278 The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 



SILVER-PENCILLED HAMBURGHS.— "This breed and the following," observes the 

 same authority already quoted, "are somewhat smaller and lighter in make than the Spangled 

 varieties. In Yorkshire it is often known by the name of Chittiprat, and in Lancashire by that of 

 Bolton Greys, but these and all other names are gradually giving way to that of Silver-pencilled 

 Hamburghs. I will first describe the proper markings of the breed. 



" In the cock, the head, hackle, back, saddle-hackle, breast, and thighs should be a clear 

 silvery white, the yellow tinge which is so often seen being a very grave fault. The tail proper is 

 black, the sickles and side or furnishing feathers being a rich green black edged with a fine white 

 fringe, the finer and more sharply defined the better. Many birds have a sort of marbled tail, 

 which is very objectionable ; others have the sickle-feathers splashed with white, which is also a 

 grave fault, the only white which should be in the tail being the fine white edging merely, which 

 is clearly shown, with the other important markings of the cock, in the plate (Fig. 85) — the sickle 

 is drawn more bent than usual, in order to get it within the plate. The wing appears almost 

 white when closed ; but the inner webs of the wing-coverts should be very darkly pencilled 

 when examined (for which again see Fig. 85), and a fine black edgnig should be observable on 

 the wing-coverts, caused by the ends of the outer webs being also slightly tipped with black, and 

 giving the appearance of a slight and indistinct bar on the wing. If this point is not observable 

 it is a great fault, and such birds should never be bred from ; on the other hand, this barring should 

 not be too distinct or heavy, as sucli gives the bird an appearance (very often correct) of being 

 crossed with a coarsely-pencilled strain. The colour of the secondary quills is also important. 

 On the outer webs they are white, except a narrow strip of black next the quill, which is of course 

 only discernible when the wing is opened out, the white only being seen when closed ; the inner 

 web is black, all but a narrow white or grejish edging. In some birds the colour is a sort of black 

 and white mixture or marbly appearance, and not nearly deep enough, especially on the inner 

 web. Such birds have been bred from indifferently or lightly-pencilled hens, and are of no use 

 at all to breed from, at least if you expect to breed pullets as well as cockerels. On the fluff of 

 the thighs are some black spots or pencillings ; but with this exception and those already 

 stated, the entire plumage should be white. The comb, ear-lobes, legs, &c., should be much 

 the same as described for the Spangled, but somewhat smarter in appearance. The eyes to be a 

 bright red. 



" The neck-hackle of the hen also should be pure white, free from spots or pencilling, though 

 hackles somewhat marked are very common. The rest of the body should have each feather 

 distinctly marked or pencilled across with bars of black, as clear and distinct as possible on the 

 white ground, and in particular as straight across the feather as possible. The ' finer' this 

 pencilling, that is, the more numerous the bars across, the better. This pencilling should extend 

 from the throat to the very end of the tail. A tail well-pencilled is a very great point, as there 

 is a special tendency in the long feathers to lose the straightness across of the marking ; but tails 

 pencilled squarely across to the very tip can be and are bred, though never common. A very 

 usual fault is a light breast, or if not light only covered with large horse-shoe markings, both 

 being grave faults. The birds best marked on the breast are often a little inclined to be spotted 

 on the hackle, and this latter fault is certainly to be much preferred to a bad breast. The best 

 marking on the breast is never however quite equal to that on other parts of the body. The 

 proper marking of the pullets is shown in Fig. 86, which is drawn carefully and without any 

 exaggeration, from actual feathers. 



" The pencilling or marking, as said before, should be as fine and as straight across the 

 feather as possible ; and especially, the rows of pencilling on one feather falling on to the rows on 



