5^4 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



Runner Duck Club's descriptive standard can 

 be recommended, and if their awards are made 

 on the lines there laid down the decisions will 

 not be very wide of the mark. The standard 

 points are as follows : — 



Head, bill, eyes and neck... 30 points. 

 Body, shape and carriage ... 45 ,, 

 Colour, markings and condition 25 ,, 



" In Germany a breed of small white ducks 

 has lately been cultivated and boomed as 

 White Indian Runners. A few of these birds 

 have been seen in the show-pen in this country, 

 but they are of a very ordinary type, and 

 apparently of very common blood, and quite 

 unsuited to English ideas. 



"At the Palace Show of 1910 there were 

 shown an old white and some young whole- 

 coloured fawn and brownish fawn ducks far 

 excelling in Runner type anything that has 

 previously been seen in this country, and which 

 caused quite a sensation and produced much 

 curiosity and comment among duck fanciers 

 who had the good fortune to see them. 



" At the time of writing these whole- 

 coloured birds are very rare, being, we believe, 

 exclusively in two fanciers' hands, but in 

 our opinion there can be no doubt that they 

 are destined to produce a very marked influence 

 for good on the stocks of this country, and we 

 hope shortly to see them much more in evidence. 

 We believe they are descended from recent 

 importations, but upon their history their 

 owners are at present very reticent. 



" The Australians have made the grave 

 mistake of insisting upon and trying to breed 

 drakes with heads the same colour as the body, 

 the result being that the breed has declined 

 greatly under such a ridiculous craze for some- 

 thing out of keeping with the nature of the 

 Runner. The same applies to the American 

 fad regarding the plumage of the duck. They 

 fancied a drab or very pale fawn feathering 

 in the coloured portions of the plumage of 

 the female, and the feathers to be quite flain 

 without either lacing or pencilling. All brown 

 and fawn ducks of the genuine breed (whether 

 whole-coloured or broken with white) have the 

 feathers marked in two shades of colour, 

 either single or double laced ; hence they have 

 managed to ruin entirely the character of their 

 stocks in order to obtain a mongrel with every 

 feature and point at variance with the true 

 breed. This shows how easily a wrong idea 

 or impression may cause trouble which cannot 

 be bred out for years." 



The Poultry Club standard for the breed 

 will be found at the end of this chapter, and 



it may interest breeders and genuine fanciers of 

 an inquiring turn of mind to study and com- 

 pare it with the other published standards, 

 both past and present, English and foreign. 



The black Cayuga duck is called after the 

 lake of that name, and comes to us from 

 America, though a large black duck which 

 bred pretty true was known half 

 Cayuga a century ago in Lancashire. The 



Ducks. fn'st American specimens were sent 



to us by Mr. W. Simpson in 1871, 

 and the late Mr. J. K. Fowler imported them a 

 few years later. These early specimens were 

 not very large, and were rather dingy in colour, 

 and there is no doubt that they were crossed 

 with Black East India ducks in order to get 

 the green gloss of the latter. This was accom- 

 plished, but kept them still small ; and they 

 were afterwards crossed, by some with Ayles- 

 bury and by others with Rouen, to get size. 

 Unfortunately with this the type was also 

 changed, as the original birds had no " keels," 

 while the modern English exhibition Cayuga 

 has this feature very pronounced. It has 

 thus been made an exhibition duck at the 

 expense of popularity in the market. 



Owing partly to this change, perhaps, the 

 Cayuga has never quite had its deserts ; for 

 general consent attributes to it decided superi- 

 ority in flavour over any other of the large 

 breeds. It is now a large breed, very similar 

 in shape to the Aylesbury, the plumage being 

 a rich black, heavily glossed with green, the 

 legs a sooty orange, the bill a leaden or bluish 

 black, with an intense black splash in the 

 middle and a black bean at the tip. The skin 

 is very white. The breed is hardy, matures 

 early, is a very good layer, and of more quiet 

 and stay-at-home habits than most. If ever 

 Cayugas should come into fashion, these 

 qualities would be in its favour as a market 

 duck, but the black feathers would, of course, 

 be against it, and may be a reason why it is so 

 little bred. After the first year Cayugas are 

 ■ apt to moult more or less white feathers, 

 especially at the base of the bill ; but this is 

 no sign of impurity of race. 



The following notes on the Crested Duck 

 are from the pen of Mr. Scott Miller, Hon. 

 Secretary of the Crested Duck Club : — 



" In general appearance this breed 

 The Crested is much like the Aylesbury, though 

 Duck. not quite so large (adults usually 



weighing about 8 lbs.) and without 

 the heavy keel of the latter ; also the head is 

 adorned with a crest or top-knot, which should 



