438 
The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 
fowl with admirably useful qualities, combined with the beautiful laced marking, and a handsome 
shape. It very rapidly became popular, and a club for it was formed ; but it was found, and 
is still found, a very difficult fowl to breed fairly true. We have seen many yards, and can only 
describe the average produce of nearly all, before weeding, as awful — sooty, smutty, cloudy, 
splashea and mottled birds, which looked the veriest mongrels, and fairly laced birds being few 
and far between. Only a very few did better in the earlier stages, and even the first classes were 
poor spectacles. For this there were several reasons. Good lacing is difficult to breed at the best ; 
even old-established Sebrights being only kept up by skilful selection. The Wyandottes were 
so recently compounded that this difficulty was felt ten-fold. Then, again, many yards were 
undoubtedly crossed with Hamburgh blood, as shown by Hamburgh combs and white eggs and 
more slender make ; and all such birds made it worse. Still again, many did not know exactly 
what to breed for ; and still more had no idea at all of the general laws according to which the 
special laced marking always has to be bred. And, last of all, breeders and judges both gene- 
rally went for a false standard, quite upsetting that established by American experience, and 
leading to altogether wrong mating. 
A few years have made a considerable difference in all these things, and it is now possible 
to find yards which breed a respectable number of laced specimens, and to point out the direc- 
tion in which breeding should be directed for this to be done. There is still a great tendency 
towards spangled bars in the cockerels, and spangled or crescent-feathered pullets ; all such 
must be rejected in breeding, also all hens pencilled, or spotted, or “ sooted ” in the centre of 
the feather. These measures are obvious ; but the proper means of combating the constant 
and general tendency to breed too light, and to produce spangled pullets with light fluff, do not 
seem so generally known ; and here again harm has been done by the stupid English method 
of “ matching ” for a pen. Hence cockerels have been selected with breasts laced as much 
like pullet-lacing as possible. Such birds may be exhibited, but they are not fit for breed- 
ing ; and if this matching be persisted in, the sexes will have to be bred from different pens, 
which is a great pity with such a breed as this. The American matching is quite different, 
and follows the true breeding requirements. In that standard the cock’s breast is not laced like 
the hen’s, but is much darker, being defined as black, with only medium-sized white centre, tapering 
to a point , in other words, the lacing is so broad and large as to cover all but the centre of the 
feather. It is these darker-breasted cockerels which breed good chickens, of course seeing that the 
white ground is as sharp and clear as possible, the boundary of black and white being sharp, and not 
clouded or shaded together. But besides this, birds must be selected which are dark in the 
hinder fluff, which should be only slightly powdered with grey, not a silvery colour. And 
finally, the under-fluff of the plumage must be studied, and breeders selected from those which 
are a slaty-grey, and not white in the under-colour. This peculiarity of breeding is doubtless 
derived from the Brahma descent, and is very important. 
A great deal of English breeding, and even the first adopted “standard,” is further wrong in 
selecting hens with back, and even cushion, laced the same as on the breast. This leads to white 
in tail on the one hand, and breasts only crescent-marked or spangled on the other. The back 
and saddle should be laced considerably heavier, particularly the latter. 
This being the true method of breeding, other difficulties will still have to be encountered • 
for this proper selection of what we may call “ dark ” blood will bring out its own tendencies to 
spots and splashes and peppering over the body of the feather. These must be guarded against 
by steadfastly rejecting as breeders all but clear-grounded birds. But not only is this a com- 
paratively simple and clear task, but this particular difficulty in breeding is much the least of the 
