BLACK HAMBURGHS. 



445 



bright carmine head and face and comb, smooth 

 white kid ear-lobe, and lustrous green plumage, 

 making a most beautiful whole. The ear-lobe 

 is considerably larger now than even twenty 

 years ago, that of the cock being about the s-'ze 

 of a florin ; it should be round in shape and 

 smooth all over, perfectly free from folds or 

 lines or creases. Such a lobe is, of course, very 

 apt to be accompanied by more or less white in 

 face, especially under the eye, a fault much 

 more common in Blacks than in any other 

 varieties of Hamburgh. Very few old birds are 

 indeed free from it, but in young ones it is a 

 serious fault. A gipsy tint sometimes seen is 

 also disliked, a cherry red being the desired 

 colour. In combs also there has been a percep- 

 tible change in fashion, in the direction of a 

 longer spike or " leader " at the back, especially 

 in the cock. Both sexes are of rather larger 

 size than other Hamburghs, except perhaps 

 some of the larger Silver Mooneys, and the cock 

 is of somewhat more commanding carriage, and 

 should be particularly long and full in feather 

 about the saddle and tail, the sickles and side- 

 feathers being broad, but as sound and close 

 in web as those of a Game cock. The shanks 

 should be dark leaden blue, and are very often 

 nearly black up to a year old, but after that 

 usually get lighter with age. 



But the great point in both sexes is "colour," 

 which should be of the glossiest green lustre 

 which it is possible to get, as distinct from either 



a purple or mazarine gloss, or a 

 Breeding mere raven black. The bird should 



Hamburghs. be a green bird, rather than a black 



one, though of course the colour 

 is scarcely this about the fluff". It is hard to get 

 really green tails, but the ends even of the true 

 tail feathers ought to be green, and the side- 

 feathers conspicuously so. The neck hackle 

 also is often more black than green ; and when 

 really bright is too apt to have red feathers 

 interspersed among the others. Then also 

 the purple or the mazarine is cropping up every 

 now and then.* Altogether, breeding Black 

 Hamburghs for exhibition is not easier than 

 breeding other varieties, and requires much care 

 to get the desired " colour " in combination 

 with other points. 



These other points have been increased in 

 difficulty by the changes above noted, which are 

 much to be regretted, and have, as is well 

 known, actually driven several eminent amateurs 

 out of the fancy. The long spikes or " leaders " 



* Bars of purple or mazarine, something hlie those of a Pen- 

 cilled Hamburgh, will often occur from even a change of diet. 

 or any slight illness, while the feather is growing. Even marked 

 changes in the weather at that time, appear to leave such traces 

 occasionally. 



to the comb now desired, are almost impossible 

 to keep up naturally, and nearly every comb 

 now exhibited shows marks of treatment, as 

 may be seen in those "glossy "-looking portions 

 already referred to on page 234. The exagger- 

 ated lobes are often rather too long or mis- 

 shaped, and trimmed up to the necessary 

 roundness. On cocks as now exhibited, these 

 large lobes have become almost as liable to 

 scab and blister as the faces of Spanish, and 

 require constant care of the same sort ; and 

 those of the pullets and hens, though much 

 smaller in actual measurement, are now preferred 

 larger in proportion than those of the cocks. 

 To obtain these it is necessary to select cocks 

 or cockerels for puUet-breeding with abnormally 

 large ears, which are almost useless for cockerel- 

 breeding, and the male progeny from these is 

 only valuable for the same purpose again. The 

 size of the ear-lobes makes it especially neces- 

 sary to be very careful in selecting a smooth 

 unbroken surface, free from creases, to which 

 many are liable. 



Colour is now bred in two ways. One way, 

 no doubt the better if it can be followed, is to 

 mate up the greenest and most glossy birds 

 on both sides, carefully avoiding any purple 

 or mazarine shade. If the male bird can be 

 found bright enough, and the females are also 

 good in colour, the pullets produced will in 

 colour be all that can be desired, as well as the 

 cockerels. But it is not at all easy to obtain such 

 birds ; and it will be found that many of the 

 male produce from the very best-coloured hens 

 or pullets, have a great many red hackles 

 amongst their neck and saddle feathers. Such 

 a red-hackled bird, bred from very lustrous 

 hens, or from the same stock as a good exhi- 

 bition strain of females, is therefore often mated 

 with such hens or pullets to keep up the colour, 

 and will often produce good green pullets even 

 from hens by no means specially good in colour, 

 if of the same breeding. 



The other points already mentioned tend 

 further to develop this double-mating system. 

 It is obvious that for cock-breeding we must 

 have a male as perfect as possible in comb, with 

 ear-lobe not larger than desired, smooth, and 

 well-shaped, a red face with no trace of white, 

 and plumage entirely free from red feathers or 

 purple gloss ; while the hens must be as glossy 

 as possible, but will be all the better for smaller 

 ear-lobes than are desired for the show-pen. 

 For pullet-breeding, on the other hand, we must 

 have in all the hens the full-sized ear-lobes 

 desired, and a male with extra large lobes as 

 above, and brilliant colour ; he may, however, 

 have a considerable amount cf red in hackle. 



