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How to Breed the Dom Game Fowl

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How to breed dom game fowl By Jerold B. Lawrence With Introduction by Jayson Garces, Originator of the Dirty Dom.

How to Breed the Dom Game Fowl

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Introduction: Dirty Dom my crowning glory By Jayson Garces

The dom or bulik plumage of game fowl, considered off-color, is alluring to some, ugly to others. As a bloodline the dom is intriguing. Dom chickens are usually not highly regarded. The dom has the looks of a dunghill or a mongrel. The color is not uncommon among native chickens. Yet from time to time some dom bloodlines would rock the sabong world. In the US from the 1800s up to the present dom bloodlines surfaced and resurfaced. In the

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Philippines a number of dom breeders made a name out of the bulik. Cong. Lagbas, Capt. De Sagun, Gengen Arayata, Mayor Nene Aguilar, Dr. Ronnie Magbalon, to name a few of those known for their buliks. One intriguing aspect of the dom is the observation by the author Jerry B. Lawrence that the dom’s fighting styles of flying air-shuffle, smarts and cutting accuracy are linked with the barring genes that cause the plumage color dom. This would mean that most doms fight the way doms should fight. When I was still new to breeding, my lines were mostly reds and a few greys. I didn’t have any off colors. However, I noticed that my roosters, specially in stag fighting found it hard to concentrate on the fight against off colored opponents, particularly the dom because of its unique multi color looks. So I acquired a number of off color roosters to let my own rooster get familiar with the different plumage colors. I happened to acquire a dom which was a very good fighter and became a favorite of mine. This particular dom cock triggered my fascination with the dom, so I decided that I will find a good dom line and breed the dom. Sometime in 2004, opportunity came when a friend of mine, who was then very famous in Cebu for his ESA Farm doms took a leave from breeding. He lent me all his dom breeding materials. The ESA doms were light in color. I bred them with a number of my own lines. The best cross turned out to be darker dom in color. I continued to develop said dark dom line by breeding in additional bloodlines. My infusions were all non-dom bloodlines, the only dom bloodline in my Dirty Dom is the ESA farm dom. At first the dark doms were mostly ground fighters, which was uncharacteristic of the dom game fowl. Doms are usually flyers and smart fighters. Later infusions resulted in much darker doms and more angat fighting style. They retained the aggressiveness on the ground and power. My later doms also proved very good cutters. Because the color became much darker I named my dom line the Garces Dirty Dom. Since 2006, I fought many doms during every stag season and there never was a single negative score. The Dirty Doms always scored much more wins than losses. In developing and now maintaining the Dirty Dom, I always see to it that the line will not lose its deep gameness, excellent cut, and high breaking capability. My doms also fight a little off beat This style, plus the color seem to confuse and distract opponents during the fight. My Dirty Dom is more than a signature line and a best seller. Indeed I consider my creating them a crowning glory of my career as a game fowl breeder. I love the dom. Hence, when my friend Rey Bajenting of RB Sugbo Gamefowl Technology who I also consider a mentor, invited me to write the introduction to this E-pamphlet, I did not hesitate to say yes. First this pamphlet is about the dom, which I love, but more important because I know this pamphlet will help many readers and members of MANA’s Suregain Club who will be guided by the principles of breeding the dom game fowl as laid out by master breeder Jerry Lawrence. Himself. I advise the reader to take note of the paragraphs under sub titiles “Sex linkage” and “Linked Genes.” The dissertation by the author Lawrence will surely guide any breeder into the ins and outs of breeding the dom game fowl. The bonus read on how to select based on body conformation is also very enlightening. It’s good you are reading this pamphlet otherwise you would have missed a lot.

How to Breed the Dom Game Fowl

The Garces Dirty Dom. The well known Garces Dirty Dom is a creation of Jayson Garces of Cebu. (See the Dirty Dom in action. Click here.

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How to Breed the Dom Game Fowl

Kamana Jayson Garces is willing to give discounts to members of Suregain Club. You may negotiate directly with him just give your name and MIN.

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How to Breed the Dom Game Fowl

How to breed dom game fowl By Jerold B. Lawrence

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How to Breed the Dom Game Fowl

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The Dom In the USA we call these beautiful barred birds "Dom" which is a shortened form of "Dominique." In the Philippines they are known as "Bulik". In Spanish countries they are called "Bulico",which refers to a colored Dom, or "Dominico", which refers to a black and white Dom. In England and Ireland they are called "Crele", which refers to a colored Dom, or "Cuckoo", which refers to a black and white Dom. What makes them "Dom" is the presence of a "barring" gene which expresses barred or zig-zag spots of color caused by a patterned inhibition (blocking) of color pigmentation. The color in the pattern may be inhibited to pure white bars or to a lighter shade of the birds natural genetic color. A totally white bird may carry the barring gene, but, with no color pigment present to inhibit, the barring cannot be expressed until the white bird is bred to colored fowl. The American Dom In the 1800's the Dom fowl in America were rooted in stock from England and Ireland. In the 1900's some breeders used Spanish bloodlines such as the famous "Quatro Telas" Spanish Doms. These barred fowl have been infused with Whitehackle, Sid Taylor, Mug and other non-barred bloodlines, so at this point in time I prefer to call them "American Dom," as they are no longer an English Dom or Irish Dom. Following is a summary of some of the many families of Dom fowl that have been popular in the USA. These Dom families have won many mains and derbies including being used in the Orlando Tournament by Mr. J. D. Gay and Mr. E. W. Law.

* O'Neal Dom: Tom O'Neal of Kentucky. Late 1800's, probably Irish. Foundation for several Dom families. * Gee Dom (Georgia Dom): Dr. James Gee. Mid 1800's. Said to be the oldest Dom family in USA and made from a cross of Sumatra and Irish Pyle, followed by infusion of Gleezen Whitehackle. * Gay Dom: J. D. Gay. O'Neal Dom and Sid Taylor * Sure Shot Dom: Quinn Robb of Missouri ( originator ) and Scott Gay of Tennessee. Minton Dom and other bloodlines. Called "Sure Shot" because they would often kill the opponent on the first fly. Presently being bred by Howard Gay of Tennessee and Lester Belt Jr. of Oklahoma.

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* Kentucky Dom: Dr. Frymire. Early 1900's. O'Neal Dom, Mug, and many other infusions. * Minton Dom: Col. Minton. Early 1900's. * Mingus Dom: F. B. Mingus. Mid 1900's. Reported to have used Cuban Dom in the makeup of this family. Mr. Mingus also had Sid Taylor and Traveler which were most likely blended to the Cuban Dom. * Chappell Dom: Chappell family of South Carolina and Alabama. English white tassell, Spanish, Mingus Dom, Sure Shot Dom. Presently being bred by Kris Chappell of Alabama, the 6th generation of the Chappell family breeders. * Darnell Doms: Fought by Harry Charles in the mid 1900s, winning many major circuit derbies * Kimbrell Dom: Sam Kimbrell of Nebraska and Idaho. Mid 1900's. Infusion of Hammond Gordon in 1939. Bobby Boles bred a Kimbrell hen to the BB blacks. * Sullivan Dom: Also used by Bobby Boles. American Dom in the Philippines: * Cavite Dom: Captain Joe De Sagon of Cavite has been breeding American Dom since the early 1980's, obtaining the original stock from a small breeder in Georgia who was related to a man that worked with the Captain in Alaska. These Doms from Georgia had large heads and tall station. The Captain has used Persian type of non-barred bloodlines such as Hatch and Kelso to maintain this family. Note that Captain De Sagon is recognized as being one of the best breeders in the Philippines and has a high-percentage win record with these Doms since 1986. Presently the Captain still raises a few as a hobby but does not sell them. * Many breeders in the Philippines are using American Dom breeding stocks from Kris Chappell, Brian Corkren, JBL Farm, Howard Gay, and other US sources. The Barring Gene The Barring Gene, or Barred Gene (B), and the diluted Barring Gene (Bsd) are color pigment inhibitors that cause barring as a result of inhibiting the natural color in a barred pattern. The barring or spotting that you see in a Dom is the result of white or light colored barred segments that are produced by inhibiting the natural color in that segment. The darker colors in the Dom are the non-barred genetic pigmentation of the

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bird---so, if you want red spots there must be red pigmentation in the bloodline, and if you want black spots there must be black pigmentation. Likewise for yellow or gold color. The Barring Gene is considered to be a variant or mutation, and was first identified by researchers in 1908. The Barring Gene initiates the barring process but the actual factors causing pigment inhibition involve a number of linked genes, and this is why there is variation in the intensity of barring, or dilution of barring. The Barring Gene is located on the sex chromosome, therefore barring is a sexlinked characteristic. The Barring Gene also inhibits tissue pigmentation, making it difficult to produce Doms with dark shanks. The Barring Gene is genetically dominant. (Bsd) is dominant over (B), and both are dominant over non-barred gene (b+). The (B) gene expresses white barring and the (Bsd) expresses dove color or fawn color barring in females. A homozygous male (Bsd/Bsd) will be predominantly recessive white in color. Barring is subject to dilution or dosage effects, causing male gene pairs (B/B), (B/b+), (B/Bsd), (Bsd/Bsd) and (Bsd/b+) to all show different intensities of barring. Most gamefowl have diluted barring. For example, for a Dom cock with genes (Bsd/b+), the (Bsd) gene will be dominant but the (b+) non-barred gene will have a dilution effect even though it is recessive.

Note: Remember genes are present on the male bird's sex-chromosome in pairs, but genes on the female bird's sex-chromosome are single. The barred gene pairs in male Doms will be as stated above, but because the female Dom only has the single barred gene, she will always be either (B/-) or (Bsd/-), where (-) is the notation for the female blank gene. If a Dom also has the slow-feathering gene, the barring will be more sharply defined. The slow-feathering gene effects how rapidly the chick begins growing the first feathers. A sharply defined barring may indicate the presence of the slow-feathering gene and may not indicate purity of the barring gene. Those of you that incubate and keep chicks in a brooder can observe and compare the chick feathering. The Bottom Line: The Dom barring can be expressed in a number of different ways with various aspects of dilution. With respect to barring, cocks are genetically

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complex, but the hen is genetically simple. For the hen, what you see is what you have,no hidden secrets. The barred Dom hen, no matter what bloodlines are in her ancestry, no matter what male she is bred to, will always produce 100% barred sons, subject to dilution effects.

Sex-Linkage The hen will provide her sex-linked genes only to her sons and never to her daughters. The cock will provide sex-linked genes to both the sons and daughters. This year I mated a barred white-leg Peruvian Dom cock to a barred white-leg hen and produced only 2 chicks. Both chicks are black pullets with black legs and no barring--so what do I learn from this? Knowing that the barred gene is sex-linked, I know that the Peruvian Dom cock must be (B/b+) and also carries the gene for black pigment. These black pullets are (b+/-) and will never produce barred offspring unless bred to a barred male. I will keep the black pullets and eventually breed to a select Dom cock to bring the dark color (black pigment) back in a light-colored Dom line, and also for the Peruvian dosage. Again: The barred hen will always produce barred sons, her (B) or (Bsd) gene being located on her male sex-chromosome (Z) which determines male offspring. But her blank gene (-) being on her female sex-chromosome (W) will produce a blank on all of her daughters. Linked-Genes Linked-genes are groups of genes that are transmitted to the offspring in a linked grouping. The linked group of genes will be located on the chromosome nearby each other. So--when the barred gene is transmitted to the offspring from the sexchromosome, the nearby genes are brought with it. We do not know what these linked genes are, or how many, but this explains why the fighting characteristics of Doms have so much in common with each other regardless of the exact breeding. These characteristics are most likely related to the Sumatra ancestry. And remember these linked genes of Dom characteristics will only be linked to a (B) or (Bsd) gene. If you lose the barring gene you also lose all the linked genes which make the Dom special. Doms are special because of the flying air-shuffle, smart style of engagement, and accuracy of striking----All of which are Sumatra characteristics.

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Sumatra Link It is believed that the barring characteristic derives from the ancestral Sumatra fowl. The Sumatra is also the origin of black color pigment, multiple spur, tassel and muff. Sumatra fowl have been described as being a pheasant type of bird with light body, heavy feathering, and good flying ability. The Sumatra bloodline is present in the Indian Asil and many of the gamefowl bloodlines that were developed in England and Ireland. The Sumatra type of bloodline must be balanced with the game and fierce fighting bloodlines that derive from the small straight-comb Persian fowl ( Bankiva type) that were spread around the Mediterranean coastal regions by early Phoenician traders, in the BC era.

Breeding Dom Gamefowl Good breeding practice for producing high quality Dom gamefowl will be to maintain a balance between the Sumatra and Persian characteristics from the best stocks that you have available to you. If you breed too strong to the Persian type of fowl (for example Whitehackle type fowl), the quick killing ability of the Dom may be lost. If you breed too strong to Sumatra type fowl (for example black fowl, or too much Dom to Dom), you may lose gameness, or your fowl may become nervous and wild due to low testosterone. Note that Doms have fallen from popularity from time to time because of problems maintaining their gameness and mental stability. Now that Doms are popular and more commercial breeding is taking place, the quality of the mass Dom population may decline. If you have a Dom breeding program or plan to breed Doms, I recommend that you make a Sumatra line and a Persian line, and use these two lines for crossing to each other ( I do not do this, but do as I say, not as I do). The Sumatra line, for example, could be a barred breeding infused with black toppy. The Persian line, for example, could be a barred breeding infused with Butcher and straight-comb Hatch. These will be good for competition, but you can also use an Oriental dosage for competition using a good pea-comb bloodline such as Albany or Boston Roundhead. Do not breed willy-nilly without a plan, and pay attention to your female lineage. The Chappell Doms have been successful crossed with Sweater and Newton Wade Albany. JBL Doms in the Philippines have been crossed with Sweater, Roundhead, and Hatch by various Filipino breeders and all have done well. Years ago I had a man from the Southeastern US tell me that they had made a cross of Dom and Redquill that whipped everybody. A man in California has had great success with a cross of Dom and Gowdy black Jap.

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With regard to color, my experience is that the more that I breed barred-tobarred the male offspring become more white. If you do not like predominantly white fowl you must breed the barred cock or hen to a solid color non-barred mate. Dom fowl seem to be healthy and the chicks have a good survival rate except that their color seems to be attractive to some predators. (This article by JBL was also published on Pitgames)

A JBL Dom at Laguan Farm of Vency Maranan in Rizal, Laguna.

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Barring gene for early sexing of game fowl

Barring gene has been used in commercial chicken breeding operations to determine the sex of chicks upon hatching. Barring gene is both dominant and sex linked. By sex linked it means the mother can only throw such gene to her sons, never to her daughters. Thus if you use a solid colored brood cock over a dom hen, all the stags will come out dom in color and pullets are solid colored, say black or red, depending on the color of the brood cock used. Following article will help the reader understand how barring gene works. (RB Sugbo GT)

The Barring Gene in Chickens by Mugumby Pickins and Jon Alden and DIYSeattle The barred coloration is something most people that keep chickens have seen. Barred rocks, creles, and several other birds carry the barring in their feathers. The barring gene is an absence of coloration in the feather. The barring gene causes white pigment in bars on a color. This barring gene has been used to help produce new colorations and to create breeds of birds that produce chicks that each sex has a different coloration. Using the barred gene to create chicks of two different colors helps to identify at hatching whether or not it is a pullet or a cockerel. This makes picking your layers and broilers a much easier job. One can start feeding them the appropriate schedule right away and keep what you need and sell or trade the rest. The barring gene is a dominant sex linked gene that is affected by a linked feather growth gene. The barring gene can be found in Cuckoo colorings and also Crele colorings. If the barring gene is matched with a fast feathering gene then you will get crisp barring but if it is not then you will get more of a blurred barring. Barring can be used in creating both sex links and also autosexing breeds. The Black sexlink is created by crossing a colored bird over a barred or cuckoo pullet, the resulting offspring will be able to be sexed as chicks because the males will have white on them whereas the females will be solid black. All of the breeds that are autosexing use the barring gene for that purpose.

Some breeds that have used the barring gene are the wide assortment of sex-links available like the black sex-link that takes a barred hen and crosses it to a solid colored rooster. The breeds commonly used for this pairing are Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire rooster covering a Barred Plymouth Rock hen. This makes chicks that are all the same color, however the males have a white dot on their head at birth. The difference between sex-links and autosexing is that autosexing is from purebred birds. Sex

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-links are from hybrid crosses of two different breeds. The Cambar was the first breed of autosexing chickens developed. There are not many autosexing breeds for some reason. In the United States there are even fewer. Jaerhons are available occasionally but Legbars are not common at all. Most of what is available in the United States are sex-links. The Cambar was developed from the Gold Campine rooster and a Barred Rock hen. Many autosexing breeds get their names from a cross of the parents names. Autosexing birds are not hybrids. These birds will breed true when bred to each other, unlike hybrids, which will produce a variety of genetic results. An autosexing breed is a true breeding bird whose offspring will be the same as their parents. The barring gene is also a great gene to use to produce new coloration in birds. As we mentioned already, the crele gene is closely related to the barring gene. Crele coloration variants are available in many different bird breeds. One can use the barred breed to create these coloration in breeds that don’t currently have the barred or crele available. The crele coloring is when you take either a Black Breasted Red or a Partridge color bird and add the barring gene to it, it is most commonly seen as BBR Crele (black breasted red Crele) in the United states. To add the barring gene to a black breasted red or a partridge color (to make a crele) you would take a rooster of a Barred Plymouth Rock and cross it to a Black Breasted Red or Partridge. The resulting offspring would be back like the diagram explains. This is all great information, but how does it work? Barred females carry only one copy of the barring gene. Barred males carry two copies of the gene, so the females can be only one color. The rooster has two genes so roosters can ether be like the hen or can have more color than the single gene. If this is confusing, read on. A barred male that carries only one barred gene when crossed to a barred female will produce about 25% barred cockerels. Half of those barred cockerels will have a single barred gene. The other half of those will have the double barred gene. The remaining will be 25% barred females and 25% solid females. Taking a barred male with one barring gene and crossing it to a solid colored femal will produce 25% barred makes with one barring gene and 25% barred females. The remaining 50% of the birds will be of a solid color. Now on to a barred male with two barred genes. If you take that double barred rooster and cross it to a barred female you will get about 50% barred males that will carry the double barring gene. The remaining 50% of hens will be barred. To cross a barred male with two barring genes to a solid female you should plan on getting about 50% barred cockerels with one barring gene. The remaining half will be barred pullets. Breeding a double gene barring rooster to a solid hen will give you the result of having the most barred offspring. Using the finest stock you can obtain of both barred rooster and solid hen will give you the best results. Last but not least the solid male crossed with a barred female will give you 50% barred males with one barring gene and half solid pullets.

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Keeping careful notes and breeding from the best pure stock you can find will give the best results. Keeping notes will help greatly. If you keep good notes about the lineage of your birds you should be able to predict what you are going to produce. A barred rooster that is carrying two genes for barring should be noted as (B,B). A barred rooster that is carrying one barred gene should be noted as being (B,b+). A pullet that is barred should be noted as having the barring gene as (b,-). There is slightly more to this but if you are breeding for barring you should take the best barring and go from there in most cases. The barring gene is useful in creating an autosexing breed but also for new colorations. In the UK breeders work on new colors. In the United States this is not as big a hobby or sport as it in in other parts of the world. Simply put, you don’t have to be a geneticist to make a new breed or coloration of an existing breed. You just need to understand some genetics, and be able to pick and choose your breeders carefully. Culling your chickens out of your program that do not further your project is very important. Using only the best and keeping notes will help you a lot. Breeders in the UK do it frequently. It would be nice to see new colorations and birds being produced here in the United States. Break out the incubator and a notepad and put your chicken breed thinking cap on. You can breed for autosexing or new colorations using the barred gene. It isn’t terribly difficult, and you get to name your own new breed too.

Capt. De Sagun Dom. Among the first and more popular dom bloodlines in the Philippines.

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Bonus read: JBL on selecting body conformation

Many cocking enthusiasts are obsessed with selecting the perfect body conformation for their breeding cocks and battle cocks. The popular idealized cock will have tall station, long shank with fine but strong bone, balanced tail at 45 degrees, straight legs set forward, heart shaped body, head held upright with medium neck, breast bone not protruding and not too short or too long, large strong wings, and small almond shaped head not too long or too thick. This perfect cock will perform well and be a beautiful specimen, but he will NOT be a crouching tiger that will fly to the lights and swoop down like a hawk, he will NOT be a shifty defensive fighter that will elude the blows of the other cock until the advantage in position allows him to make the clean kill like a matador, and he will NOT be a ground fighting cock that unleashes a furious shuffle that seems never ending like the blades of a food processor. The high-flyer, propelling himself into the air with powerful leg thrust, will most likely have a bent knee and does not have an upright stance. The shifty, intelligent fighting cock will probably have tail lower than 45 degrees and show oriental characteristic of Asil, Jap, or Sumatra. The ground-fighting shuffling machine will most likely have medium-short station with close set knees. The powerful, long reaching cock will most likely have a moderate hump back. The leg-throwing speed burner will probably be a cock with upright tail. The pounding cock, more suited to gaff and Mexican knife, will be the bird with straight legs and upright stance. The bottom line is to select your cocks based on their outstanding fighting ability, not based on some man-made idealized standard of conformation. But of course they are your birds so you select what you prefer and do not succumb to the opinions of others who are often very vocal critics of your birds.

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How to Breed the Dom Game Fowl

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The Dominiques By Silver Gray From Game Fowl News November 1926 It has been written that the Dominiques as we have them today were originated in this way: In the 1830s there was being bred on Rabbit Island, near New Orleans, La., some imported EnglishSpanish hens and a cock of the same. From this breeding came a stag that was different color markings from any that had ever before came from this mating. The owner took especial care of this stag, walked him well and when he was old enough took him to New Orleans and fought him. When he was pitted the crowd laughed and called him a barn yard dung-hill. He was speckled yellow, blue and white, rose comb, yellow legs and beak. He walked in and made mince meat out of his opponent but everyone thought it was an accident. He was matched again and did the same work as before. His owner fought him time and again, always winning nicely. He was 3 years old and had never been bred from on account of his color. Captain Warthall, an old river an, purchased him and brought him to Louisville, Ky., and gave him to two known well known cockers of that day. They saved him and bred him to some English hens. They saved all the pullets that came the color of the cock and bred the old cock back to them, and in this way in a few years they had a strain that was known all over the country as the Kentucky Dominiques. The originals were yellow and blue Dominiques, yellow legs and beak, with the cocks generally having white tails, speckled with blue or yellow. The hens were either solid blue with dark eyes or mottled like a Plymouth Rock or pale blue or nearly white. In later years White Pyle was crossed on them and the rose comb bred off. At present they breed pure white, pale blue, mottled breast and hackle and saddle speckled. Some come pyle colors and some the regular Dominique color. Tom O'Neal secured some of these fowl around 1886, and began to fight all comers. In the early 80s [1880s] we never thought of a Dominique game fowl unless we thought of Tom O'Neal at the same time. As he was never an advertiser, and too as our country at that time had no game papers, you could readily imagine that their popularity was discovered through mains and the process of word of mouth and anxious ear. When in the 80s [1880s] the first journal devoted wholly to pit games made its appearance Dr. J. B. Frymire was the leading advertiser of the Dominiques. It was not long before other men began taking up the advertising of other breeds, but Ohio, the Virginias and other states near Kentucky were hotbeds of Dominique breeders. In Kentucky the restraint concerning cock-fighting was synonymous with the sport of horse racing and fox hunting. Little or no opposition appeared, therefore the native sport state became the center of the Dominique breed, and its greatest activity. When Tom O'Neal began with the Dominiques he did not strive to breed them to the Dominique color. He was a cocker with a large following who had had his defeats and bore them gamely. O'Neal and James Waddell were at this time partners, and were taking on all the big ones of those days

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and annexing the receipts with ease. They fought the Doms up and down the Ohio river, made more than one trip down the Mississippi and took a whole main of Doms to New Orleans and won there. Afterwards O'Neal lost the oua tournament in New Orleans). Wingate won 20 out of 21 battles. In those days they fought for sport as well as for money and it was no uncommon thing to continue the fighting after one side had won a majority. It was at this main that Sid Taylor, who later was affiliated with O'Neal and Waddell was impressed by the almost inconvincible Heathwoods, and which blood finally went into the Sid Taylor breed of Doms. Something else surely went into the O'Neal fowl later on, as they bred many shades of dom colors and had yellow, white and even white legs with dark spots on them. I have seen pure O'Neal Doms that were white as any Leghorn, with clear yellow legs and red eyes. I have seen others white in both hens and cocks whose only variation in color was a few pencil stripes of red, black or yellow in hackles. Others were exact duplicates of the domestic American Dominique. Some with black neck hackles; some with brown and some with golden hackles. O'Neal was at one time ailed the Champion cocker of America, but so was Denny Mahoney, Chas. Brown, William Morgan, Michael Kearney and Anthony Greene. Championships in these days rests but lightly with the laurelled brow - too many better ones in better fix than they were before are appearing and a championship that holds more than a year or two is one not often obtained, so let us only say that the Doms were champions of their day. Some of us see the tournaments, but the majority have to content ourselves with reading about them. In these events a certain breed may win, but more often there are several bloods and colors in the winning entry, so that it is unfair to say that John Smith's “Bear Cats” won the tournament, when in truth John used three Bear Cats and more of other breeds whose breeding was not known to John himself. Mr. J. D. Gays breeding won two or three Orlando tournaments, and there as not the slightest hesitancy on his part to say that not all were Sid Taylors or not all were Doms. Both entered into the winning although I recall that the Sids were used the majority of the times. That Mr. Law chose the side Taylors does not detract from the rating of the good old O'Neal blood which can show more gameness. Fancier or better cutters than the Taylors were difficult to locate. So it remained a dark horse breed to run in under the Madigan entry at the next tournament, and the next tournament, and the next also which was won by the same blood under another name, and they were far from a uniform lot of cocks. They had condition and won, and they were exclusively short heel cocks bred in a short heel country and had no right to win according to the controversial disturbances among the long and short gaff enthusiasts.

I believe it was the Doms who by their steady work held both events for Law at Orlando; those old O'Neal Dom bloods sent this end of the U.S. by Mr. Gay are about as near one-style performers as cocks get to be. They will step in and show as pretty a bit of sparring as is rarely seen. They can get out of a tight corner with a wicked shuffle and go as high in a break as is necessary. I am not writing to uphold the merits of individual fowl, but rather the species.

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