BREEDING LIGHT BRAHMAS. 



269 



on the other. Fig. 91 shows a hackle such as is 

 desired in a Hght IBrahma pullet or hen, and 

 Fig. 92 another such as is very often seen, and 

 which has even won at times, though seriously 

 faulty owing to the black extending almost or 

 quite to the edge of the feather. It is the tolera- 

 tion of such hackles in winners, with striped 

 saddles in the cocks, and breeding the two 

 together, which produces so many birds with 

 black ticks or splashes all over the body, but 

 especially the back or the hocks. But if a 

 female with such dark hackle and free from 

 black splashes be mated with a cockerel clear in 

 saddle with rather narrow stripes in his hackle, 

 while not more than one of the pair has grey 

 under-colour, the produce is usually quite satis- 

 factory in regard to pullets ; and there is often a 

 certain portion of very fair cockerels, though 

 mostly, like their father, rather on the light- 

 hackled side. 



The converse mating is also often satisfactory 

 to a large extent, putting a very dark-hackled 

 cock with striped saddle to hens deficient in 

 striping. Success will depend upon the striping 

 in both cases being sharp and dense, what there 

 is of it ; and the greatest difficulty in Light 

 Brahma breeding has been the undefined or 

 cloudy hackles, which have been tolerated in so 

 many hens. Such cloudiness gives no end of 

 trouble, and can only be bred out of by degrees. 

 But where the hackles are sharp, this mating 

 also often breeds very well. Perhaps in this 

 case more cockerels may be expected good 

 than pullets ; the number good and quality of 

 the latter will largely depend upon whether the 

 mothers are free from ticks and splashes, 

 especially on the back, and a proper balance of 

 under-colour. 



We lay stress once more on the absence of 

 black elsewhere than in the standard places. It 

 is mere common-sense, one would think, though 

 some do not appear to see it, that if a pullet not 

 too dark in hackle, also has a lot of black show- 

 ing all about her, she is full of surplus black 

 blood, sure to come out in all ways, but 

 especially in that same way which it is so 

 desirable to avoid. On the other hand, if we 

 get hold of a bird which is too full of colour in 

 hackle or tail, or both, but clear white all over 

 where it should be white, and maybe light in 

 under-fluff as well, such a one may be invaluable. 

 Her colour is too great, but all of it is where 

 colour is wanted to appear, and this tendency is 

 of all others most valuable. 



There is no doubt that many strains of 

 Light Brahmas have been produced by crossing 

 with White Cochins, but now the strains have 

 become pure owing to no crossing of late, and 



no need for the infusion of fresh Cochin 

 blood. Many years ago, however, we were in- 

 formed at Birmingham by a well-known winner 

 there, that his birds there had been^ bred from 

 a Dark Brahma cock and White Cochin hens ; 

 and we think it not unlikely that the greater pre- 

 valence of black ticks and splashes for many 

 years past may be due to this infusion of all-over 

 dark blood. The result has been increased size, 

 width, and especially fluff about the thighs, many 

 Brahmas now shown being far more wide and 

 fluffy on the thighs than Cochins themselves. 

 There is besides to be seen in many birds, a 

 body-plumage of very wide, soft, fluffy feathers, 

 entirely different in size and texture from the 

 closer plumage which may generally be seen 

 only one or two pens off, and so compared with 

 the other. Some breeders evidently like this 

 Cochin model, heavy and torpid as it is com- 

 pared with the more square, compact, and active 

 Brahma type, and no one has a right to pro- 

 nounce as to matters of preference. We would 

 only urge, as indispensable, whatever the width 

 or the fluff, that at least the rising cushion and 

 tail in the hens, and the grand sweeping out- 

 line in the cocks, be preserved. How these 

 points may be shown even when combined with 

 great massiveness, Mr. Ludlow has shown in 

 the illustration. 



The head of a Dark Brahma cock should be 

 almost similar to that described for the Light, 

 but though correctly called white, there is 

 a sort of pearly grey about this 

 Dark white rather different from the snow 



Bralimas. white of the other. In the neck 



hackle there is less latitude of colour 

 than in the Light variety, it being essential 

 that the neck hackle should be broadly and 

 densely striped with brilliant black, extend- 

 ing well up the feathers as in Fig. 93, and with 

 any white shaft showing as little as possible, 

 the rest of the feather being a brilliant white, 

 unless occasionally the extreme edge may show 

 a sharp and very fine black edge near the tip, 

 as also shown in Fig. 93. The saddle hackle 

 is also brilliant white, more finely striped, and 

 generally showing rather more white shaft in 

 the feather, as in Fig. 94. What little there 

 is of back should be silvery white, but between 

 the shoulders, where the hackle flows over it, 

 the feathers are black laced round with white : 

 a cockerel has much more black here than a 

 bird in his second year, and black often mixes 

 partly in the white of the back also. The 

 saddle hackles gradually merge at the rear 

 into the tail coverts, which are more and more 

 broadly striped with black, until next the tail 



