328 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



out of place to state shortly the various breeds of game fowl 

 alluded to in this paper, with a short description of each. 



First is the "Black-red game," the oldest breed of all, and I 

 think the purest. The cock has the head bright orange in colour ; 

 comb, single, serrated, and red ; eyes, bright red ; face, red ; 

 hackle, bright orange, without any markings ; back, dark rich 

 red; shoulders and shoulder-coverts, red; wing-butts, black; 

 bow, red ; greater and lesser coverts, brilliant lustrous black, 

 forming a distinct bar ; primaries, black ; secondaries, outer web 

 bay, black inner web ; saddle, red ; tail, black ; breast, black ; 

 legs, either willow, blue, olive, or yellow ; one very old breed, 

 however, which is very scarce, called the Derby red, has, as its 

 distinctive mark, white legs, and occasionally a white feather 

 in its tail, which last feature in all other black-reds is considered 

 a sign of the greatest impurity. 



Black-red hen.— Eyes, bright red ; neck-hackle, golden, with 

 black stripes ; back and shoulder coverts, wing-bow, shoulder, 

 and coverts, partridge-colour ; tail, black and brown ; breast and 

 thighs, salmon-colour ; legs, as in cock. 



" White game." — Plumage, entirely white ; comb, red ; legs, 

 orange -yellow ; eye red (this applies to both cock and hen). 



" Piles," or " Pied game," are common enough in the British 

 Islands, and were originally obtained by crossing White game 

 with Black-red game. 



The cock may be very shortly described as being the same 

 colour as a Black-red cock, but where the Black-red is black the 

 Pile is white. 



The Pile hen has comb, face, and eyes, red ; neck, golden ; 

 breast, salmon-colour ; tail, white ; rest of plumage white, with 

 yellow or red ; legs, yellow or willow. 



" Blue game " are now very scarce ; they are marked, both 

 cocks and hens, the same as Piles, except that where a Pile is 

 white a Blue is of a dull blue colour ; legs dark blue. 



"Cuckoo game" are still rarer, and I have seen but very 

 few in this country ; they are marked something like the breast 

 of a Cuckoo, Cucidus canorus, from whence they take their 

 name, their entire plumage being a light bluish grey, each 

 feather being barred with bands of a darker grey, no red ; legs, 

 in the few I have seen, yellow. 



I need hardly add that the comb in all game fowls should be 



