SICILIAN BUTTERCUPS. 



=;o6i: 



feathers, so much to be desired, with good 

 wing and shoulder marking, do not show the 

 clear breasts ; while clear-breasted birds are 

 quite likely to be deficient in wing markings, 



Sicilian Buttercup Cock. 



ist Wolverhampton and Guildford and 4tti Palace ; the 



property of Mr. J. C. Chambers. 



and show both laced and spangled, or all laced 

 feathers on back. 



" This might, perhaps, with care, be over- 

 come, and I for one am quite willing to try 

 to do so, but if marked breasts are ever to be 

 allowed, which many seem to think probable, 

 why not now ? I much prefer the nice clean 

 breasts myself, if it can be obtained in connec- 

 tion with good markings. 



"If we wish to breed females having the 

 spangled feathers, care must be taken in selec- 

 tion of male birds. I have bred Buttercups 

 exclusively for several years, and caring for 

 them myself and being with them every day in 

 the year, I have studied them a good deal. I 

 have not been able to find that males bred from 

 hens showing spangled feathers have any 

 marking to distinguish them from those bred 

 from laced females. The pencilled saddle on 

 male may indicate lacing on female. It is, 

 then, quite necessary, if we wish to improve our 

 birds, to know the parentage of the male bird 

 used in our breeding pen, for many a good- 

 looking bird, well up to the standard, is 

 hatched from a female very poorl\- marked 

 indeed. 



" Our nicest females mated with a male bird 

 hatched from a poorly marked female, will 

 give us a large percentage of poorly marked 

 stock." 



Another American breeder, Mr. E. E. Rey- 



nolds (faced by the difficulty alluded to by 

 Mrs. Carr of securing good, sharp markings 

 on top in the hens with clear breast colour 

 beneath), practises double-mating, which, i( 

 really necessary to get standard points, will 

 seriously affect the lasting popularity of the 

 breed. The partly white and red ear-lobe he 

 found another difficulty, and writes: 



"Nearly all the Sicilian chicks will show a 

 greater part of ear-lobe white while young, say 

 four months. After that they will begin to 

 change and become almost red, or only show- 

 ing a little white. I have found by breeding 

 from a male whose ear-lobe is a mixture of 

 half of each will give much better results both 

 in males and females, and will not as a rule 

 show any white in their offspring. 



" Breeding for males and females, I have 

 found it impossible to produce the proper 

 colour and markings from one mating. There- 

 fore, I have used double-matings for four 

 years. 



" For cockerel breeding I use a cock with 

 rich, even, dark red all over ; clean breast with 

 plenty of black between shoulders, with black 

 wing flights and tail and spangled on fluff with 

 undercolour dark slaty, but never use a male 

 for cockerel breeding with black in breast or in 

 wings nor one showing any greenish bars on 

 outer surface of wings. The females I use for 

 this mating are two-year-old birds of partridge 



mm 



wmm 



Sicilian Buttercup Hen. 



1st {cock and hen class) Palace and ist Wolverhampton ; the 

 property of Mr. J. C. Chambers. 



marked backs with some lacing in hackle, and 

 dark in sides of breast and fluff. 



" For pullet breeding I use a cock bird of a 

 light red, even surface colour all over, hackle 

 back and saddle with light salmon breast, 

 solid colour (no black), undercolour about half 



