228 PROFITS IN POULTRY. 



of color, becomes a very persistent characteristic. The 

 Ajlesbury ducks are pure white, with orange legs, and are 

 one of the most beautiful of the white breeds of poultry. 

 All white fowls are beautiful and attractive. "We have 

 white breeds of every kind of domestic fowl, and they all 

 have such notable excellencies that their admirers claim 

 for each that it is the best of its kind. This is notice- 

 able in white geese, which have the best plumage; white 

 turkeys are most domestic, and white barn-door fowls 

 are most prolific. Aylesbury Ducks are claimed to be 

 more prolific and to fatten more rapidly for market than 

 other large breeds. This variety undoubtedly originated 

 in the vicinity of Aylesbury, England, where large num- 

 bers are still raised annually for the London market. 

 Its characteristics are distinctly marked, namely: Abun- 

 dant but close-fitting plumage of the purest white; a beak 

 of peculiar form, being long, straight, and broad, and 

 set on aline with the forehead; most noticeable, however, 

 from its being of a distinct flesh-color; it sometimes in- 

 clines to buff, but this is objectionable. The most deli- 

 cate pink (as an English breeder enthusiastically said to 

 the writer, "pink as a lady's nail") is the color pre- 

 ferred; the legs are of a light orange color. Ducks and 

 drakes are almost precisely alike, the latter distinguished 

 only by the curling feathers of the tail and by the voice, 

 or lack of voice. 



This is an old and well-established breed, and in favor- 

 able locations breeds very true. Breeders so located 

 find it is not difficult to obtain the pink bills without 

 stain of yellow or blemish of dark streaks or specks. 

 This is supposed to depend upon the purity of the water, 

 and on the gravelly bottom of the brooks with which 

 their bills are constantly brought in contact. Exposure 

 to the sun tans them, and, from some not well-known 

 cause, it is almost impossible to obtain perfect bills in 

 many places, though the birds grow large and fine. 



