PILE AND DUCKWING LEGHORNS. 



417 



of colouring, and more of the Leghorn style 

 and carriage. There is no doubt that this 

 cross-bred Game hen has transmitted to her 

 progeny a certain raciness of character, for 

 which they have always been noted. 



" From the year 1894 we bred Piles and Piles 

 together, and have been successful in producing 

 good cockerels and pullets from the same pen. 

 We have occasional recourse to a 

 Breeding Brown cockerel for change of blood, 



Leghorns. ^.nd when this has been necessary 

 we have made up a pen of speci- 

 ally selected pullets, the offspring from which 

 have been carefully kept apart from the other 

 stock, and during the following season the cock- 

 erels have been mated with Pile-bred hens, and 

 the pullets to Pile-bred males. The result from 

 this system of introducing new blood has been 

 generally satisfactory. Some fanciers prefer 

 to use a Brown hen for this purpose, but we 

 have not tried it, as the method described above 

 has always been attended with good results. 



" So far as the breeding pen is concerned, 

 it is only necessary to say, Let its occupants, 

 males and females, be as perfect of their kind as 

 it is possible to get them. We rarely mate up 

 any birds that are not fit for the show pen, the 

 exception, perhaps, being in the case of a bird 

 possessing some strongly developed essential 

 characteristics, which it is desirable to perpetu- 

 ate ; and even then it is better to allow a 

 separate mating, so that the results may be 

 more carefully noted. A few good birds, judici- 

 ously chosen, will give far better results than 

 a larger number. 



" The beautiful combination of colour in 

 Pile Leghorns will always commend them to 

 fanciers, while from the utility point of view it 

 is difficult to surpass them. They are strong 

 and hardy, and thrive well in close confine- 

 ment ; they lay an abundance of good-sized 

 eggs, and, of course, are non-sitters like all 

 the other varieties." 



The chief difficulty in breeding Pile Leg- 

 horns, we understand, is to get the pure white 

 breast and tail in the cocks, and clear wings in 

 the pullets. While seeking for these points 

 specially, equal care should be taken to select 

 a male bird whose back is as dark as possible. 

 A few mate up different pens, choosing dark- 

 breasted rose-winged hens by preference for 

 cockerel-breeding, and lighter hens for pullet- 

 breeding. It is when richness of colour seems 

 quite to have run out, that resort must be had to 

 a cross from the Brown, as in Pile Gam.e. 



Duckwing Leghorns were also produced by 

 Mr. G. Payne. It is true that a cockerel of this 



colour was shown at the Palace in 1886 by Mr. 

 Terrot ; but this bird was acknowledged to 

 be an almost solitary cull from a cross between 

 Silver Grey Dorking and Duckwing 

 Duckwing Game, and no other results from that 

 Leghoms. experiment were ever seen ; whereas 

 Mr. Payne's birds brought out the 

 following season, quite differently bred, were 

 but the forerunners of a number more, which 

 took hold as a popular variety. They were 

 stated to have been first originated from some of 

 the wasters bred in producing Piles from Whites 

 and Brown Leghorns, which had come with salmon 

 breasts, and a brownish blue all over the body, 

 with brassy hackles and ashy grey under-parts. 

 After exhibiting the birds thus bred for a 

 season or two, Mr. Payne visited Antwerp in 

 January 1889 with a collection of his birds (his 

 Duckwings taking first and medal there), and 

 obtained at the Zoological Gardens a cock for 

 crossing of the long-tailed Japanese Phoenix or 

 Yokohama breed, of silver-grey colour. This 

 cross effected very great improvement in colour, 

 but its effects were seen for several seasons in 

 sickles which swept the ground, and which were 

 only gradually bred out again. From the 

 produce of this cross was selected the bird 

 which won at the Dairy Show that same year, 

 and was purchased by the late Mr. Hinson, to 

 whom and to Mr. Gerahty the further breed- 

 ing of this beautiful variety is mainly due. 



The colour of Duckwing Leghorns is in all 

 but one point practically the same as in the 

 corresponding varieties of Duckwing Game. 

 That point is the striping of the hackle : as the 

 Brown Leghorn is a striped breed, so the Duck- 

 winged varieties have the longer feathers of the 

 hackle somewhat striped also. Mr. Payne had 

 made no attempt to breed Golden and Silver 

 strains, but as the variety was bred more 

 generally this became inevitable. A good gold- 

 coloured cockerel almost always bred pullets 

 red or rusty on the wings ; hence pullets had to 

 be bred from lighter or more silvery cocks. And 

 conversely, good-coloured Gold cocks could only 

 be produced from more or less rusty females. 

 Both classes are now recognised by the Standard, 

 and are necessary for breeding, but at the 

 majority of shows, where there is one "Duck- 

 wing" class only, the winners are usually Golden- 

 Duckwing cocks, with almost silvery hens. 



Silver Duckwings, so iMr. Hinson wrote us, 

 are usually bred from one pen, the same mating 



producing both sexes good if the 

 Breeding strain is well bred, and the colour 

 Leghorns^ and markings sound on both sides. 



Where this is not so, somewhat in- 

 ferior colour in either, or in both, often breeds 



