PARTRIDGE PEKINS. 



525 



cocks, choose a sire of the darker shade, with 

 good level ground-colour, no white in tail or 

 flight, tail well barred down to the root of 

 each feather, fluff barred down to the skin, 

 although this is difficult to get in cocks. Mate 

 him to three or four pullets or hens of the 

 medium shade, equally good in all points just 

 named. Reject birds having white tail, but a 

 little black does not matter at all. 



In the pullet pen I should use a lighter 

 shade of cock, but quite free from any signs 

 of brassy feathers on back, which is a grievous 

 fault. See that the breast is clear and finely 

 barred, not blurred and indistinct ; this is most 

 important in pullet-breeding. As in the cock 

 pen, reject those with white in tail. Mate him 

 to clearly barred hens or pullets as near the 

 show ideal as you can get them, nice and clear 

 in ground-colour, specially sound black in the 

 barring, and as fine as possible. The cockerels 

 from this pen will be found usefid if mated back 

 the following year to the hens again, as well as 

 mating cockerels and pullets together. Should 

 any of the pullets come black from either pen, 

 you may mate these to a distinctly barred light 

 shade of cock, with excellent results ; and the 

 pullets from this cross, apart from being good 

 exhibition birds, are very useful pullet-breeders 

 if mated to a pullet-bred cock. 



The next and last variety of Pekins, the 

 Partridge, is one of the latest additions. These 

 arc somewhat behind the other varieties, except 

 Cuckoos, both in popularity and 

 Partridge quality. They are of course diminu- 

 Pekins. tives of the Partridge Cochin, and 



should resemble their bigger con- 

 freres in colour and general shape ; but — in the 

 pullets especially — great difficulty is experienced 

 in getting the ideal in correct colour and mark- 

 ings, combined with length of foot-feather and 

 small size. A little reflection will show the 

 reader that these points cannot be very well 

 borrowed from Blacks, Whites, or Cuckoos : 

 they must be got by constant in-breeding, 

 and time and patience are the great essentials, 

 in fact the only means. 



The colour of the Partridge Pekin cock 

 is easily described to those who are familiar 

 with the brilliant orange and black markings of 

 a first-class exhibition Black-red Game cockerel. 

 The neck and saddle are more heavily striped 

 with black, but in other respects both top- 

 and under-colour are identical. This striping 

 should be extremely sharp and clear, not a 

 woolly blurred attempt at striping. Look at 

 the striping of a first-rate Partridge Wyandotte 

 cockerel, and you have at once what is required 

 in the Partridge Pekin cock. The neck hackle 



feathers are however sometimes a shade more 

 coppery towards the head, running down to a 

 pale golden on the shoulders, than we see in the 

 best Black-red Game. The breast, thighs, and 

 fluff should be a sound black, the greener the 

 better, with no coppery lacing or rust, and 

 the feet should be well furnished with long 

 black feathers to the end of the middle toe, 

 as free from white as it is possible to get it. 

 The hen to match should be a deep brown 

 partridge colour, having a sort of golden cast 

 about it when seen in certain lights, and should 

 be richly, sharply, and finely pencilled with 

 narrow black, not running straight across the 

 feather, as in Hamburghs, but in parallel zigzag 

 courses, and following the round-ended form 

 of the feather. The hackles should be a pale 

 golden. The ground colour and the pencilling 

 constitute two of the greatest difficulties in 

 breeding good pullets of this variety. 



It will be readily seen that it is all but 

 imperative that two separate pens should be 

 used for the production of Partridge cockerels 

 and pullets. The cock pen must have the lord 

 of the harem as perfect a show bird as can be 

 got, specially bright in top colour, and equally 

 in his other parts free from all trace of rust and 

 grizzled foot-feather. The pullets or hens to go 

 with him should be the best specimens that can 

 be produced, save in colour and markings. The 

 sine qua non is bright neck hackling, in fact as 

 pale as you can get it. The foot-feathering 

 should be very ample, especially on the middle 

 toe ; legs and back short, and size generally 

 as small as possible. For breeding the best 

 exhibition pullets you want a cock a shade 

 darker than the above, and if he have an abund- 

 ance of rust about him he is not to be discarded. 

 He must be correct in form, size, and in every- 

 way up to Standard save and except in colour. 

 He will probably be broad in stripe, and have 

 rusty patches on breast and fluff. These are 

 sure indications that he is what we want, viz. 

 a typical pullet-breeder. To him mate ideal 

 exhibition hens, sound in ground colour, sharp 

 and defined in pencilling, with abundance of 

 feather, and possessing as many more show 

 points as it is possible to compass. In mating 

 up both pens keep the general characters well 

 in your eye. Let every bird, so far as possible, 

 be broad in chest, short in back, and low on leg, 

 neat in head and with ample feathering, and 

 do not forget the middle toe feathering, as 50 

 per cent, fail in this respect Strive for colour 

 and shape first, then you may proceed satis- 

 factorily to the other points by in-breeding, but 

 if your colour be indifferent your birds are 

 comparatively worthless. 



