70 THE POULTRY-BOOK. 



The Tame Birchin Black-breasted Duck has been orig- 

 inally bred from the black-breasted red, the yellow birchin, and 

 the gray duck-wing hens. The feather of the birchin duck is 

 a gray hackle, tinged with black above and black beneath, the 

 ground yellow, with a general shade of the dark birchin 

 through, and clear black-breasted, with yellow legs and beak. 

 No cocks exhibit a longer period of unfaded health than the 

 true black-breasted birchin ducks, and their reputation stands 

 high in the opinion of sportsmen. 



The Piles have originated from a variety of crosses, which 

 have constituted the many shades we find in this numerous 

 class. There is a strain in these cocks which eminently distin- 

 guishes them. 



The sorts which Sketchley mentions as inferior, most prob- 

 ably from injudicious crossing, are, the pheasant-breasted red, 

 the large spot-breasted red, the blotch-breasted red, the turkey- 

 breasted gray, the large marble-breasted gray, the large spot- 

 breasted gray, the shady-breasted birchin duck, the streaky- 

 breasted birchin duck, and the marble-breasted birchin duck. 



Among the list of imperfections, he enumerates ' flat-sided 

 and then generally deep-keeled, short-legged, thin thighs, 

 crooked or indented breast, short thin neck, imperfect eye, duck 

 and short footed, and unhealthful.' " 



