238 THE GAME FOWL. 



the feathers white, excepting occasionally that the breast ia 

 streaked with red also. Staffordshire Piles are similar in mark- 

 ings to the Cheshire, but of a yellower cast, (or what is called 

 by breeders i carroty/) approaching to an orange-yellow; the 

 breast is also sometimes streaked with the same colour as the 

 back. White is the predominating colour both in the Staf- 

 fordshire and the Cheshire Piles. Streaky-breasted Red Piles 

 are in all respects like the brown-breasted Red Game Fowls, 

 with this addition, that the wings are partly white, and the 

 tail also partly white. 



" White Game Fowl are well known in the Midland Coun- 

 ties, and, in the opinion of some, are the most chaste and beau- 

 tiful variety of all, and are highly prized by those who keep 

 them. They differ in nothing from the class of Fowls to which 

 they belong, except in colour, which Is uniformly white. But 

 for years past the breeders have been so much in the habit of 

 crossing the different coloured birds, which no doubt improves 

 them for fighting purposes, that it has caused great confusion 

 in the feather, and rendered it extremely difficult to breed dis- 

 tinctly-marked birds with certainty." J. B. 



The famous breed of Game Fowls belonging to the Earl of 

 Derby are black-breasted Reds, and do not differ from other 

 birds of the kind, except in being a select family, with occasional 

 judicious crosses, as with those of Lord Sefton, Mr. Germain, Mr. 

 Potter, Mr. Folkes, and Dr. Taylor. Mr. Richardson has puzzled 

 his readers by stating, " that the breed has never yet been 

 known to turn tail, notwithstanding the pertinacious adherence of 

 a white feather to the "pile a blemish that no breeding has been 

 able to eradicate, but which, notwithstanding the well-known 

 proverbial prejudice to the contrary, has, in this instance, been 

 the never-failing concomitant of courage." Now a Pile is a 

 peculiar kind of Game Fowl, not any part of one to which a 

 white feather can adhere. Poor Richardson, being induced to 

 write little books faster than he could clearly grasp their sub- 



