DESCRIPTION OF LIGHT BRAHMAS. 



267 



this is not correct It is the upper pair of true 

 tail feathers which curve outwards, like the tail 

 of a black-cock, and the fine sickles curl over 

 between their opened ends. In another type 

 of tail, the whole group of feathers appears 

 to spread out laterally. Neither type is very 

 common now, and if we get a handsome tail, 

 with a good sweep, we may be satisfied. The 

 saddle should on no account get narrower 

 towards the tail. 



The breast should be deep, broad, and rather 

 prominent, coming well down between the 

 thighs. These and the legs ought to stand wide 

 apart, and the latter be fairly short ; but they 

 certainly may be too short, though this does not 

 often happen. . They are to be feathered as 

 heavily as possible down the outside of the 

 shanks, and to ends of outer and middle toes, 

 with the feather sticking out well, especially 

 under the hocks, which is the difficult place to 

 get good feather. As a rule the inside of shank, 

 and back toe and inner toe also, are more or 

 less fluffed or feathered too, which is not a 

 beauty. The required leg-feather is practically 

 always accompanied in England by vulture- 

 hocks, for which we have already expressed 

 regret, as usually accompanied by coarser skin 

 and deficiency in breast. But there is a great 

 difference in vulture-hocks, some of them pro- 

 jecting far more than others for the same 

 amount of real feather ; and very offensive-look- 

 ing hocks should certainly be penalised, as 

 against those in which more downward direction 

 or curling in, diminishes their prominence. The 

 fluff should be fairly abundant and well covering 

 the thighs, though neither so full nor so downy 

 as in Cochins. The wings are of medium length, 

 considerably longer than a Cochin wing, and 

 should be tucked up rather tightly. The toes 

 should be well spread apart and straight : a 

 curved toe is rather often seen in this breed, 

 perhaps from its weight. 



The hen should present the same small head, 

 which in her case looks particularly arch and 

 coquettish when of the right model, yet with a 

 sweet and gentle expression also. The body 

 should present the same deep-breasted general 

 outline ; and in her case also there is the same 

 characteristic difference between her cushion and 

 that of a Cochin, the cushion of the Brahma 

 rising more and more to the tail, which standa 

 out at the end, instead of drooping as in the 

 other Asiatic breed. The fluff is abundant, but 

 should not be globular, the general appearance 

 being rather square than rounded. The cushion 

 should also grow wider and wider towards the 

 tail, though of late many Dark birds have tended 

 to run off narrow and weedy. The Light pullets, 



on the direct contrary, have often shown such 

 enormous fluff and cushion as closely to resemble 

 the Cochin type. Some breeders and judges 

 evidently prefer this stamp of bird, which is often 

 of great size ; but such a model is foreign to the 

 original Brahma and should be discouraged. 



We must now deal with the colours 

 separately, and will take Light Brahmas first. 

 In this breed the real ideal of colour has not 

 varied much, though different faults 

 Light have appeared at different times. 



Brahmas. -pj^g comb and face have been 

 described above; the rest of the 

 head of the cock is pure white, and the hackle 

 below silvery white, more and more striped 

 towards the bottom of the neck with black. 

 This stripe should be as intense and sharp as 

 possible, and run well up the feather, the edges 

 being sharp and the edge of the hackle white. 

 We have seen magnificent birds on the rather 

 dark side, with a black edging as well as striping 

 to the lower hackles, and are bound to say we 

 thought it looked very handsome, but it is 

 considered a fault, and is also a sign of too much 

 colour in the stock. The most difficult part of 

 the hackle to get good marking is where it 

 comes round to the front of the neck. The 

 hackle cannot be too full and flowing, and 

 should slide like glass over the shoulders and 

 back. The head and neck of a Light Brahma 

 cock, both literally and in fact, form the frontis- 

 piece to the entire bird. Red or bay is the 

 best colour for the eyes, but the lighter colour 

 is fully recognised. 



The shoulder-coverts and back between them 

 are preferred white on surface, but are black 

 quite as often underneath the hackle, at the 

 part often called the cape. The saddle hackles 

 are by most preferred white, but these also are 

 allowed to be striped, though it should be much 

 more thinly than the neck, and general harmony 

 requires that a striped saddle should accompany 

 a rather dark and brilliantly - coloured neck- 

 hackle : personally we rather prefer the striped 

 saddle. The tail is black, except that the top 

 feathers may be narrowly laced with white : tail 

 coverts black, edged with white. The primaries 

 are black, edged or not with white on the outer 

 web : secondaries, white on outer web, and 

 generally on a little of inside web, rest of the 

 inner web black. The rest of the body and fluff 

 is pure white on the surface, with either white or 

 bluish grey under-fluff; the shank-feather may 

 be either white, or preferably with some black 

 mottling. The shanks should be brilliant 

 yellow. All the black except in shank-feather, 

 should have as much green gloss as possible. 



