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THE AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



of the Game-cock ; a bold defiance in his chal- 

 lenge, while every glance, " keen as the eagle's," 

 looks in your face with fearless bravery. His 

 gallantry, as exhibited to his harem, is of the 

 most refined kind, and makes us feel the truth 

 of the poet, that 



" None but the brave deserve the fair." 



There are evidently two or more varieties 

 of the Game fowl ; and a multiplicity of sub- 

 varieties present themselves to our special no- 

 tice. Among the most conspicuous we will 

 mention the following: The Black-breasted 

 Reds, and five varieties designated by the col- 

 or of their legs. Brown-breasted Reds, some- 

 times called Gingers. Duck-wings, Gray, or 

 streaky-breasted, Black brassy-wings, and Fur- 

 nace. Piles, three sorts. Blue or Grays, Blue, 

 Red-dun, Cuckoos, Birchen-yellow, Hen-cocks, 

 Whites, Indian, and Shawl-necks, or what are 

 sometimes called Irish Grays. 



Among all the varieties of the. Game fowls 

 we give precedence to that variety known as 

 "Lord Derby's breed," which have been kept 

 and bred with great care for upward of one 

 hundred years at Knowlsley, and still maintain 

 their high reputation. The following is a de- 

 scription of the cock of that breed : "They are 

 of a good round shape, well put together ; have 

 a fine long head; daw-eyes; long and strong 

 neck ; hackle well feathered, touching the shoul- 

 ders ; 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 colors of the 'Derby Red' should be 

 as follows : Cock. Face bright red ; breast and 

 thighs coal black; hackle and saddle feathers 

 light orange-red; back intense brown-red, a 

 depth of color that painters would term drag- 

 on's-blood; lesser wing-coverts maroon; great- 

 er wing-coverts marked at the extremity with 

 steel-blue, forming a bar across the wings ; pri- 

 mary 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 be distin- 

 guished when only a few weeks old. Beaks, 

 legs, and feet white. 



" Through the whole catalogue of Game fowls 

 the male birds are by far the most conspicuous 

 in plumage ; and wherever mere color has giv- 

 en the name to a class, the markings of the 

 cock explain the reason. The Black-breasted 

 Red hens, for instance, possess little of their 

 consort's brilliancy of feather, though these are 

 of much lighter colors than the Red-breasted 

 hen a fact in strange opposition to the plu- 

 mage of the respective male birds." 



" The hen we now describe," say the authors 

 of the "Poultry Book," "was selected from the 

 Knowlsley stock: Hen. Head fine and taper- 

 ing; face, wattles, and comb bright red; ex- 

 tremities of upper mandible and the greater 

 portion of the lower one white, but dusky at its 

 base and around its nostril; chestnut-brown 

 around the eye, 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 nd widely-expanded ; legs, feet, and 

 nails perfectly white." 



Duck-wings are among the most beautiful of 

 all Game fowls. The cocks vary in the color 

 of their hackle, saddle-feathers, and breast; the 

 hackle and saddle-feathers of some strains being 

 nearly white, in others yellow ; while with some 

 again the breasts are black, with some streaky, 

 and with some gray. 



Game fowls of unquestionable purity are often 

 seen with entirely black plumage; but, gener- 

 ally speaking, the cocks have the yellow bar on 

 the wing-coverts, which has given them the 

 name of Brass-winged. The hens are without 

 this peculiar marking, which is not fully devel- 

 oped till the third year. 



Characteristics. Whatever the color of the 

 Game fowl there is a generally recognized 

 standard for its form and figure, to which of 

 the varieties it may belong. 



The following would be the points by which 



