468 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



the Silver Dorking ; others, which have the 

 preference, are warmer in colour, like the dark 

 Dorking. In the exhibition salmon cock the 

 beak, legs, and feet are white ; any pink colour 

 on the leg should be dealt with severely if it is 

 too prevalent, and should be eradicated. The 

 skin also is white and very fine ; a coarse, red 

 skin is a distinct fault. The face, lobes, and 

 wattles are red, nearly concealed by the muffling 

 and beard, which is black, not ticked with white. 

 Neck and saddle-hackles are straw colour, quite 

 free from any stripe, although many cocks still 

 retain the Brahma hackle, and probably will do 

 so for some time yet. The breast is black; 

 very few are sound in breast colour; the majority 

 show white mottling, particularly towards the 

 bottom, others even have feathers tipped with 

 bronze or red. More latitude is allowed with 

 the back and shoulders, which may be a mixture 

 of black, white, and brown. The wing-bow is 

 straw colour, the wing-bar black, and the outside 

 of the secondaries white. The tail, under colour, 

 and thighs are black ; the tail coverts may be 

 brown. Some cocks with much less black in 

 them have the breast mottled with red and 

 white, and the back and shoulders a rich red 

 brown ; these are very handsome, but not in 

 accord with the present standard. 



" The Salmon hen is much like a Wheaten 

 Game. The head and neck are a wheaten brown, 

 broadly striped with a darker brown. Beard 

 and muffling (both are much heavier than in the 

 cock) are a creamy white. Back, shoulders, and 

 wings wheaten brown, the colour running lighter 

 on the sides until it meets the cream colour of 

 the breast, thighs, and under-colour. Primaries, 

 secondaries, and tail are wheaten brown ; these 

 at present are very imperfect, for a great deal of 

 black or white, or both, is to be found in most 

 hens. Face, wattles, legs, and feet are the same 

 as in the cocks. The definition of the colour as 

 'wheaten brown' is not a happy one ; it may mean 

 the warm brown of red wheat or the much lighter 

 shade of white wheat, and the latter seems to be 

 the colour which is required. The fashionable 

 Salmon hen is a warm cream colour with a pale 

 brown colour on her neck, back, and tail ; a 

 delicate pink or salmon shade in these colours is 

 preferable to a faded, washed-out white colour. 

 Any trace of buff, gold, or hard brassy colour 

 should be discarded. 



" There is a very handsome strain of what 

 may be called red wheaten brown hens ; the 

 back and sides are blotched with a deep chestnut 

 brown, which runs on to the tail, and the hackles 

 are broadly striped with the same colour; they 

 have a rough, hardy look, but are too dark and 

 red for the colouring of the standard. 



" The Ermine or Light Faverolles are 

 marked like light Brahmas, and, remembering 

 their origin, it will be found quite as difficult 

 to obtain the clear, densely striped hackles with 

 pure white body colour free from ticking. The 

 suggestions before given for breeding light 

 Brahmas should be closely followed in mating. 



" In mating Salmon Faverolles, comb, width 

 of back and between the thighs should be 

 attended to in both sexes. The comb should be 

 free from side sprigs, and, if possible, of fine 

 quality in the hen, and upright. The best 

 combs procurable should be used, for faults here 

 are sure to appear in the chickens. A cock with 

 heavy beard and muffling is valuable as a 

 breeder. His neck and saddle hackles should 

 be a yellow straw shade in preference to white 

 for cockerel breeding ; a slight stripe or ticking 

 of brown or brownish grey may be tolerated in 

 a pullet breeder. Hens with any black in the 

 hackle, even at the tip, should be cautiously bred 

 from, unless it is known their mother was better 

 than they in hackle colour. The feather itself 

 should be rather short, but broad, to give room 

 for the darker centre. The breast of the cock 

 should be a solid black from throat to thigh ; 

 many are ticked with white, and a few have a 

 mottling of red or brown, and these are likely to 

 breed better coloured chickens than those ticked 

 with white. The sounder the black of the thigh 

 and under-colour the better ; cocks showing 

 much white, breed cockerels lighter than them- 

 selves, and pullets too weak, almost white in 

 under-colour. The tail coverts should be a dark 

 chestnut brown in a pullet-breeding cock, and 

 the rest of the tail black. The sheen on the 

 black throughout the cock should be a rich 

 metallic bronze, not a beetle green shade. The 

 hens should be as near the standard colour 

 as can be obtained ; the weak points are wings 

 and tail, where black and white are sure to be 

 found. Hens with much white in wing should 

 be mated with a bird sound in wing, with very 

 little white on the outside of the secondaries, 

 plenty of bronze on the shoulders, and very little 

 white ticking in his under-colour. The brown 

 colour of the tail may be improved by selecting 

 a cock with abundance of coppery brown lustre 

 and brown tail coverts ; if the tails of his 

 daughters show an improvement, he may be 

 mated up next year with the best of them in 

 that respect. The shaft and down of the feather 

 quite to the skin should be a creamy or wheaten 

 brown ; hens with black or ashen grey down 

 throw a number of pullets with black in wing 

 and tail. 



" Faverolles chickens are very hardy and 

 easy to rear, either artificially or naturally, 



