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THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



the origin and introduction of this remarkable 

 breed is that given in the ' History and Descrip- 

 tion of the Indian Runner Duck,' by Mr. 

 J. Donald, of Wigton, published 

 Indian about 1890, wherein he states that 



Runner the first were brought from India 



Ducks. about fifty years earlier by a 



sea captain, who, when ashore, 

 had been attracted by their peculiar car- 

 riage and active habits, and after learning 

 of their great egg-producing powers, and that 

 they practically foraged for their living with- 

 out being artificially fed, brought a few home 

 as a present to some farmer friends in Cumber- 

 land. They rapidly established a local repu- 

 tation for ^g^ production in the district, and 

 seem to have gradually spread northwards over 

 the Scottish border into Dumfriesshire and 

 southwards into Westmorland, but they re- 

 mained practically unknown anywhere else 

 until about the year 1890. 



"At the time Mr. Donald wrote they had 

 lost a good deal of their striking, original 

 character, for he remarks that ' very few of 

 the original type are now to be found, and the 

 carriage is not so penguin-like as formerly ; 

 whether owing to climatic influences, to the 

 introduction of foreign blood into many 

 strains, or to in-breeding, it is difficult to say 

 with accuracy, but probably they have all 

 shared to a greater, or lesser degree in pro- 

 ducing these defects. 



" He also noted the fact that a good many 

 of the Indian Runners of that period had been 

 produced by the use of Runner drakes with 

 farmyard ducks, for we are told, as the fame 

 of the breed as layers extended, the drakes 

 were eagerly sought after and largely employed 

 to cross with the common ducks of the county 

 with a view to improving their egg-producing 

 qualities, the Runner drakes stamping their 

 distinctive characters most pronouncedly upon 

 the produce of the cross, and in a good many 

 so-called Runners seen even then the distinc- 

 tive characters of the breed were in a great 

 measure obliterated ; and it is undoubtedly 

 to the timely publication of Mr. Donald's 

 brochure that the Fancy owes the preservation 

 of many of the best and most distinctive 

 characters of the original stock. 



" Early in the 'nineties fanciers began to 

 take up the breed, and in 1896 a large class 

 of twenty-one pairs was got together at Kendal 

 Show, chiefly by the efforts of Miss Wilson- 

 Wilson, of that town. This was the beginning 

 of their popularity, the display at Kendal 

 being rapidly followed by classes at the 

 Dairy, Crystal Palace, and other great shows. 



The Waterfowl Club took up the breed, and 

 drafted a Standard, but, unfortunately, the 

 professional exhibitors, whose chief aim in the 

 other varieties had been the production of size 

 and fine coloured feathers, failed hopelessly 

 when they tackled the Indian Runner and set 

 the fashion for it as an exhibition bird. At 

 the very outset the fatal mistake was made 

 of showing a very decided preference for 

 evenly marked plumage at the expense of true 

 form and carriage. The idea then was to have 

 nothing but clean-cut birds, with body mark- 

 ings somewhat similar to those of a Magpie 

 pigeon, and had the club insisted upon type 

 f-rst, markings second, all might have been 

 well ; but the craze for markings at any price 

 soon brought disaster upon the breed. The 

 pioneer breeders, disgusted at the ignorance 

 of writers and the decisions of judges of that 

 period, soon gave up showing, and kept their 

 birds at home, breeding them to meet their 

 own views. The desired markings were easily 

 enough produced upon cross-bred Runners and 

 common ducks, and things drifted from bad 

 to worse until the showing of Runners became 

 a mockery, and the exhibits were reduced to 

 evenly marked but shapeless mongrels, totally 

 at variance with the genuine breed and com- 

 paratively worthless as foragers or layers. 



" Some dealers who followed the lead of the 

 show-bench bred large numbers of these birds, 

 and spread them over the country as pure 

 Indian Runners, and it is impossible to 

 estimate the harm done by this means. Many 

 who took them up became dissatisfied with 

 their commonplace appearance, and after 

 vainly endeavouring to improve their shape 

 and carriage, became thoroughly disheartened 

 and gave them up in despair and disgust 

 • — but the tares had been sown, and are still 

 strongly in evidence up to the present time. 



" Mr. Donald tells of the decadence in his 

 own yard, resulting from an attempt to intro- 

 duce new blood by the use of a drake from 

 a Yorkshire poultry farm, many years being 

 required to breed out the bad qualities thereby 

 introduced. 



" The Indian Runner Duck Club, a few 

 years ago, took up the work of reviving the 

 true type, and under its influence a marked 

 change for the better is now noticeable in the 

 general quality of stock shown ; further im- 

 provement is within sight, and it now appears 

 almost certain that the Runner will regain 

 all its distinctive character, and be likely to 

 spring into greater popularity in the near 

 future. 



" There seems now no room for doubt but 



