^44 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



dififerent texture, has a somewhat different 

 appearance, and more solid, if not deeper tint 

 than the body colour, but the tone of the whole 

 is desired as uniform as possible. The following 

 valuable remarks upon mating and breeding 

 buff Cochins are kindly contributed by that 

 well-known exhibitor, Mr. George H. Procter, 

 Flass House, Durham : — 



" A good buff Cochin should be as large as 

 possible, and should look bigger than it really 

 is, owing to the plumage being so loose, fluffy, 

 and soft. A tight-feathered bird I dislike very 

 much, and consider such far from the true type. 



"The head should be neat and nicely curved, 

 and free from coarseness. The comb should not 

 be very large, but evenly serrated, and free from 

 thumb-mark and side sprigs. It should be of 

 fine texture, and, as with the wattles and ear- 

 lobe, a bright red. White in the lobe is a very 

 common defect, and though close confinement 

 aggravates the fault, it comes with age. The 

 eye should be yellow or orange, though pearl 

 is not objectionable. The beak must be short, 

 strong, curved, and of a bright yellow. 



" The neck must be short, nicely curved, and 

 covered with long flowing hackle. The back 

 should be very broad, the saddle or cushion 

 ri:>ing towards the tail, with an arch in the hen ; 

 in the cock the saddle hackle is very long, 

 reaching well over the wing points. The wing 

 must be short, the tips well tucked up, and, as I 

 have said before, buried under the saddle hackle 

 or cushion, but not carried too close to the body, 

 as this does away with the loose feathery look 

 a Cochin should always have. A slip or loose 

 wing is a most serious fault, and the most 

 certain to appear in the next generation. The 

 tail of the cock should not be carried too high, 

 but rather obliquely, with full, flowing, soft, 

 ribbon-like feathers. Some birds are shown 

 minus part of their stiff tail feathers, which I 

 consider a great mistake, as, instead of improv- 

 ing their appearance in the eyes of a breeder 

 (who can see at a glance the unnatural moult), 

 it spoils the outline. The breast must be very 

 full and broad, the feathers on the under side 

 soft and curly. 



" The thighs should be covered with long, 

 soft fluff, and on the front curly feathers. The 

 fluff must stand well out, and not cling to the 

 sides, else, however good the bird might be, I 

 should hesitate to use it in a breeding pen. 

 There has been much written in days gone by 

 about vulture-hocks, but I have always allowed 

 a good deal of latitude in this point, and would 

 rather have a stiff hock than a lightly covered 

 joint, as this with scant shank- and foot-feather 

 generally goes hand in hand. At the same time 



nothing improves the look of a Cochin more 

 than a hock properly covered with soft feathers, 

 curling round the joint. The shanks should be 

 strong and set well apart. The feathers should 

 stand well " off" on the outside, sometimes quite 

 six inches, but on no account pointing down- 

 wards, as such are much more liable to be 

 broken, and although there may be a great 

 amount of feathers, they do not show to the 

 same advantage in the exhibition pen. I 

 strongly object to any break or scarcity of 

 feather between the hock and shank. The 

 feet are yellow in chickens, but in many old 

 birds flesh-coloured, which I think quite admis- 

 sible. The feathering should be very profuse 

 and running to the end of the middle toe, which 

 should be quite hidden from view. A badly 

 covered middle toe I look upon as a great 

 defect, and ene likely to increase in the next 

 generation. 



" The colour of the cock is as follows : The 

 neck and saddle hackle, in fact all the top 

 feathers, should be of a bright rich golden buff, 

 free from any red or bricky tinge, as well as any 

 suspicion of mealiness. The breast, thighs, and 

 fluff a sound, dense buff down to the skin, and 

 not showing the rib of the feathers. A washy - 

 coloured breast, chalky or blue fluff is con- 

 sidered fatal in a breeding bird. The tail coverts 

 must be rich chestnut, and the stiff feathers free 

 from black or white. The former is a fault many 

 otherwise good birds have, but as pure buff tails 

 can be bred, I consider that the black should be 

 heavily penalised. The flight feathers, in a 

 cockerel to breed from, must be of a sound, 

 rich buff, without white or black ; but in an old 

 bird a little white is almost certain to appear, 

 and, although by no means desirable, I should 

 not penalise it much. Foot and shank feathers 

 should be the same colour as breast and fluff, 

 also free from black or white in a cockerel ; but, 

 like the flight feathers, in many cases a little 

 white appears in the second year. 



" The colour of the hen should be of an even 

 soft buff throughout, with no suspicion of red or 

 bricky tinge. All wing, foot, and shank feathers 

 must be free from black. In no case should 

 the rib of the feathers show, but the buff colour 

 must run down the fluff to the skin. I dislike 

 a hen with a chalky fluff much more than one 

 of lighter top colour. 



" For some time I noticed in the poultry 

 journals a controversy going on respecting 

 colour feeding. I am no believer in the system, 

 for, in the first place, perfectly coloured buff 

 birds can be bred without any artificial feeding, 

 and in the second, I should say birds so fed 

 would be useless for breeding purposes. As a 



