482 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



are bright red; the thighs are white, like the main part of the body; the back light red, 

 while the saddle feathers match the hackle. The legs are usually yellow, but sometimes 

 white. The plumage of the hen is mainly white, except the breast, which is a reddish brown. 

 Like all the Game breed, they are hardy, good layers, and make excellent mothers, protecting 

 their chicks against every enemy that invades their realm. Though not as showy and 

 beautiful in plumage as the Red Pile, previously described, still they are a very neat, attractive 

 fowl, and need to be seen only to be admired. 



Silver Duckwing Games. The general color of the cock in this variety is silvery 

 white, with a clear white hackle; any black stripes in the latter being considered by competent 

 judges at the poultry shows, as decidedly objectionable. The breast, under part of the body, 

 and tail are black, with a metallic or greenish tinge; the wings are crossed with a steel blue 

 bar formed by the wing coverts. The ear lobes, comb, and wattles are bright red, and the 

 legs willow or blue, sometimes nearly a bronze tint. 



The hen is a silvery gray of a bluish tinge; the neck hackle a silvery white striped with 

 black. The breast has a yellowish tinge, and the tail is very dark gray, sometimes nearly 

 black. In a show pen for exhibition, the legs and beaks should of course match in the 

 different birds; for instance, a willow-legged cock with a blue-legged hen, would not be 

 considered in good taste. The blue-legged birds are considered by many to be most purely 

 bred, and the eyes of such are usually dark-red or bay. 



Silver Duckwings are purer in blood than the Yellow Duckwings, and can be successfully 

 bred only by mating those of this variety without the introduction of any other blood, while 

 the Yellow Duckwings originated by a cross between the Silver Duckwings and Black Reds, 

 and are only kept up by occasionally introducing blood from the latter. They possess the 

 fine qualities characteristic of the Game breed generally. 



Golden Duckwing Games. These are similar to the Silver Duckwings, previously 

 described, except the straw-colored neck hackle, and saddle feathers, and the copper-colored 

 feathers of the back. The plumage of the hen is considerably darker than the Silver, the 

 back plumage being a slaty gray, and the breast a salmon-red shaded to a brownish gray 

 towards the thighs. The plumage of both of the Duckwing varieties is very beautiful, and 

 considered by some to be more so than any other of the Game species. 



Black Games. Other points of merit being equal, as a general thing, a black 

 plumaged fowl does not attract as much attention as white or gayer colored ones, and are 

 consequently not as popular , but a rich, lustrous black, with green or metallic reflections from 

 which all the other colors seem to be half-hidden and half-disclosed as they gleam in the sun 

 light, is indeed rich and beautiful in the extreme; although the dead black or russet-black 

 produces a very different impression. The red face and wattles also show a pleasing contrast 

 with the glossy black plumage. 



Blue Games. Fowls of blue plumage are quite rare, and we are surprised that it 

 should be so, since some of them are very beautiful, especially the Blue Games, the Blue Duns, 

 and Cuckoo fowl; they are, however, more frequently seen in England than in this country. 



The general color of this variety of game is dark-blue; the head and shoulders shaded 

 slightly with black; the saddle feathers of the cock of a golden red or yellow; the wing 

 coverts also have the same tinge. The tail is dark-blue, and the legs and beak of a bluish- 

 black color. The general plumage of the hen throughout is a dark blue. The comb and 

 wattles are a very dark red, approaching nearly to a purple. They are hardy and possess the 

 merits characteristic of the Game breed in general, except, perhaps, are not quite as good layers 

 as the bright red-combed varieties. 



Gray Games. As the name indicates, the general color of this variety is gray, or 

 what might be more appropriately termed a silver gray, shading deeper into a black at the 



