COLOR AND STRUCTURE. OF , PLGMAGE, ' 101 



held for a minute, head down, giving the blood an opportunity to rush 

 to the head and flush the ear lobe. 



The eyes of all the American varieties should be reddish-bay, 

 except in the Black Java, which should approach black. Probably 

 there never is a pure black eye in a chicken. Some specimens have 

 gray or fish-coloned eyes. It is a mean ^defect, more serious than 

 formerly, for whereas the Standard that was in force in 1900 specified 

 a cut of one-half point for off-colored eyes, the present requirement 

 is a maximum cut of one and one-half points. In thus drawing 

 attention to eye color with some emphasis, gray eyes have become 

 quite objectionable. Fortunately, the defect is easily corrected, red 

 being dominant to gray, and a good red-eyed bird introduced into a 

 flock will make a big improvement in the first generation. It should 

 be understood that it is the iris that carries the color, not the pupil 

 of the eye. The comb should be red. A tinge of blue in the blade 

 of the comb usually indicates liver trouble, and a level teaspoonful 

 of epsom salt to the specimen so affected will commonly correct the 

 trouble. More green food or roughage should then be added to the 

 ration. 



