3" 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



find single combs in the chickens, nor do we 

 ever hatch chicks with feathered legs. Much 

 advance has already been made in their breeding, 

 and although as yet not the fowl for the million, 

 some of the very best breeders have been work- 

 ing at them. Probably we have almost bid adieu 

 to the black-tailed cocks which have been seen, 

 and which looked so extremely mongrelised in 

 the show pen, that if it had not been for the 

 graceful beauty of the female, I do not think 

 they ever would have ' taken.' She was always 

 attractive, and far ahead of the male bird from 

 the beginning. But even the hen was at first too 

 red in ground-colour, and showed a dirty blue- 

 black hackle. The new century has inaugurated 

 better quality ; the red is changing to buff, and 

 the nondescript blue-black dirty hackle to one 

 composed of a clean blend of buff and white. 



" Little can be added in regard to the breed- 

 ing of lacing in these birds, for the theory was 

 exhausted on the subject of Silvers, and the 

 colour directions closely follow in principle those 

 on Golds. Just as the breeder would disqualify 

 from the breeding pen any white feathers in 

 Golds, so he must be as severe in discountenanc- 

 ing black feathers in Buff Laces. 



" Some writers have quarrelled with the 

 nomenclature and the name of Buff Laced ; they 

 say a buff-laced fowl is a fowl with buff lacing, 

 whereas the one in question is a white-laced 

 buff. Can anyone point out, however, a fowl 

 whose name conveys an accurate description of 

 its marking } If there is any attempt at descrip- 

 tion, we invariably find that the first word of the 

 compound designates the ground-colour, the 

 second its qualification. For example, silver- 

 spangled Hamburg, silver ground-colour, with 

 spangling ; and so also the gold - spangled 

 Hamburg, silver-pencilled Hamburg, silver-laced 

 Wyandotte, gold-laced Wyandotte, and logically 

 the buff-laced Wyandotte. In no case is the 

 colour of the spangle, pencil, or lacing, expressed. 

 Why therefore should we be compelled to de- 

 scribe our Buff Laces in any other way ? It is a 

 euphonious name, a pretty name for a pretty fowl. 



" Breeders must face the difficulty of getting 

 the pure white lacing round the buff feather. It 

 will be a most arduous task, and will 1 doubt not 

 cause as much trouble as the mossy feather in 

 Silvers and Golds. Whilst in the incipient stages, 

 when dark hackles in pullets were tolerated, the 

 white lacing was fairly distinct ; but now that 

 we insist upon a true buff ground-colour, and 

 true hackles, the lacing has appeared to be less 

 distinct. Perfection cannot be attained at a leap, 

 and there is little doubt that in time we shall 

 get what we are trying for — a true buff feather 

 with a pure white lacing. 



" About the same time that Buff Laces were 

 introduced, there appeared the Violettes. They 

 may be described as a Buff Wyandotte with an 

 Andalusian blue lacing, or as the same as the Gold 

 Wyandottes, but substituting the blue lacing and 

 fluff for the black. I consider them to be 

 sports from the Buff Lace, or perhaps they 

 appeared in the breeder's yard who was trying 

 to make the Buff Lace from a Gold cross. This 

 surmise seems the more probable from the fact 

 that the American breeder who was responsible 

 for the introduction of Violettes and Buff Laces 

 was also noted for his Golden Wyandottes, and I 

 believe kept no others. It was from this breeder 

 that I first purchased my own Buff Laces, and 

 they repeatedly threw Violettes amongst their 

 progeny, till I got rid of the strain altogether, 

 and started afresh after my own ideas of produc- 

 ing a good Buff Lace. The original American 

 Buff Laces I gave to a farmer, and he has bred 

 from them some Violette pullets as well laced as 

 any I have seen in the show pen. So much for 

 the relationship of the two varieties. The 

 Violette is a nice Wyandotte, but to my fancy 

 is not ' distinct ' enough, as florists say of flowers, 

 to become very popular or to catch the eye.'' 



Blue-laced Wyandottes are now recognised 

 in the Standard. In breeding them, it will clear 

 up some of the points mentioned in the above, 

 to recognise fully and clearly the relationslup of 

 the blue lacing. As already stated in Chapter 

 XIX., whenever we cross black or very dark 

 plumage with white, we always get a certain 

 proportion of blue, either of one shade, or in the 

 form of cuckoo barring, along with a certain pro- 

 portion of the original white or black. Where 

 the black is mixed with colour, as in a Golden 

 laced fowl, or a black-breasted Red, the oj^posites 

 appear to contend with each other specially, 

 leaving the coloured part of the feather more or 

 less unaffected ; so that we get a Pile in Game, 

 or a white-laced bird instead of a black-laced 

 one. Thus the blue lacing simply means that 

 we have in it a bird with the black and white 

 tendencies mingled, or balanced. In this way 

 the blue marking is often most plastic in a 

 breeder's hands, as shown in the brief account 

 of Mr. Brackenbury's proceedings given above. 

 It is always half way to iv/iite, and if this be re- 

 membered, the course will often be clear, and it 

 may be most valuable material. 



The greatest difficulty in breeding both these 

 varieties arises from the combination of buff with 

 white in the feather. We have seen already, in 

 one buff breed after another, how all experience 

 has taught Buff breeders to avoid any trace of 

 white in the feather. The only way to meet the 

 difficulty appears to be the selection of the most 



