FANCIERS’ JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 
121 

Correspondence. 
(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
Epitor FANCIERS’ JOURNAL. 
Dear Sir: I read with interest Mr. I. K. Felch’s article 
on the Light Brahma Standard, in No. 2 of the Journal, 
but I beg leave to differ with him on one or two points at 
least. He says: ‘‘If the Standard is revised or altered at 
all, I suggest that in the department I refer to especially, 
size should read weight, and that five points be taken off 
and added to legs and feathering thereof, excepting the 
feathering of the middle toe, to which I most emphatically 
object.”’ 
Now, Mr. Editor, as a Light Brahma fancier, I most 
emphatically object to the substitution of the word weight 
for size, simply for this reason: the exhibitor whose fowls 
are gorged and fatted so as to attain the greatest weight, 
must, of necessity, receive the highest award. For ex- 
ample: A and B are two rival breeders, their fowls being 
nearly equal. A, being desirous of preserving the vigor 
and stamina of his stock, pursues a judicious course of feed- 
ing. B, on the other hand, does not care for his fowls, but 
is bound to have the premium, cost what it will, stuffs and 
gorges his birds, so as to make them weigh more than A’s, 
to their utter ruin, and bears off the palm. 
With regard to leg-feathering, I say, let the Light 
Brahmas be heavily feathered on the outside and middle 
toes; and I insist they can be so bred without vulture-locks, 
to which I object as strongly as Mr. Felch does. Profuse 
leg and toe-feathering, I think, is one of the chief beauties 
of the Light Brahma; and I see no reason why they should 
not have it, as well as the Dark Brahmas, Buff Cochins, or 
any of their Asiatic brethren. If five points extra are 
given to legs and feathering thereof, give it to the bird with 
feathers on its middle toes, be it hen or cock. - 
In his description of the body, Mr. Felch says: ‘‘ Body 
round, carrying the breast well forward.’’ Now, as far ‘as 
carrying the breast is concerned, I agree with him; but 
about the body being round, I do not. For example: on 
page 69, chapter iii, of The Brahma Fowl, Wright says: 
‘¢ The breast-bone or keel should be deep and well down be- 
tween the thighs.’’ ,This would give the bird a broad and 
deep appearance. I think it should read, “‘ Body wide and 
deep.’’ This, I think, is the true shape of a Brahma, which 
every true fancier of Light Brahmas will insist on main- 
taining. 
Hoping that Mr. Felch will not be offended at me for 
thus criticizing his article, I am 
Your obedient servant, 
W. EH. Frower. 
SHOEMAKERTOWN, December 30, 1873. 

(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
Mr. Jos. M. WADE: 
I have to thank you for the two first numbers of your ex- 
cellent Journal, and take pleasure in contributing my mite 
towards its support. 
Dr. Morgan’s articles are of the right strain, and well 
calculated to encourage the amateur fancier; and the photo- 
lithographs of Mr. Chandler will doubtless prove as attrac- 
tive to the columns of the Journal as have the illustrations 
of Nast to Harper’s Weekly. 
I am pleased to see such a variety of articles from dif- 
ferent pens. This is as it should be. Fanciers must con- 
tribute brains, as well as money, in order to make the Jour- 
nal a success; and an exchange of experiences and ideas are 
highly conducive to the healthy action of the former. 
I have been thinking of Allen Carter’s article upon 
Rumpless Fowls, and hope they will not be noticed in the 
American Standard. A few weeks since I had a pair of 
rumpless Light Brahmas, and consequently a chance to 
propagate a new variety, but sensibly concluded to do no 
such thing; so I killed the cock, and, upon examination, 
found the os coccygens entirely wanting, and in its place 
had grown a fibrous tumor the size of a chestnut, which, I 
presume, in this case, had something to do with the non- 
development of the terminal bones of the vertebral column. 
Now, either some such pathological occurrence has pre- 
sented in the progenitors of all rumpless fowl, or it has 
resulted from the same cause as hare-lip, cleft-palate, or 
bifid spine in human beings, namely, an insufficiency of 
vital power in procreation, or a lack of vital power in the 
embryo or mother to develop it into a perfect being. Why, 
then, should we seek to fix this worthless characteristic 
upon any variety? for it will be but a sub-variety at best. 
Certainly not for its beauty, nor utility. My opinion is 
that we had better cultivate the valuable traits we have in 
so many of our present breeds, and of which we have variety 
enough, even for a person of vitiated taste. 
Yours respectfully, 
EH. W. Goopwin, M.D. 
Moro, Mapison Co., Iuu., February 5, 1874. 

(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
JosrpH M. Wapz, Esq. 
Dear Sir: Can you, through the Journal, give a novice 
some information? My hens have lately shown signs of 
distress in a peculiar way—new at least to me. I first 
noticed a favorite Leghorn Hen on the perch in the morn- 
ing, staggering along, occasionally kicking backward, pre- 
cisely as if there was an invisible string holding the foot. 
After taking her off the perch, I found her ready to eat and 
drink, but could not walk three steps without sitting down; 
she, however, laid her usual egg during the day, and now 
seems all right again. Since, several of my pullets have 
been affected the same way. None of the cocks have suf- 
fered. What can it be? ie 


(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
EAR-LOBES OF WHITE LEGHORNS. 
Mr. Epiror: 
I have not heard whether any change was made at the 
Buffalo Convention to revise the ‘*Standard of Excellence ”’ 
in respect to White Leghorn fowls, and I do not know that 
any special change was necessary, except that it should be 
decided, one way or the other, whether a white ear-lobe is 
to be the standard, or a cream or straw-color. I breed both 
kinds, and find invariably that those with the cream- 
colored lobes are the hardiest. I think it is noticeable in 
our exhibitions that those with pure white lobes are most 
liable to disease. 
Mr. I. K. Felch, well known to the poultry fraternity, 
and who bred White Leghorns for fifteen years, in an article 
to the Poultry World, Vol. II, No. 10, says: ‘‘ But when 
we go back and claim that the pure white ear-lobe is heredi- 
tary, I do know, and here affirm, that the ear-lobes of the 

