BREEDING DUCK-WINGED GAME. 



369 



has to begin again. The one will perhaps look 

 out for a late-hatched bird, which had not 

 finished growing when winter stopped him, and 

 whose colour, for the same reason, has still to 

 come ; will inquire his breeding, and if possible 

 see the parent birds, and will know that — 

 properly mated — he will throw as good stuff as 

 his more fortunate brothers, whose price is four 

 or five times as much. On the other hand, the 

 mere ' long-purse ' man, who buys chiefly from 

 exhibition winners, certainly gets something 

 for his money, but unless he is more clever 

 than most, his next year's birds will frequently 

 be no credit to their parents. 



" Coming now to discuss the various matings 

 used in breeding Duckwings, we will consider 

 first one only employed for cock-breeding. This 

 mating is that of a Black-red cock with Ducktuing 

 hens. 



" For this mating the cock should be a pure 

 bred Black-red, with no points specially differing 

 from the standard ; but note the following: His 

 hackle must be free from stripes, and all one 

 colour. If it is a little dark it is no detriment, 

 provided that the one colour be adhered to. He 

 must also be exceptionally good in his black ; 

 and in judging for this, especially notice the 

 shoulder points and fluff. If the black is not 

 sound, the shoulder points of the cockerels will 

 be ticked, and the fluff will have a brownish tint, 

 running to greyish in old birds. His feather 

 should be exceptionally short and hard ; because 

 the Duckwings he is to be mated with are inclined 

 to be feathery. His wing-bars should be shaded 

 of purple rather than green. The back colour 

 should be one shade across, of course ; but it 

 should certainly not be light, rather of a maho- 

 gany cast. Be sure not to have a white stripe 

 up the quill of the sickles, as this will come out 

 in the chickens. 



" Now for the Duckwing hens to be mated 

 with the Black-red cock. Asa matter of theory, 

 none but sound-coloured hens should be selected ; 

 but all breeders know that very few such are to 

 be met with. One finds well-set-up birds with 

 coarse colour, and other defects, but with good 

 qualities that make one hesitate not to use them. 

 Hens, therefore, should be mated with the Black- 

 red cock that are either paler on breast than the 

 standard ; or not so pale on breast, but with 

 reddish sides and coarsish wing-ends ; or coarse- 

 tailed hens, otherwise good, should be used with 

 the Black-red cock rather than with a Duckwing, 

 because the Black-red will correct this defect 

 more surely than the Duckwing. 



"In regard to the produce of this mating, 

 only Golden Duckwing cockerels will be fit for 

 exhibition. The pullets are all Black-red. and 



being Duckwing-bred are useless for show pur- 

 poses. They are usually mated with a Duckwing 

 cock. Of the cockerels bred, a bird that is from 

 a coarse-coloured hen should never be mated up 

 again to breed pullets. 



" Our next mating will be more or less 

 successful both for cock- and pullet-breeding, 

 and consists of a Duckwing cock with Duckwing 

 hen.':. For this mating the body shape, head, 

 legs (e.xcept for colour), tail, and style of the 

 cock should be as in all modern Game. But 

 see that his hackle is creamy without streaks, 

 short and straight ; his body-colour golden right 

 across back ; bars purple ; wing-ends a nice 

 white diamond, free from redness ; from saddle 

 to root of the tail the colour gradually going 

 from golden to creamy white, as in hackle ; 

 breast, shoulders, and fluff a good sound black ; 

 legs willow (may be olive green, but not blue) ; 

 eye and face red. This last is a great point, 

 because seven out of ten Duckwings have bad 

 eyes at the present time. 



" The hens to mate with him, as with the 

 cock, will be similar to all modern Game except 

 for colour. The hackle should be black and 

 white mingled, a light shade preferable to dark 

 if not washy, but must be same shade over top 

 of head to face, capped birds being very objec- 

 tionable. The body-colour a steel-grey, free 

 from rust or redness, bars and wing-ends as 

 delicate as possible ; tail same shade as body, 

 but is generally found a little darker. The 

 breast salmon, free from smut ; head, legs, eye, 

 and face same as cock. N.B. — The darker 

 shaded hens should be mated up in this pen : 

 a sound colour of course preferred. 



"In regard to the produce of this mating, 

 both cockerels and pullets being pure-bred, will 

 be fit to mate for breeding afterwards in any 

 pen according to colour, and of course for 

 e.xhibition according to their quality. 



" Of matings for pullet-breeding there are 

 two, the first being that of a Duckwing cock with 

 Duckiving-brcd Black-red hens. Though this 

 mating is mainly for pullets, however, occasion- 

 ally a good cockerel may be thrown. The way the 

 hens are bred is described above. The advan- 

 tage to be expected from this mating is that the 

 pullets may come a shade lighter in colour, and 

 finer in feather and markings. In regard to 

 the produce, as a rule the cockerels should be 

 eaten, as they are good for neither show nor 

 stock, except for an occasional e.xception as 

 above. The Duckwing pullets may be mated 

 with either a pure Black-red or Golden Duck- 

 wing cock — Black-red for preference — their 

 colour being as a rule lighter and their breasts 

 paler than the standard. 



