THE BEARD. 115 



eight are passable. The thighs must be of the 

 body colour ; tail and rump white ; the legs also 

 white feathered, or white " stockings ; " the eye 

 pearl. Small birds are accounted the best. The 

 best carriage birds are bred late in the season. 

 Match a small cock to a large motherly hen. 

 The cock gives size and carriage, and the hen 

 stamina to the offspring. 



The colours in Beards are similar to Baldheads, 

 and should be matched in like manner to produce 

 the best results. 



One point in Beards and Baldheads has been 

 much overlooked lately viz., the shape of the 

 neck. A thick neck gives a clumsy and common 

 appearance to the bird ; a thin, tapering neck 

 looks graceful and effective. 



Another fault common to all Red and Yellow 

 Balds and Beards is, that the secondary flight 

 feathers, instead of being solid red or yellow, as 

 the case may be, shade off to white at the ends. 

 I never remember seeing a bird without this 

 fault, except a red Roller hen which was perfect 

 in beard markings, but, of course, with the ob- 

 jectionable addition of feathered legs ; the bird 

 also was barren, or I should have matched her 

 to a Red cock and tried to breed the fault out of 

 my loft. 



