HISTORY OF ANCONAS 
49 
Notes on the Standard 
B$j L. W. Riic*.<?b.iic.r 
There seems to be a good deal of 
opinion among Ancona men that the 
recent changes in the Standard are 
going to give us a light bird. Some 
who have been preaching against the 
dark birds being given ribbons in the 
shows welcome the change as favoring 
the light specimen. Others have grave 
misgivings that their work of years 
is all to naught; and the advocates of 
the dark birds tell us we will have no 
more refined beauty, but a motley, 
open colored bird. Now there is really 
nothing to worry about. We are not 
going to have light Anconas, nor is any 
breeder who has good stuff going to be 
obliged to start over. The 1923 change 
is just another step toward the ideal 
for which breeders have been striving 
for years. Back in 1915 the Standard 
was made one feather in five tipped 
with white. This was done at the 
time to do away with the open colored 
birds that were very prevalent in the 
show room. Breeders have succeeded 
in overcoming this, and in so doing 
have developed the small tipping that 
is so beautiful. They have found also 
that one feather in five with a small 
tip give a very dark bird, and their 
most beautiful specimens are those 
with the fine tips and plenty of them. 
Now you breeders who think your 
work of years is wasted, pick up your 
best birds, those with the small tips, 
and see how many feathers you find on 
them that are totally black. We find 
that the most beautiful specimens are 
closer to having a tip on every feather 
than every other feather. Relatively 
speaking, the real exhibition Ancona of 
today is a dark bird. The new Stan¬ 
dard calls for a very small, clean, white 
tip on every second feather. Can you 
imagine anything more beautiful than 
a glossy greenish-black surface gen¬ 
erously sprinkled over with tiny snow¬ 
flakes? That’s the modern Ancona. 
No breeder should lose sight of the 
Standard. The most deplorable con¬ 
dition in the poultry world from a 
breeding standpoint is the lack of ap¬ 
preciation and often utter disregard 
of the Standard type and breed char¬ 
acter among poultrymen and “utility 
breeders.” The various popular breeds 
of poultry first made good in a com¬ 
mercial way as bred to the standards 
of the old days, before there were any 
“utility breeders.” The Standard of 
Perfection itself is a production stan¬ 
dard as well as a standard of beauty, 
and whenever there are changes made 
‘n type they are made in favor of bet¬ 
ter production. The Ancona especially 
among all other types is one that can 
be bred to perfection with the as¬ 
surance that highest production can 
at the same time be attained if the 
vigor, habits and performance are at 
the same time watched. Unlike some 
other breeds, we do not find among An¬ 
conas Standard-bred strains and “Util¬ 
ity” strains. We find only Standard 
Anconas, Look up the various ad¬ 
vertisements of high records, official 
and otherwise. You will find these 
same strains winning in the shows. 
