468 



JOUBNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGB QAKDKNEB. 



[ Deoember 17, 1868. 



eondition, as was exhibited by the Game classes in the Bir- 

 mingham Poultry Show. I can but admire, not envy, the 

 Jadges who had to decide among individual specimens so nearly 

 equal in beauty and in goodness. To one or two of their 

 judgments I might be disposed to demur, but on the whole, 

 having regard to the difficulties of their task, and also to the 

 fact that they are necessarily in a better position to judge 

 of the merits of the birds than any of the spectators — from 

 having the privilegelof handling the specimens, without which 

 handling no Game fowl can be truly judged — I am forced to 

 admit that the awards were very fairly made. 



While, however, almost all the birds that were exhibited 

 were good of their kind, I could not help observing that some 

 kindB seemed to be better developed and of higher excellence 

 than others. The Brown Reds, especially the cocks, were a 

 wonderfully good class, and perhaps the best in the Show. 

 The Black Reds were scarcely at all inferior, and the Duck- 

 wings were almost perfect. I was struck, however, by the fact 

 that these three kinds seemed to have monopolised all the 

 attention of the breeders and the favour of the Judges. Not 

 only this, I could not help remarking on the general sameness 

 of aU the specimens in each class, in every point. Every Black 

 Eed was like his neighbour almost in every feature and in every 

 shade of colour. Now, this may be the perfection of breeding, 

 but does it not become a little monotonous ? Is it even true 

 that the type of Game cock preferred by the Judges is the 

 highest in each kind ? What have the old cockers to say on 

 this point, who, after all, have some claim to be heard on the 

 subject ? 



Is it admitted, for instance, that Black Red cocks should 

 have legs of no colour but willow green ? Willow green may 

 be a very pretty colour, but I refer to all the authorities, 

 and I find that a Black Red cock may have legs of any colour 

 but black. Yellow, white, blue, and slate, used to be once, at 

 least, as common a hue for a Game cock's leg as willow. Why 

 are these colours shut out altogether as though they were dis- 

 qnalifications ? Anybody looking over the Black Bed classes at 

 BirminKham, who was not previously acquainted with the sub- 

 ject, would naturally come to the conclusion that the one correct 

 colour for a Black Red fowl's legs is willow. But is it true that 

 willow is even the best colour? and if not true, is it wise to en- 

 courage none but willow legs? All the old-fashioned pro- 

 fessional cockers will tell you that willow-legged cocks are by 

 no means the best in the pit — that they have not, in fact, the 

 highest qualities required in a Game cock, which are, courage 

 and endurance. 



The object of a show is surely to develope the highest type 

 in its kind of the bird exhibited, to encourage the growth of 

 the best, and not only the most beautiful animals. A Game 

 cook not pre-eminent in courage is worthless. I will not ven- 

 ture, in this place, to offer a word in favour of cock-fighting, 

 although I have much to say on that subject ; yet it will be 

 nniverBally admitted that a Game cock that cannot fight is un- 

 true to his nature. He has no raison d'etre. He is worse 

 than an orator without speech, a horse that cannot run, or a pig 

 that cannot yield bacon. 



It may be difficult, I admit, for the judges at a show to de- 

 termine what are the moral qualities of the animals submitted 

 to their judgment ; yet it is only fair to ask that they should 

 concede something to the opinion of those practically acquainted 

 with the subject. That opinion is founded on many years' ex- 

 perience, and the tradition that a Game cock with willow legs 

 is not to be relied upon for his conduct in war is worthy of 

 some respect. There must have been some foundation in 

 the general theory which held that the highest courage in a 

 Game cock was always found associated with legs of a certain 

 colour. At least, there is no reason why any special favour 

 should be shown to willow legs. In my opinion a bright 

 yellow leg is more in harmony with the general colour of a 

 Black Red cock than a green leg. Black Red cocks with white 

 legs, it is well known, are among the highest-bred of their kind, 

 and certainly the best bird I ever knew in my life, for all 

 practical purposes, was one of this breed, descended from the 

 famous Derby strain. I do not desire that any pre-eminence 

 should be given to one colour over another. All I contend for 

 is, that aU colours should be equally judged ; that, other things 

 being equal, no preference should be given to the willow leg 

 over the yellow, the white, or the blue. 



In the case of the Duckwings, I observed at Birmingham 

 the same disposition to narrow the varieties of colour. Most 

 of the birds shown were, in the first place, clearly not pure 

 Duckwings — that is to say, they had not been bred by Duck- 



wing cocks out of Duckwing hens. I missed the beautiful old- 

 fashioned Silver Duckwings. The modem style of Duckwing, 

 though unquestionably handsome in appearance, shows in his 

 predominance of red, yellow, and chestnut, that he has been 

 crossed with the Black Red. In this class, again, it seems that 

 the Judges will allow only one colour of leg, although Duck- 

 wings have naturally as many varieties of colour in the leg as 

 any other breed. In my opinion, a bronze or jellow-green leg 

 looks best under a Duckwing cock. 



Of the Brown Beds I have nothing to say, except that they 

 seemed to me to be as near perfection as possible. I can re- 

 member, however, when the Brown Ked cock was lighter on 

 the breast, without derogation from his beauty, than he is now. 

 The Piles were but an indifferent class, and seem to suffer from 

 the discouragement of the Judges. Here, again, the willow leg 

 appears, although singularly out of harmony with the red and 

 white feathers. Surely it is manifest to every properly educated 

 eye, that no colour in the leg can match the body of a Pile cock 

 so well as either yellow or white. 



And now I come to my principal complaint of this Birming- 

 ham Show, which is, not only that the birds in each class are 

 bred too narrowly after one type and one colour, but that 

 the classes themselves do not fairly represent the breed of 

 English Game fowls. Considering how the present breed of 

 Game fowl has been obtained — by a process of artificial selec- 

 tion through many centuries, the object throughout which wag 

 to rear only the best, that is, the most courageous and the most 

 warlike in their kind — there is, I fear, too much danger that the 

 breed will degenerate under the new influences which are brought 

 to bear upon its perpetuation. If we breed only for beauty 

 and for colour, we shall obtain beauty and colour, but at the 

 certain sacrifice of all those other qualities for which the English 

 Game cock has hitherto been famous. There is no reason, of 

 course, why we should not have both the highest moral and the 

 highest physical qualities combined ; but that can only be by 

 our attending equally to the signs of courage and endurance in 

 the Game cock as to his appearance and condition at a show. 

 I do not mean to say, of course, that there should be a series 

 of mains fought on the floor of Eingley Hall to determine which 

 are the best birds. I simply contend that the Judges should 

 pay a little more respect than they appear to do to the opinions 

 and the traditions of the " pit," and that they should not be 

 influenced by any arbitrary views of their own as to what shoulcf 

 be the right colour of a cock's leg, the correct hue of his hackle, 

 or the proper carriage of his taU. If the Judges have no right to 

 make new laws of their own upon the chief points requisite in 

 each breed, still less are they justified in restricting the 

 number of breeds, and in favouring one or two faehionabla 

 varieties at the expense of others. The use and value of such 

 shows are, or ought to be, not to diminish but to increase the 

 number of aU distinct and true varieties — even to encourage the 

 production of new varieties. One would imagine from a glance 

 at the pens in Bingley Hall, that the only pnre Game fowls in the 

 world are the Black Reds, the Brown Beds, the Duckwings, the 

 Piles, and the Black. But is there no other variety deserving 

 encouragement ? 'ttTiat have become of the Duns ? Is the 

 ancient race of Smocks extinct ? Are there no Birchen Yellows 

 surviving ? Is the henny cock a fossil like the Dodo, of which 

 the memory is borne only in the apocryphal chronicle of Teget- 

 meier ? Surely all these are distinct and interesting varieties, 

 which deserve the attention of the managers of the Birmingham 

 Show. I only saw one Dun cock at Bingley Hall, and he, with 

 his undubbed crest, seemed to be ashamed of being in that 

 proud company. Yet the Duns, in all their sub-varieties, are 

 beautiful and interesting birds, as true Game as any other. 



The Birchen Yellows, again, were famous in the olden time, 

 and ought to have their representatives in any collection of 

 Game fowl. They are at least as distinct a variety as the Piles, 

 and certainly not less beautiful. The henny cocks, of which 

 some ignorant writers speak as though they were abortions or 

 lusus nahinv, are a true variety, as I can testify of my own 

 experience. They can reproduce their kind with perfect cer- 

 tainty, if matched with hens of their own breed, and I have no 

 doubt they are still to be found in Cornwall and the western 

 coimties, where they were once celebrated for their prowess on 

 the battle field. Considering the magnitude to which this Bir« 

 mingham Show has reached, the extent of its resources and 

 its popularity, and the influence it exercises on the breeders, I 

 do not think that it is too much to ask that the managers 

 should give encouragement to every known variety of Game 

 fowl, by establishing distinct classes for each kind. I do not 

 know why even the Tassels and the crested varieties should no 



