HISTORY OP ANCONAS 
75 
Ancona B anfams 
Ancona Bantams have been bred 
for several years in England, and the 
writer arranged with a leading Eng¬ 
lish breeder to ship some to this coun¬ 
try. But after months of delay the 
breeder advised that he was unable to 
ship any birds. That was in 1921 and 
1922. 
In 1923 Frank Stier of Cleveland 
attempted to import some rose and 
single comb Ancona Bantams, but 
without success. 
We have heard that previous to 
these dates there were Ancona Ban¬ 
tams in both the United States and 
Canada, but we never saw them ad¬ 
vertised, pictured or exhibited. 
Thomas Foy of West Winfield, Pa., 
is the first breeder who actually had 
Ancona Bantams in this country, to 
handle on a commercial basis. His 
wife visited in England late in 1922 
and secured birds of both single and 
rose comb variety, and Mr. Foy bred 
some pens of each before he accepted 
any orders for eggs or birds. We had 
a number of snap shots of his birds, 
and hoped to have engravings of An¬ 
cona Bantams made for this book, 
but none of the pictures were good 
enough for the purpose. 
We also had considerable corres¬ 
pondence with Ancona Bantam breed¬ 
ers in England and Wales, but they 
also were unable to supply pictures. 
It may be said that Ancona Bantams 
are yet in an undeveloped and unfin¬ 
ished state, and it will be at least a 
few years before we can expect them 
to become refined and established, and 
bred very generally. 
Without question, a mottled Ban¬ 
tam of either comb would be very at¬ 
tractive and popular, and we hope the 
pioneers in producing and perfecting 
them will be successful, which they 
undoubtedly will, by exercising skill 
and persistency. 
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