EUROPEAN BREEDS. 143 



weight is from five to six pounds. The hen, when pure 

 bred, has the head gray ; comb and face bright red ; 

 hackle silvery gray, with dark stripes ; the breast is 

 bright salmon-red ; the back and shoulder coverts should 

 be slaty-gray, free from penciling ; the tail is dark gray, 

 so dark as to be nearly black ; the fluff inside is a steel 

 gray, and the legs yellow. In breeding Duck-wings for 

 color, much care and skill is necessary ; for the ordinary 

 uses of poultry it is not necessary to do more than select 

 the best birds, feed well, and keep them in the best and 

 most vigorous health. Unfortunately for game poultry, 

 their courage and endurance has been put to wrong uses, 

 and through their enforced connection with the brutal 

 and cruel sports of the cock-pit, they have in a measure 

 come to be identified therewith, and are wrongly sup- 

 posed to be good for nothing but fighting. On the con- 

 trary, the Game fowl is one of the most, if not the most, 

 beautiful of our fowls. It is the best table fowl, so far 

 as regards quality and flavor of flesh. Its eggs are ex- 

 ceedingly rich, and much desired for pastry or cakes. 

 The cock is courageous, and will not hesitate to attack 

 the hawk, and will defeat thp intruder in every attempt 

 to ravage the poultry yard. The hen is an excellent 

 mother, and although somewhat nervous and excitable 

 when brooding her chickens, yet with care and quiet, 

 gentle treatment she may be handled with ease. While 

 brooding, she is as courageous as the cock, and will de- 

 fend her chickens from a hawk, and generally with suc- 

 cess. A farmer whose grain fields, and those of his 

 neighbors, offer a too tempting foraging ground for these 

 active fowls, would be wise to choose some of the heavier 

 bodied breeds ; but where no damage of this kind can 

 occur, any of the varieties of Game fowls might be chosen 

 by those who fancy them, and wish for delicious eggs 

 and flesh. 



