General Characteristics of Brahmas. 



251 



being set well down between the thighs. The shoulders should be somewhat prominent, so as to 

 make the back a little hollow between them when the bird stoops, and give a handsome proportion. 

 The wings ought to \z of medium size, and well tucked up, so as to make the bird look neat and 

 trim. Disordered flights are a great blemish, and birds with any feathers actually twisted should 

 be disqualified. The thighs should be well covered with fluff, though not quite so loose and downy 

 as in the case of Cochins, and the hocks ought to be entirely and neatly covered with soft curling 

 feathers. We are glad to see that bare legs are now quite discarded by judges, and we would 

 ourselves prefer vulture-hocks to such a disgusting fault. The vulture-hock is, however, a great 

 blemish undoubtedly, and none but an unusually good bird should win any prize when thus disfigured ; 



Fig. 6j. 



but only stiff feathers projecting so as to form a spur on the limb are to be so regarded, and soft curling 

 feathers, however plentiful, are only a beauty to be desired. The shanks should be of moderate 

 length, and feathered as heavily as possible, down to the ends of both outer and middle toes. Too 

 short shanks in the cock look decidedly bad, but it is rather hard to fail in this respect. The shank- 

 feather should " stand out " well, not take a perpendicular direction, else it does not show properly. 

 We have frequently seen both the inner and back toes feathered in the case of hocked birds, and we 

 once ourselves bred a bird perfectly free from hock which was thus furnished, and have known pullets 

 also present this peculiarity. On the other hand, some very heavily-feathered birds have the middle 

 toe bare; and while this is not desirable, they are not therefore to be discarded. We need scarcely 

 say that the thicker the shanks are the better. Very large cocks are generally somewhat long in 



