Brown, White And Buff Leghorns
Brown Leghorns.
The Leghorns' first arrival in America is shrouded in
mystery. Like many other arrivals from Europe in the early days of the formation of our
country they landed without much ceremony, but like our grandfathers, immediately went to
work to make a name for themselves. It is generally conceded now that the first Leghorns
came to America in 1834. I. K. Felch speaks of a trio being imported by a man along the
Mystic river in Connecticut from Leghorn, Italy, in 1853, and he says they were very
small and of a color much like the Spanish. Mr. Wright, the English poultry writer, says
F. J. Kinney of Worcester, Mass., imported a trio of "Italiens," as they were called in
their early day from Leghorn, Italy, in the same year, and he states the trio weighed 9
3/4 pounds. I. K. Felch says he knows of the Spanish and Black-red Game being crossed
with them to bring them to the larger size, and he says they also were palled Red
Leghorns. The breast of the male was originally brown. Then the Standard of Excellence of
1871 called for black, splashed with brown. The neck of the early female was a yellowish
brown and the black stripe in hackle could be penciled with brown.
The hackle of the male was an orange-red and striped. A. M. Halsted of New York, sent the
first Leghorns to England in 1872 to Mr. Wright to be sketched for his poultry book. Mr,
Wright suspicioned that they were a cross between the White, (they were imported from
England in 1853) and the Grey Dorking, but after breeding them and learning that the
Browns were imported from Italy first he concluded they were the pure and that the Whites
were produced from "sports." Of the first hens sent to England, two of the trio sent to
Mr. Wright were described by him as being partridge-marked or brown penciled with dark
markings. They had salmon breasts like the present day female. Being partridge-marked
they must have been more of what we would call cockerel breeders. The male had a black
breast and marked like a Black-red Game, so it is easy to see they had the results in
breeding then as we get today. In eliminating the brown breast in the male they produced
partridge-marked females, the kind we would not think of showing.
The eggs from this stock produced some cockerels very nearly black while one was
brown-breasted, showing from what he had been bred. Some of the pullets were of a color
like a Silver Grey Dorking, a thing that is not uncommon today when a pullet and
cockerel-line are bred together. W. E. Booney in writing of his Leghorns in 1862 said the
eggs which were set the first season produced a variety of results. The first year he got
brown, black and dominique from the same pen. The next year also a white. So it is easy
to see how the different varieties were formed from the original stock, a matter which we
will presently take up. He said further his pullets commenced laying at as early as three
months, a statement which might be discredited by the breeder today. An egg record for
five females in 1868 for a year showed an average of 162 eggs. A record which is truly
remarkable at that early stage of the formation of the breed.
White Leghorns.
The first White Leghorns were imported in 1853 by W. Simpson
of West Farms, N. Y. The eggs from this trio also produced varied effects. Some of the
stock was dominique and some blue, while more were pure white. All had wihite legs. In
1868 yellow legs were made the requirement and with some new importations they became
more like the present day White with the exception of the squirrel tail and yellow
quills. The first Whites sent to England was in 1869. They immediately became very
popular there and eggs were advertised in 1872 at ten dollars a dozen. The males at this
period all had a straw colored tinge on hackle, back and saddle. The combs of course on
all the early Leghorns were large and beefy, more like a Minorca. Buff
Leghorns.
The first Buff Leghorn we have record of was one shown in Copenhagen
in 1885, and then a pullet in the Crystal Palace show in 1888. They seemed to be "happen
so" birds, as nothing further was hoard of them. To Mr. and Mrs. Lister Kay, of England,
belong the honor of producing the first strain of Buffs. While breeding the Brown they
imagined in their mind's eye a ''yellow'' or Buff Leghorn. They had never heard of any
and by chance they met a Norwegian fancier who directed them to Herr Heenrich Johansen,
of Denmark, as one likely to be able to furnish a start. He knew of none either, but
kindly consented to advertise for some yellow Leghorns.
Six yellow fowls looking something like a Leghorn were purchased. They immediately killed
three as worthless. The remaining three had what we would call only a smattering of buff.
To the yellow cock they also mated two Buff Cochin females and by keeping an elaborate
stud book and systematic inbreeding they finally produced a typical buff. They state that
the original Buff without the Cochin cross was also bred several years, or until 1892,
when it was given up as a failure because of the color. The importance of the Cochin can
be seen in this. Mr. and Mrs. Kay commenced on the Buff in 1889 and in 1898 they won
first on a cockerel at Crystal Palace, which they pronounced good enough to compete with
the Brown and White. Mr. August D. Arnold, of Pennsylvania, was the first to import the
Buffs to America, making importations in 1890, 1892 and later. They were admitted to the
American Standard of Perfection in 1898.
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