SILKIES. 



491 



would breed a cock with a lot of white in tail, 

 though all his other qualities were nearly per- 

 fect ; you simply can't get rid of white tails 

 if you once get them. There are, of course, 

 a lot more things to avoid, such as wry tail, 

 squirrel tail, etc. ; but as colour and marking 

 are the two things most difficult to get, I deal 

 more with them here. 



"We have a very good Club in Scotland, 

 first formed in December, 1885. It holds its 

 annual show at different places throughout the 

 country, where it offers good prizes. There has 

 been great improvement worked in the Scotch 

 Grey by the Club ; small markings and pure 

 colour, viz. hard black and clean white, being 

 now the accepted standard. This is hard to 

 breed, but still we are coming nearer the ideal. 

 Cocks have still often a nasty brown on the 

 saddle, and a mousey colour over the back and 

 wings ; but to have a good Scotch Grey we 

 must get rid of all rustiness. I should prefer 

 an opener marked bird, if clean in colour, than 

 some of our small marked birds with the rusty 

 backs ; but some of our oldest breeders have 

 still that strain, and it is hard to get them to 

 come out of this evil, which quite spoils the 

 general appearance. What we really want is 

 only black and white ; the black glossy and 

 with a metallic lustre. The hens again ought 

 to be fine and even in markings, clean colour 

 and distinct, like shepherd tartan. 



" The young birds grow up quickly, and 

 thrive well in almost any climate, being ex- 

 tremely hardy. I favour high, dry, and rather 

 cold soil for bringing up show birds, however, 

 as the colour is always better, harder, and of a 

 more glossy black and clean white." 



The Standard will be found at the end of 

 the chapter. 



SILKIES. 

 These peculiar fowls are described by 

 several of the oldest naturalists, " hair like 

 cats " being one of the expressions employed 

 regarding their plumage. Hence they must 

 have been known from an early date ; but it is 

 remarkable that some later authors, such as 

 Willoughby and Ray, write of these accounts 

 as fanciful and unworthy of belief. The soft 

 and flossy plumage is not the only distinguish- 

 ing characteristic, however. The skin is of a 

 deep violet colour, almost black, and the perio- 

 steum, or covering of the bones, is of the same 

 colour: hence the fowl, though really excellent 

 eating, is rather repellent to ordinary notions 

 upon a dish. There is a moderate crest, stand- 

 ing well up, and in the cock rather backward. 

 The comb, face, and wattles are of a deep 



mulberry colour ; the ear-lobes should be a 

 bright or turquoise blue, though often tending 

 to the same purplish tinge ; the legs also are 

 of a deep bluish black. The strong dark blood 

 obviously runs through the whole fowl. The 

 legs are slightly feathered, and have five toes. 

 The general shape, in some respects, resembles 

 that of the Cochin, with ample cushion or 

 saddle, and short tail, but without any of the 

 latter breed's heaviness of carriage. The size 

 has varied considerably : formerly cocks scaled 

 4 lbs. and hens 3 lbs. ; but of recent years they 

 seem to have become smaller, and the name 

 itself is spelt " .Silkie " by true believers. 



The most obvious point is, of course, the 

 peculiarity of plumage. In fowls generally the 



Fig. 134. — Feather from Silkie Hen. 



stem of the feather is strong, and from it pro- 

 ceed fibres which are stiff and elastic, and 

 furnished with fibrils differently arranged on 

 the forward and backward sides, so as to inter- 

 lock and form the " vane " of the feather. In 

 the Silkie fowl's plumage the stem is thin and 

 weak, and the fibres weak and non-elastic, with 

 rudimentary hair-like fibrils which have no 

 holding power and no locking arrangement. 

 The result is the loose and flossy character 

 shown in Fig. 134, which is a body feather from 

 a Silkie hen. Ordinary Cochin plumage is what 

 one might almost call half-way towards this 

 silky character ; and it is not surprising, there- 

 fore, that the Silkie should present much 



