258 The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 



in another ; and that the breast up to the throat be closely pencilled, so as to be nearly as 

 dark as the sides or back. Whatever the colour be, the neck-hackle should be silvery white, 

 heavily striped with rich black, and the shank-feathering be pencilled the same as the body. 



The tail-feathers in the hen or pullet are black, the top pair only being edged with 

 grey, or pencilled, on the upper edges. The shanks should be deep yellow, with or without 

 a dusky shade. 



In breeding Dark Brahmas, the constant tendency to breed lighter must be especially allowed 

 for ; and, therefore, to maintain the character of any strain it is ever necessary to provide depth 

 of colour on one side or the other : in fact either the cock or the hens should, if possible, be a 

 shade darker than the colour desired. The selection of hens or pullets will be comparatively a 

 simple matter. The fancier should consider what colour and character of pencilling he prefers 

 out of all those to be observed at shows, and then procure birds as near to it as possible. If they 

 be, as above remarked, a shade darker than the fancied colour, it will be all the better, provided 

 the cJiaracter of the pencilling be the same. It is necessary, however, to distinguish between 

 pullets and hens ; in the case of silver-grey birds especially, which as hens often look so brown 

 and dingy that it seems almost impossible to believe they were ever of that exquisite colour so 

 admired by many in the young pullets. Such brown birds will often breed good stock ; never- 

 theless, as the dingy colour is the great drawback and blemish of the silver-grey school, if hens 

 can be obtained free from it so much the better. In any case the birds should be well pencilled 

 over the breast, or it will be long and tedious work getting dark-breasted pullets from 

 such a stock. 



There is very often a little tendency in Dark Brahma pullets to show the shaft of the feather 

 white about the shoulders and front of the breast, causing a slight appearance of streakiness, as 

 in the Silver-grey Dorking. This tendency will increase if not watched, and when allowed to 

 develop causes an unsightly appearance, being most conspicuous, by contrast, in the darkest 

 coloured birds. Hens or pullets very much disfigured in this way should therefore be discarded ; 

 or, if employed for the sake of unusually fine shape or colour, must be most carefully mated 

 with cocks quite free from streak : otherwise the produce will be nearly all thus marked, and the 

 tendency may get so much developed that it may be almost impossible to breed it out again, 

 the whole body showing the white streak down the centre of every feather in a most unsightly 

 way. A little about the breast used to exist in nearly all pullets ; but the care of breeders has 

 lately succeeded in banishing it from all good yards, and no bird with a streaky breast would now 

 win in a strong class. 



Hens or pullets with very large coarse heads, of a "sour" expression, should in nearly every 

 case be refused for breeding stock. Such a strain is very often crossed with the Dorking, and 

 to get coarse heads is to lose one of the chief beauties of the Brahma breed. A hen with this 

 defect has in most cases large coarse pencilling also, and only when the size, shape, and carriage 

 were unusually fine, and pencilling also good, would we experiment with her, choosing for the 

 purpose a particularly fine-headed male bird. 



It is the choice of the cock that is the chief difficulty in breeding Dark Brahmas, for those 

 differences in colour and marking which in the hens are so apparent are in him only partially 

 perceptible even to the most experienced eye, and to most persons not at all. There is not a 

 breeder who has never been disappointed in his expectations from some noble-looking bird ; the 

 different strains being so crossed and blended that unexpected tendencies are often developed, and 

 baffle all calculation. Still, there are some general principles which make success at least likely 

 to reward him who will observe them. In breeding silver-grey or blue-grey pullets, the cock 



