THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



" The Redcap cock is a fine-bodied bird 

 of noble appearance. Nothing could be more 

 ornamental than his large, symmetrically-shaped 

 comb, full of a great number of fine long 

 spikes, with leader behind. It should be well 

 carried, firm and straight, and standing well 

 off the eyes. For years Redcaps were bred 

 with very ugly combs — and some are yet to 

 be seen winning prizes — and to this fact may 

 be attributed much of the unpopularity of the 

 breed in many parts of this country. The 

 comb should be as large as can be comfortably 

 carried by the bird. In size it should not greatly 

 exceed five and a half inches in length and three 

 and three-quarter inches in breadth. Birds with 

 ugly combs should not be used for breeding. 

 Frost seldom injures the large combs of Red- 

 caps, for I have had birds roosting in plantations 

 with 26° of frost, and not one has suffered in the 

 slightest degree. The hen is a shapely bird, 

 very active, and a good forager, and as a layer 

 is second to none. She will generally lay from 

 150 to 200 eggs per year. Redcaps are long- 

 lived birds, and very hardy, and hens three and 

 four years old will frequently lay as many eggs 

 as a pullet. The eggs are white, or slightly 

 tinted, very rich, and of a beautifully delicate 

 flavour, and of good size, weighing about 2 ozs. 

 The hens rarely go broody. 



" The chickens are not at all difficult to rear. 

 To produce strong healthy chickens that will 

 give no trouble in rearing, the breeding-pen 

 should consist of a strong active cockerel, 

 mated with large healthy hens of two, three, or 

 four years old. They should have a free range, 

 on grass if possible, and after being mated up, 

 should not be disturbed, either by sending to 

 shows, changing the cockerel, or putting in fresh 

 hens. They breed remarkably true to colour, 

 but will throw some single-combed chickens, 

 especially when the cock is of a different strain 

 from the hens. For breeding exhibition birds it 

 is best to keep to one strain. 



" March and April are the best months for 

 hatching. The chickens feather quickly, and 

 should be carefully watched for insect pests in 

 the hot weather, for these often play great havoc 

 with them. Good plain food such as biscuit 

 meal, sharps, barley meal, wheat, barley and 

 maize (occasionally) will be found the best foods 

 for them. Overcrowding is bad for them, and 

 confined runs are the causes of many failures in 

 rearing them. Pullets hatched in March will 

 begin to lay about September and October, but 

 they are not first-rate winter layers except when 

 well sheltered and warmly housed. They are 

 very good for table if reared on large runs ; 

 their flesh is white and of delicious flavour, very 



nearly approaching the Game fowl. They make 

 a splendid bird for crossing with almost any of 

 the other breeds." 



The main characteristic of the Redcap is its 

 immense rose comb, standing high as well as 

 wide on the head, and covered on the top 

 all over by unusually long spikes. The 

 wattles are long, and the ear-lobes are red, not 

 white as in other Hamburghs. The cock's 

 hackles and saddle feathers are rich red striped 

 with black ; breast and tail black ; back red, 

 spangled with half-mooned or crescentic black 

 spangles. The hen's tail is also black, hackles 

 red striped with black, body plumage reddish 

 brown spangled with black crescentic spangles. 

 It cannot fail to be noticed how closely the large 

 size and crescentic spangling resemble the old 

 Yorkshire Pheasant, the largest parent-breed of 

 the Golden-spangled Hamburghs already treated 

 of ; and if that old breed were, as supposed by 

 Mr. Wragg, crossed with Game, the further gain 

 in size and richness of the egg is exactly what 

 might have been expected. 



There can be no question that the Redcap is 

 a most valuable fowl from an economic point of 

 view. It has a really good-sized carcase of good 

 quality ; and in regard to laying, stands almost 

 alone in the degree to which prolificacy extends 

 late in life, even to three or four years old. This 

 is probably connected with the curious fact that 

 the pullets are not as a rule early layers, but 

 generally seven months old before they com- 

 mence. A farmer once told us that he had a 

 hen which laid nearly as well as ever up to eight 

 years old, but this was exceptional. They are 

 hardy in rearing, and a first-class farmer's fowl. 



Breeding Redcaps requires some care ; but 

 that care should not be given to wrong objects. 

 There has been effort to get " neat " combs ; and 

 we have seen it stated that the 

 Breeding spangling of a hen was " as good as 



Redcaps. a Hamburgh." It has no business 



to be as good as, or in fact at all 

 like that of a Hamburgh, and any such ideas 

 will only destroy the Redcap, without making a 

 decent Hamburgh of it after all. Its proper 

 spangling is crescentic, not round ; the spangles 

 should be as black and dense as possible, but 

 have not the Mooney gloss ; the ground-colour 

 is red or reddish-brown ; the cock's breast is 

 black ; the comb must be very large : whenever 

 that point is lost, the bird will be a Redcap no 

 longer. Size of body in itself must never be over- 

 looked, and it must not be forgotten that the 

 ear-lobes are red. We have seen already birds 

 which in their whitish ear-lobes, smaller size, 

 and too great approach to Hamburgh ground 

 and spangling, gave regrettable evidence of an 



