882 



JOTJENAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDEKER. 



[ May 21, 1668. 



tail. I like to see the whole of the tail boldly shown ont, and ] 

 not concealed by its falling together in feather, as if half the 

 feathers were plucked ont, or wet with rain, or as if the bird 

 were cowed. Exhibitors will, however, of course, keep to their 

 own tastes as to tails, and I shall also retain that which I pre- 

 fer as having a more thoroughly English appearance. 



As to the yellow-skinned, willow and yellow-legged exhibition 

 strains, every one must allow them to be the handsomest birds 

 of all as to colour, and the only birds that possess the true 

 " golden-tinged red " plumage ; but beauty of colour is not 

 gameness, and the white-skinned birds possess a superior share 

 of endurance and courage to the yellow-skinned, which are all 

 too soft in their nature, as the old cockers well knew. I have 

 already stated elsewhere that the yellow-legged Piles, if red- 

 eyed, are both good and quick birds, and are undoubtedly the 

 handsomest Piles of all ; but they are known not to be equal 

 to white-legged Piles, when the latter are well bred, in either 

 courage or endurance. Again, some exhibitors fancy that their 

 willow-legged Black-breasted Beds are first-class lighting birds ; 

 they may become so if crossed with Brown Reds and other good 

 colours for the pit ; but when pure bred very few willow-legged 

 Black-breasted Eeds are real hard cookers' birds, and cookers 

 seldom breed this colour at all. In and round Manohester, 

 "Wolverhampton, and London you will seldom see any but 

 blackisli-legged, dark-combed Brown Eeds and Bark Greys, and 

 white-legged Black-breasted Reds with the light wheateu hens. 

 These are the true cockers' birds, are all wbite-skinned, and 

 seldom have the drooping Malay type of tail at all. but have 

 open tails. Pure-bred willow-legged Black-breasted Eeds are 

 in general inferior in courage to all Game fowls, except to the 

 yellow-skinned sorts with yellow eyes, which are the worst 

 Game fowls ; these willow-legged Blaok-breasted r«eds being 

 much inferior to the Brown Eeds in courage, and also to Dark 

 Greys, Piles (white legs), good Ginger Eeds, good Eed Duns 

 (white legs), and to good Whites (red eyes, white legs), and also 

 to the blackish, carp brown, and white-legged birds of their 

 own colour. The blue-legged breeds of Game fowl, though 

 white-skinned, are inferior in general to yellow-skinned exhi- 

 bition birds, and stand about the last, or nearly so ; but there 

 are exceptions to all these rules, and some strains of all colours 

 prove good at times. Ecd-ejed blue-legged Red Duns and 

 Duckwing Greys are often very good quick hard birds, and I 

 think Westmoreland has some very good blue-legged Game 

 fowls. 



To the names of breeders which I gave before, I add, to show 

 the type of exhibition birds that I admire most, the following 

 — viz., Mr. Fletcher's Brown Reds, Piles, and Duckwings ; Mr. 

 Charles Challoner's Brown Red?, Piles, and Duckwings ; Mr. 

 Harry Adams's Brown Reds and Piles (not now an exhibitor) ; 

 Mr. Ajkrojd's Brown Eeds and Duckwings. 



I have already stated that I like the blaokish-legged dark- 

 combed Brown Eeds of these strains, and the white-legged 

 Piles better than the yellow-legged for gameness ; also that 

 I think Mr. Statter's the best Brown Eeds of all. and Mr. 

 Brierley's and Sir St. George Gore's the best Blaok-breasted 

 Eeds. Such as these are the style of birds that I would award 

 prizes to, and in addition to these I might name Mr. Burgess's 

 Game fowls, also Mr. Billing's, and Mr. A. B. Dyas's Brown 

 Eeds, though 1 have not heard quite so much of the birds of 

 the last-named exhibitors as of those of the others that I have 

 mentioned before. 



As to Game cooks breaking out of their pens and fighting, it 

 is so common an occurrence that it is scarcely worth notice, 

 and penning always inclines them to be fierce and quarrelsome 

 when near each other. If good quick birds they would, of 

 course, kill one another in a few minutes, instead of injuring 

 each other, as two farmyard cocks would do, or two great Malay 

 cocks. The cookers' strains at the places I have mentioned are 

 the true pure-bred Game fowls, and not the great heavy half- 

 bred Malay things, that one may often notice at some of our 

 exhibitions. 



I think a Black-breasted Eed cock, perhaps of Sir St. George 

 Gore's strain, which took a first prize, was about the best bird 

 at the last Birmingham Exhibition. All will easily admit that 

 the red-combed red-faced strains of Game fowls possess far 

 more beauty than the gipsy-combed, smoky-faced breeds, but 

 the latter are well known to be harder and gamer, and will stand 

 more steel than any red-combed birds. Besides this, gipsy 

 combs and faces are the proper and original type in Brown 

 Reds, Dark Greys, Dark Birchens, and some Black Game fowls. 

 For beauty of colour I have always preferred the red-eyed 

 red-combed strains, more especially Black-breasted Reds, and 



Piles, with yellow (1) and willow (2) legs, both red-eyed. As to 

 the beauty of tails, all broomy side-feathering in them is Tery 

 bad-looking indeed, as all fanciers of Game fowls know, and 

 drooping wings in Game fowls would be ridiculous. I should 

 have said before, that willow-legged Duckwings have in general 

 also proved gamer than willow-legged Blaok-breasted Reds. 



I quite agree with " YouicsniRE " as to my remarks on Game 

 fowls being rather opposed to modern exhibition ideas, and 

 being as such rather "old-fashioned," but I sannot see that 

 they are in the least prejudiced. The present style of ex- 

 hibition birds on the average I consider to be decidedly inferior 

 both in gameness and quickness, also in endurance, to the old 

 style of bird, and I do not think they are so " deep game " 

 as the average of the best old cockers' birds. Cock-fighting 

 reached its zenith about 1825 or 1826, and birds have been 

 less game I fancy ever since 1S32. Well-matured progression 

 in breeding is all very well, but by crossing different colours 

 together I thiuk breeders rather retrograde, and obtain mon- 

 grel mixtures, though I highly approve of crossiug different 

 strains of the Game colour, which is the way to approach per- 

 fection. 



The willow-legged red-combed Brown Eeds are, of course, 

 finer in colour than the old true bred gipsy-combed blaokish- 

 legged breed, but for courage and endurance are inferior, 

 though fast birds at times, and are too soft in flesh. The darker 

 Brown Eed hens are the better, as long as the dark brown colour 

 is perfectly distinct from any Black ; and the more gipsy the 

 comb and face, the more perfect in blood are such hens, and 

 the cooks fight best. The old Shropshire Eeds, I have heard-, 

 were the best birds of their time in all qualities, and were 

 quick and not slow, though not so quick as the Cheshire Piles 

 were. Crossing them with Black-breasted Eeds and Duck- 

 wings made them slower, though redder in colour ; the cross 

 with the Cheshire Pile (white legs) made them quicker and 

 redder in colour, and lighter also, and gave them the white 

 nails. Undue size and legginess clearly result from the very 

 objectionable Malay cross, which is more particularly observable 

 in some of the strains of the large Nottinghamshire Blaok- 

 breasted Eeds, with long willow legs. 



The articles in The Cottacje GiEDENEr. in 1857, almost eo- 

 tirely refer to exhibition birds, and to beauty of colour, and 

 not to gameness, or to the old style of bird, and the yellow 

 and willow-legged breeds, undoubtedly, stand first of all for 

 beauty of colour, and almost exclusively possess the true 

 " golden tinged red colour " in their Eed breeds ; but beauty 

 of colour is not what the old cockers required. 



The articles contributed by me since September 18th, 1866, 

 tend to recall to recollection the older and gamer style of bird, 

 and refer less to the now well-known exhibition-type of bird 

 about which it is scarcely worth while to write very fuUy. No 

 doubt the majority of exhibitors would vote for the whip tails, 

 not so the cockers I think, of the old style at all events. I dislike 

 the Malay cross, which I am sure has been most freely used to 

 produce our larger and leggier type of present exhibition birds. 

 This style may suit exhibitor.", but most cockers, I think, much 

 dislike it, and I cordially dislike the slightest approach to 

 Malay blood or type, though, of course, no cooker at all, but 

 merely an "old-fashioned fancier" of Game fowls of the 

 gamest type. — Newmabret. 



[We have another communication from " Newmarket, " in 

 reply to " Yoekshire " and Mr. Goodall. but the essence of 

 the reply is, that he abides by his opinions expressed in our 

 columns. We must decline inserting more upon the subject. 

 —Eds.] 



POULTRY SHOWS— COMMITTEES— RULES. 



As the Marylebone Cricket Club has its acknowledged rules, 

 and is the authority upon that game, might not Birmingham 

 be made the " head centre " of the poultry world, and have, 

 and issue rules to be adopted and followed by all poultry 

 clubs and committees in the county and country towns through- 

 out England ? 



Secondly. Of any poultry club, I would suggest that no ex- 

 hibitor should be a member of the committee. If this were 

 generally carried out we should not hear any remark about un- 

 fairness or selfish interest. 



Thirdly. I would further suggest, that unless a certain 

 amount of subscriptions can be obtained no cnps should be 

 offered, but money prizes only, and these prizes in each and 

 every class of poultry should be equal. 

 ■ Pourthly. As much as possible one show should avoid clash- 



