HISTORY OF ANCONAS 
47 
which are well filled. One of the most 
remarkable records to their credit was 
at the Rand Show of 1920 when a hen, 
the property of Mr. George Dagg, won 
the best hen on Show with 1500 birds 
competing, which is certainly a re¬ 
markable record for a bird of the Med¬ 
iterranean class. 
There is a S. African standard for 
Anconas but at shows it is just as well 
to know who the judge is to be, as 
there are various ideas as to the cor¬ 
rect mottling. The standard says 
“evenly mottled,” and the Government 
experts judge this according to the 
English Standard. All other judges 
however are more in favor of a darker 
bird and more like the present Ameri¬ 
can standard. The angle of the tail, 
etc., generally follow the English stan¬ 
dard. Personally, I favour the darker 
mottling, as when you take the b rd 
tipped white in every feather the pro¬ 
geny always throw far too white, and 
you have to introduce dark cockerels 
to balance up. 
I hope this short article will give 
readers an idea of how the breed is 
doing here. The two principal breeds 
in S. Africa so far have been the White 
Leghorn and the Black Orpington. 
There is a lot of leeway to be made up, 
but in Anconas you have a bird quite 
capable of doing it besides which they 
possess qualities that the other two 
breeds lack. What we chiefly want is 
more boosting. Nearly all the breed¬ 
ers out here take up several breeds, 
which to my mind is a mistake. They 
then simply supply what the public 
asks for instead of picking out what 
they believe to be the best breed and 
boosting it as much as they can. The 
complexities of scientific poultry breed¬ 
ing make it quite impossible for one 
person to develop satisfactorily half 
a dozen or more breeds. 
For commercial work I cannot im¬ 
agine a more suitable bird. The writer 
has the largest Ancona plant in Africa, 
and close on a thousand birds are 
running. Quite apart from any quali¬ 
ties of heavy laying etc., the chief 
point in their favour to my mind is 
their extraordinary stamina and vital¬ 
ity. The smaller the death rate the 
greater the profit, and sickness spells 
more failures than anything else. 
In conclusion may I say how lucky 
I think the breed is to have such a 
pushing enthusiast as Mr. Van Hoesen 
to boost it. We could do with him 
over here. 
I have had great assistance in writ¬ 
ing this article from Mr. J. Eaves, the 
Secretary of the S. A. Ancona Club, to 
whom I am much indebted. 
