BREEDING DARK BRAHMAS. 



271 



cally clear all over, and the best breeders 

 have a fair proportion that moult out as 

 clear. This breeding for colour and marking 

 affected the type somewhat for a time, but 

 we are pleased to see that the general char- 

 acter of the breed is returning without losing 

 any of its beauty. This want of shape 

 and grandeur was apparent in the beautifully 

 marked pullets shown many years ago by 

 the Rev. J. D. Peake and Rev. T. C. Peake, 

 from which we believe most of the present 

 clear-grounded birds arc descended ; and much 



Elye and Mr. J. Martin Longe have been 

 prominent exhibitors of the paper-ground birds. 

 These changes in colour have very much 

 altered the breeding of Brahmas for exhibition, 

 so that it is now impossible to breed the fashion- 

 able colours good in both sexes, 

 from the same breeding pen. This 

 is, however, entirely owing to the 

 change in colour, and it is quite 

 wrong to assert, as some breeders 

 do, that black-breasted cockerels and well- 

 pencilled pullets — so far as pencilling only goes 



Breeding 



Dark 



Brahmas. 



n; 



Fig- 95- — Dark Brahma Pullet Feathers in 1S71 



as we admire the marking itself, we scarcely 

 ever see a hen of it, which in size or shape can 

 be compared to those of a fonner period. 

 Another serious drawback, in our opinion, is 

 the loss of the old striped hackles. Birds bred 

 for this marking become more and more 

 pencilled in hackles, as in Partridge Cochins, 

 and several breeders profess now to admire 

 this marking, and consider it the proper one : 

 but this is evidently the old case of the fox 

 who lost his tail, and because they cannot help 

 themselves. 



A dark grey ground also holds its own to 

 some extent, and most of such birds are 

 superior in size to the preceding, and some of 

 them make really fine hens. Some of these 

 have very fair striped hackles, and are usually 

 better layers than the paper-ground birds. 

 Mr. Henshall has often shown fine Brahma 

 pullets and hens of this type, while Mr. Norris- 



■ — cannot be bred together successfully, or from 

 the same stock. Mrs. Hurt's celebrated strain 

 of thirty years ago was beautifully marked and 

 everywhere successful, and a large portion 

 of the cockerels always came black-breasted ; 

 and going back to our own experience, a son 

 of our old " Favourite 2 " which won the 

 cup in 1872 at both the Crystal Palace and 

 Birmingham, after his purchase by Messrs. 

 Newnham and Manby became the sire of a 

 number of pullets that were well known for 

 several years. The real incompatibles are 

 the extremely light ground-colour in pullets, 

 combined with solid black underparts, espe- 

 cially black fluff, in the cockerels. People 

 who wish to exhibit birds to win now must 

 breed from two pens. 



To breed exhibition cockerels, the first 

 essential is, as in all cases of double mat- 

 ing, a sufficiently good exhibition cockerel 



