WYANDOTTES. 235 



The hen's hackle resembles the cock's, only shorter and 

 broader. Secondaries and primaries of the wing same as 

 the cock, and her tail also is black, the coverts black with 

 white centres. All the rest of the body breast, shoulders, 

 back, and cushion white, sharply and evenly laced with 

 dense green-black, free from soot or speck in the centre, 

 and as uniform in width all over the bird as possible. Her 

 under-fluff also should be slate colour. The legs (clean) are 

 bright yellow. The size is large medium, cockerels weighing 

 about 7 Ib. and adults a pound more, and females a pound 

 less. 



The same description applies to Golds, with the dif- 

 ference in ground-colour, and the fluff is almost black, a 

 little powdered with yellow. 



The principal faults in marking and colour are light 

 fluff, crescents or spangles on the breast instead of lacing 

 round the feather ; lacing inside the very edge of the 

 feather (double lacing) ; soot or moss inside the lacing ; 

 lacing so heavy as to show hardly any centre, or very 

 narrow lacing, or any great inequality of lacing ; spangled 

 instead of laced bars in the cock ; rusty or brown lacing 

 instead of black. In regard to the last point, however, fine 

 pullets often moult out brown or mossy as hens, and such 

 will breed as well as before ; still, such as preserve their 

 colour are to be preferred, and by degrees this tendency 

 may be bred out. 



The sexes are generally bred now from separate pens ; 

 choosing for the cockerel pen a standard show bird with 

 good breast-lacing, rather broad, and putting with him 

 pullets with lacing rather broader than desirable, but black, 

 even if the cushion be a little sooty in the centres. (It has 

 been said that as hens these birds may come brown and 

 mossy). For pullets, on the other hand, it seems best to 

 choose exhibition females, putting with them a cockerel 



