mr. Thonemann 
imported from four different English breeders, viz., Messrs. T. Lambert, C. Jarret, C. Perry and R. Stacey, 
but only continued breeding for a few years. He bred several good Show birds, but without a doubt ' The 
Czar ' was a long way the best bird he ever owned, and nearly all the best-coloured birds, of both sexes, of 
the past two or three years in Victoria can trace back to 'The Czar' either on one side or the other of their 
parentage, and every Champion cock or cockerel since my sale in 1891 (with the exception of 'Skipper 
Hall,' which I bred from Yankee blood on both sides), are direct descendants of his grandson ' Champion 
Toff,' the best sire of cockerels yet proved in Australia. Thus it will be seen what a phenomenal success, 
especially in the male line, the 'Czar' blood has after all turned out to be, though pronn'sing at the first 
(through the hereditary taint of weak hocks) to be a comparative failure ; but too much credit cannot be 
given to the grand type of those hens of the Poore strain, which nicked so well, and worked such a 
transformation with ' Czar ' stock, by adding robustness and good bone to the progeny. 
" This happy blending of ' Czar ' blood males with Poore strain females was one of the earliest of my 
successful experiments in Rock breeding, and produced a wonderful lot of chickens in 1890, which swept the 
board in 1891, and which, I sold fur close on to £,200 for under 30 birds, including with the three old hens, 
18 sold under the hammer at an average of ^7 per bird, the highest average yet obtained at a Poultry 
auction in Australia ; and among the above 30 birds were the young sires from which Messrs. Franklin Bros, 
and Mr. Maxfield have since bred such high-class birds. 
"The year 1889 saw another importation of American blood, Mr. J. C. Anderson being the consignee, 
the females of this lot being very similar to those of Mr. Poore's in their shade of colour, but not so 
extraordinary in their size. Mr. Anderson sold out to Mr. Herbert Greaves, and he to Mr. Whicker. One 
of the hens, ' Columbia,' won first at the Exhibition Show, 1890. She was remarkable for the clearness and 
distinctness of her barring all over. I bought her from Mr. Whicker in August, '91, to mate with 'Young 
Toff,' and she afterwards passed into Mr. Maxfield's possession when he bought the balance of my 
barred birds. 
