BREEDING BROWN-KEDS. 



51S 



which, for both type and style, could credit- 

 ably show the best Black-red pullets the way. 

 The chief fault at present is too much feather 

 and a certain softness of feather. 

 Brown-red which seems incidental to the pale 

 Bantams. lemon colour. The little Brown-red 

 lends itself very accommodatingly 

 to the requirements of those who live in smoky 

 and dusty places, and can be kept where a 

 Pile would be smoked out. They are also 

 easier to breed good than either Piles or 

 Duckwings, and with a little management 

 could easily be bred from one pen. 



Both sexes should have dark, mulberry - 

 coloured faces, " gipsy " as it is termed, and 

 the eye should be as dark as it is possible to 

 get it. A light e)'e is indicative of a cross, 

 as is also a red face, both serious faults in 

 the show-pen. The legs and feet should be 

 almost black. The neck and saddle hackle 

 of the cock should be a light lemon colour, 

 not orange, but more of a mustard colour, 

 with the back and saddle a richer, deeper 

 lemon ; breast a black ground-colour, with a 

 pale lemon lacing (sharp and well defined) 

 round each feather, and extending well down 

 to the thighs ; wing-bars and secondaries black, 

 free from all lacing, rust, etc., shoulder points 

 black and free from lacing, tail green black. 

 As a rule the feathering is neither so fme nor 

 so short as in Black-reds, these points havnig 

 been sacrificed to obtain the light top-colour- 

 ing, which a few years ago was more of an 

 orange tint than a deep lemon. Such a bird 

 now would have no chance, even if harder in 

 feather, so much does the lemon craze rule 

 everything. In type, shape, and size, the 

 Black-red ideal should be sought, though as 

 yet some of the best Brown-reds are rather too 

 large. 



The exhibition hen should have a pale 

 lemon neck hackle, with a very narrow stripe 

 of black running down each side of the shaft. 

 A most important item is that she should not 

 be coppery capped. It is one of the great 

 difficulties that engage the breeder's attention 

 to secure the pale lemon lacing from crown 

 of head downwards, as such birds are apt to be 

 also laced on shoulders and back. The breast, 

 as in the cock, should be exquisitely laced with 

 pale lemon from the throat right down to the 

 top of her thighs. The body, wing, and tail 

 should be a glossy black ; style, shape, and 

 size as in Black-reds. 



In mating up for cockerel-breeding, a 

 first-class exhibition bird must be chosen as 

 lord of the harem, with sharp, clear breast 

 lacing, a beautiful lemon top and hackle, but 



free from lacing on his shoulder butts, which 

 should be black ; with a black eye and dark 

 mulberry face, two very important items, and 

 the style, shape, and size of an 

 Breeding ideal Black-red. If mated to proper 

 Brown-reds, cockerel-breeding pullets, fine in 

 breast-lacing, as pale as possible 

 in neck hackle, with clear lemon caps, and 

 the requisite points of limb, style, and shape, 

 he is bound to produce good, bright lemon 

 cockerels. Never mind if these mates are a 

 bit laced on back and wings, all the better, 

 even down to thighs and saddle. These are 

 invaluable for the purpose in hand, and the 

 best should again be chosen from the produce 

 for ne.xt year's breeding. They are often such 

 as money cannot buy, though in the show- 

 pen they are useless. 



To produce exhibition pullets you want a 

 cockerel more of the orange shade of colour, 

 a sort of second-rate show bird. He should be 

 sharply defined in breast lacing right down to 

 the thighs, but free from it elsewhere. There 

 should be no patchiness of lacing on breast, 

 and eye and face should be sound in colour. 

 The pullets to go with him exactly follow the 

 show type ideal, the lacing on breast being a 

 pale lemon, sharp and well cut, taken well 

 down to the thighs, and the neck hackle a 

 pale lemon striped narrowly with black, and 

 pure lemon capped, not coppery. The remain- 

 ing colour should be a glossy black, free from 

 lacing, rust, and shaftiness. 



I am not much in favour of crossing with 

 Birchen blood ; but it has been done again 

 and again to secure the pale lemon colour, as 

 a Birchen is a cross between a Brown-red and 

 a Duckwing. It must, however, always be at 

 some expense of the mulberry face and dark 

 eye. Where the top-colour is running too dark, 

 and lighter birds are out of reach, the only- 

 remedy appears to be to use a Birchen, with 

 as silvery white top-colour as possible, and 

 put him to three or four well-laced pullets, 

 in this case not necessarily so pale in their 

 lacing as those required for cockerel-breeding 

 with a Brown-red. In all these arrangements, 

 if a cock be used, put with him pullets, and 

 if a cockerel put hens. Grand light lemon- 

 coloured exhibition cockerels should result, if 

 you can keep the dark gipsy face and black 

 eye. One of these cockerels should be mated 

 up with the same hens the next season, whilst 

 another might be put to the best-coloured and 

 tallest pullets, with darkest faces and eyes. 

 You would still retain the desired colour, and 

 at the same time be getting depth of colour 

 in face and eye. There would be some 



