FO/NTS OF SILVER.SFANGLED HAMBURGHS. 



431 



The comb of an exhibition Silver-spangled 



cock should be even, firmly set on the head, 



long, and moderately broad, full of " work " or 



points, free from hollow in the 



Silver centre, and ending in a long spike 



Spangled ,. ,J . ^. & , => '„, 



Hamburghs. slightly pointing upwards. 1 he 



beak should be horn colour, ear- 

 lobes a clear white, smooth, and as nearly round 

 as possible ; face red, quite free from white ; 



Fig. 122. — Hackles of Silver-spangled Cock. 



and eyes a dark hazel or red ; legs a slaty blue. 

 The neck should be nicely arched, with very full 

 hackle falling well on to the shoulders ; the 

 breast full, broad, and prominent ; back a 

 moderate length, broad and level across, not 

 round or up at one side ; tail full, the sickles 

 long and gracefully carried. Formerly the 

 tail was liked rather high, though not squirrel- 

 fashion, but is now preferred carried well back, 

 as are all Hamburghs. The whole carriage 

 should be graceful, jaunty, and cheerful. In 

 regard to the plumage, the ground-colour should 



be pure silvery-white, quite free from straw or 

 yellow, though at the end of the season, if 

 exposed to the weather and sun, many good 

 birds will turn rather yellowish. The head and 

 hackle were formerly white ; but the hackles and 

 saddle feathers are now bred with black tips, 

 the centres of which are dagger-shaped, while 

 the fringe of the hackle extends the spot almost 

 into a diamond. The saddle-hackles are the 

 same, more heavily tipped, and the back is 

 more heavily spotted still. Fig. 122 represents 

 a saddle and hackle feather properly ticked. 

 Sometimes birds otherwise good will have 

 hackles and shoulders a little rusty or yellow : 

 this is a great fault, of a worse kind than the 

 slight tendency to straw which may be appa- 

 rent in a good bird that has run long at large 

 in the sun. The breast and thighs should be 

 evenly spangled with round spangles, of a rich, 

 satiny green-black, as large as possible so that 

 they show the white ; white throat or black 

 thighs are the most usual faults here. The 

 spangles which form the wing-bars must be 

 especially even and distinct, as also those on 

 the ends of the secondaries, which form the so- 

 called " steppings " of the wings. Shoulders 

 and wing-bows have dagger-shaped spots 

 somewhat like the saddle-feathers, but shorter 

 and broader. Each feather of the true tail 

 and also of the sickles and side feathers, 

 should be white with a large spangle at the 

 end, those of the true tail being more of a 

 half- moon shape. 



Ideally the hen should correspond with the 

 cock, with head-points in proportion, and white 

 ear-lobes ; but this is still an ideal, the combina- 

 tion of good lobes and perfect spangling being 

 still an achievement for the breeders of the future. 

 The spangles should be of an extremely rich and 

 satiny green-black, looking almost as if raised 

 or embossed, and the back should be rather 

 broad, so as to give room for them to show 

 well. The breast must be spangled from the 

 throat right round to the fluff, good distinct bars 

 on the wings, and the tail clear, with a spangle 

 at end of each feather. The spangles should be 

 as large as possible, so long as there is white 

 enough to distinguish them. The marking on 

 head and neck has gone through a series of 

 remarkable changes, owing to which the most 

 successful winners of the present day are 

 neither as formerly, nor as described in the 

 Standard. When Mr. Beldon wrote in 1870, 

 the neck of a good exhibition hen was really 

 spangled from top to bottom, as in Fig. 123, 

 exactly drawn from feathers of a noted cup 

 winner ; even close to the head, it will be seen, 

 there were very fair spangles. The Standard 



