54 THE PEOPLE'S PRACTICAL POULTRY BOOK. 



the shoulders ; wings large and well quilled ; back short ; belly round and 

 black ; tail long and sickled, being well tufted at the root thick, short, and 

 stiff; legs rather long, with white feet and nails, the latter being free from 

 all coarseness. The required " Daw-eye " is that which resembles the gray 

 eye of the jackdaw. Their distinctive features are the white beak, feet, and 

 claws, essential to every bird claiming descent from that illustrious stock. 

 The red Derby Game cock should have a bright red face; breast and 

 thighs coal black ; hackle and saddle feathers light orange-red ; back, intense 

 brown-red, a depth of color that painters term dragon's blood ; lesser wing- 

 coverts maroon colored ; greater wing-coverts marked at the extremity with 

 steel-blue, forming a bar across the wings ; primary wing-feathers bay ; tail 

 iridescent black. It seems a peculiarity in these fowls that one at least of 

 the pinion feathers is marked with white. The sex of the chickens can 

 readily be distinguished when only a few weeks old. The beak, legs and 

 feet are uniformly white. MARTIN remarks that " through the whole cata- 

 logue of game fowls the male birds are by far the most conspicuous in 

 plumage ;" and this remark proves true in regard to the Derby breed, for 

 wherever mere color has given the name of a class, the markings of the cock 

 explain the reason. The Black-breasted red hens possess little of their con- 

 sort's brilliancy of feather, though these are of much lighter colors than the 

 red-breasted hen a fact in strange opposition to the plumage of the respec- 

 tive male birds. BEETON'S Poultry Book thus describes the perfect mark- 

 ings of the Lord Derby game hen : " Head fine and tapering ; face, wattles, 

 and comb bright red; extremities of upper mandible and the greater portion 

 of the lower one white, but dusky at its base and around its nostrils ; chest- 

 nut-brown around the eyes, continued beneath the throat ; shaft of neck- 

 hackle light buff ; web pale brown, edged with black ; breast shaded with 

 roan and fawn-color ; belly and vent of an ash tint ; back and wing-coverts 

 partridge-colored; primary wing-feathers and tail black, the latter carried 

 vertically and widely-expanded ; legs, feet and nails perfectly white." The 

 carriage of both cock and hen of this breed is upright and dignified. The 

 pugnacious disposition of the cock equals that of any other game bird ; and 

 its endurance cannot be surpassed; years agone they were numbered among 

 the best breed of birds for the cock-pit ; and for the table they are not sur- 

 passed by the sweet and nutritious flesh of the Dorking fowl. 



DUCK- WING GAME. The pure Duck-wing Game fowls are the Silver 

 Grays though there are Yellow or Birchen Duck-wings, but the blood of 

 the first mentioned is much purer than the other variety, and it is considered 

 a much finer, hardier, and more pugnacious bird. The cock should be of a 

 silver gray color ; hackle striped, with black underneath, but clear above ; 

 back bright silver gray ; breast clear, mealy silver gray color ; wing crossed 

 with" a steel blue bar, the lower part of a creamy white ; tail greenish glossy 

 black. The plumage of the hen should be of a silvery blueish gray, thickly 

 frosted with silver ; breast pale fawn-color ; neck-hackle silvery white, striped 



