Breeding Partridge Cochins. 223 



different system ; but the following rules embody the best and most successful experience we have 

 been able to gather, besides conforming — so far as can be — to our own experience in the analogous 

 case of the similarly pencilled Brahma. On the whole we are perhaps most indebted for the rules 

 here given to information gathered from the strain of Mr. Crossley, of Halifax, and especially from 

 Mr. J. Wadsworth, a gentleman under whose advice most of these birds have for years been mated, 

 though he does not himself exhibit at shows. We have also obtained corroboration from other 

 skilled breeders who do not wish their names to appear. 



In breeding cockerels, then (it is very necessary in this breed to match up separate pens for 

 breeding the different sexes), a cock should be selected which, in addition to presenting the ordinary 

 Cochin characters, has a really black breast, fluff, and leg-feather, with hackles of a rich red striped 

 with dense black. The hackle behind the neck may approach to orange red, but towards the throat 

 in front should be very dark. Saddle-hackles ought to be nearly the same colour, but need not 

 be quite so dark. The shaft of the feather showing as a thin cream-coloured line in the hackle 

 will not much matter, but the web of the hackle should be yW-black quite up to the stem or shaft. 

 The hens to mate with such a cock should be of a very deep and rich brown ground-colour, 

 almost the colour of roasted coffee, and with rich reddish-orange hackles, the markings on her 

 feathers resembling those in the plate (Fig. 60), which represent very accurately the markings of a 

 hen which has bred some of the best cockerels ever exhibited. The distinguishing characteristic 

 of these feathers is that the pencilling, though very small and minute, is close, almost black in 

 colour, and nearly covers the ground, making a very dark and rather dull-looking hen. In such 

 hens the shaft of the feather usually shows slightly, as in the plate ; but this is of very little 

 consequence in breeding cocks, though it will be so much the better if all streak be absent. The 

 longer secondary quills, as shown in the plate, will be nearly black, and the cushion-feathers are 

 often scarcely distinguishable from black ; but even in that case a lacing of the ground-colour 

 (perhaps rather paler or nearly gold-colour in this part), should extend quite round the feather, as 

 shown ; for if it does not there will be a want of brightness in the cockerels produced. From 

 such mating, at least after a year or two's breeding, a very large proportion ol cockerels will 

 be fit to show, though for a little while after commencing not much certainty can be expected. 

 We should advise great care in commencing any strain of Partridge Cochins to avoid white 

 in the cock's tail, which in this breed is particularly difficult to breed out when once it has 

 obtained a footing. 



For breeding pullets, on the contrary, quite a different type of bird will be necessary. The 

 plate (Fig. 61) shows very accurately the markings to be sought in the hen ; the breast-feathers 

 particularly being very solidly and accurately pencilled with several perfect semicircles or 

 crescentic markings, so thickly as to nearly approach the general effect over the rest of the body. 

 The other feathers will show much the same character, and the whole marking should be rather 

 large and broad, and very intense in colour, the shaft of the feather showing if possible not at all. 

 The hen's hackle may vary : if she be a show bird, there should be a solid stripe down each 

 feather ; but as far as breeding is concerned, some of the very best marked pullets are produced 

 from birds whose hackles are somewhat pencilled, as in the second hackle-feather of Fig. 61. 

 The ground or margin-colour of the hackle in either case should be a rich bright gold-colour, and 

 the dark marking should reach well over the top of the head. The ground-colour over the rest of 

 the body will be rather a light brown, approaching buff, but totally free from any bright yellow, 

 which is objectionable. The cock to mate with these hens should have a reddish orange, rather 

 than red, hackle, densely striped with black ; and a few brown spots on his fluff or even breast will 

 be little injury to him as a pullet-breeder. Many people would suppose that by mating such birds 



