TESTS FOR DYED FEATHERS. 



235 



judges cannot possibly go overhauling all the 

 plumage of the birds ; but if anything does 

 excite suspicion — as if a bird previously shown 

 with the white, again turns up apparently ortho- 

 dox — mere close inspection will show that all 

 the supposed black is not alike. Buff dyeing 

 has been so far chiefly found in Leghorns and 

 Buff Orpingtons, and has usually been done by 

 washing in Maypole soap, or some other form of 

 what is really aniline dye. What a lady would 

 term a " really lovely " buff should excite sus- 

 picion ; but a chemical test is of course the 

 criterion. Much harm was done at one time by 

 a school of amateur detectives, who professed 

 to test buff dye by solutions of caustic potass ; 

 and years ago we remember the late Mr. 

 Blakston disqualifying a canary on that account 

 with the deepest pain and regret, the owner 

 being a man whom he had always believed 

 honest as the day ; but the colour came off, rich 

 and undeniable, in the fluid, and he deemed that 

 there was no escape. It is now known, and the 

 reader may prove for himself, that an honest 

 feather also dissolves and produces coloured 

 solution just the same, and we fear that in Mr. 

 Blakston's case the poor canary exhibitor was 

 an innocent victim. We have known an exhi- 

 bitor take a rival's Buff Leghorn out of the pen, 

 and apply this " test," not even to a pulled 

 feather, but to the plumage on the bird, with 

 the result that the feathers touched were really 

 dyed much darker, as shown to us by the 

 victim at the London Dairy Show of 1899. We 

 cannot put it too strongly, that potass solution 

 dissolves out colour from honest plumage, and 

 is no test for aniline dye. 



There is fortunately a real test, however, as 

 published by Dr. Mossop in Poult>y. Test- 

 tubes should be provided, about six inches long 

 and three-quarter inch bore, and if possible a 

 genuine feather tested in another tube, along 

 with the suspected one — for only plucked single 

 feathers ought ever to be tested ; no one has a 

 right to risk disfiguring the bird itself. The 

 feather should be pushed down to the bottom of 

 the tube, strong hydrochloric acid poured in a 

 half inch or more deep, and the tube a little 

 shaken about (without spilling the strong acid) 

 so that the feather, at first greasy, may become 

 wetted by the acid. A feather dyed buff with 

 Maypole soap or aniline dye will quickly turn a 

 beautiful violet colour ; the genuine feather is 

 unchanged beyond the darkening from being 

 wetted. Dr. Mossop found one or two dyes that 

 resisted this test, but these responded in another 

 way, by losing all the dyed colour to a solution 

 of crj'stals of protochloride of tin dissolved to 

 saturation in hydrochloric acid diluted with its 



own bulk of water. This solution spoils by 

 keeping, and should therefore be freshly made, 

 dissolving a few crystals when wanted in tha 

 diluted acid. Sometimes a feather that seems 

 to resist will bleach out the dye if the test tube 

 containing the tin chloride is warmed over a 

 spirit lamp. If no decided bleaching takes place 

 then, and the feather has not been turned violet 

 by the acid either, the plumage is probably 

 honest, and at least no ordinary dye has been 

 used. 



The shanks are sometimes coloured, either 

 for yellow, or willow, or black. A handkerchief 

 or clean white rag, successively applied with 

 water, methylated spirit, and benzol, will usually 

 detect either of these, if appearances seem 

 suspicious. 



Plucking is the most frequent kind of fraud. 

 As already indicated, it may be of a very mild 

 and comparatively innocent character ; but as 



such cases could not possibly be 

 Plufkiiiff detected even if suspected, or even 



if known, such cause no questions. 



Tail feathers are mostly plucked for 

 white or black in them where it should not be, or 

 wing feathers because twisted or out of place ; 

 counting will reveal these, if suspicion be aroused. 

 If the whole tail be absent, or apparently far too 

 short, the judge will act according to his view of 

 the case, since at some periods it might be 

 natural enough, as in an adult cock early in 

 November. The most difficult cases are per- 

 haps those of wholesale plucking of body feathers, 

 which is too usual in some laced and spangled 

 breeds, especially silver spangled Hamburghs. 

 Here also a fair number of single feathers might 

 obviously come out without detection, but we 

 have seen a bird so plucked that bare patches of 

 skin were exposed even on the feather tracks.* 

 Instances not so extreme as this give most diffi- 

 culty ; but so peculiar is this special case of 

 Hamburghs that we have sometimes thought it 

 might be better if Hamburgh trimming were 

 legitimatised, as in trimming Spanish faces. 

 The simple fact is that the " largest " spangles 

 are desired by some breeders, and they have 

 been bred so large that a pullet with all the 

 feathers left in would show no spangling at all, 

 but her breast especially would appear almost 

 black. Enough feathers are therefore plucked 

 to show the spangling separated, and a good 

 Mooney will sometimes lose half a basketful. 

 Birds can only be shown naturally in this 

 breed, either by breeding spangles rather smaller, 

 or allowing them to appear almost entirely 



* Some writers seem to suppose that the feathers grow equally 

 all over. That is not so ; they grow or are arranged in certain 

 bands or tracks, which differ in dilTerent genera of birds. 



