Black East Indian Ducks. 545 



"As regards plumage, the drake should be of a most brilliant, lustrous, I might almost say 

 dazzling, green throughout, i.e., the whole of the upper part of the body and wings; the breast and 

 under parts being deep black. Sometimes the breast-feathers are tinged with reddish brown, but 

 that is a defect which absolutely disqualifies the bird, if the judging is good, and a drake so 

 marked should never be bred from. The feet and legs should be as nearly black as possible ; they 

 get, however, lighter with age, showing in course of years more or less of an orange tint. 



" With respect to the bill, I mean the drake s bill, ' doctors dififer.' My opinion (and I am 

 glad to know that I am in accord with most of the oldest breeders) is that it should be a sort of 

 pale yellow washed over with blackish green, the colour being laid on thinly, as it were, so as to 

 give an almost transparent effect, and shaded off at the tip into a kind of slate-colour. If the yellow 

 is too derp, and, as it were, too thlekly laid on, it turns in course of time into a bright orange, which 

 is very objectionable. There should be no black spots or patches whatever upon the bill. On the 

 other hand, one of our most eminent judges prefers the bill as dark in colour and as near black as 

 possible. But I really do think this is (not to put too fine a point upon it) a great mistake. The 

 lighter bill harmonises and also contrasts so well with the green plumage, that a great beauty is 

 lost by requiring the black bill. Bills of either colour can be produced by a proper selection of 

 stock birds, or rather, I should say, yoii7ig hirds can be shown with bills of either colour ; for bills 

 will get lighter with age, and however dark they may be at, say eight months, they will be much 

 lighter at eighteen months. 



" The duck should be in all points except the bill as like the drake as possible ; not that a 

 duck ever was as green as a drake, or at least as a drake ought to be. As usually seen, the ducks 

 are of a brownish black, slightly glossed with green on the back and wings, and with a bright green 

 wing-spot. Ducks that are really green are very rare, and if good in other points, such as size, 

 symmetry, and bill, are very valuable. I showed one myself at Birmingham five or six years ago ; 

 and Mr. Pittis exhibited a most beautiful one at the Crystal Palace in 1871, bred, I believe, from a 

 drake which I sold to him the year before. The pen was claimed at a high price by Mr. Sainsbury, 

 who bred two young ducks from them the following season, which were equally good ; and he 

 exhibited the mother and her two daughters at the Crystal Palace, Birmingham, and other shows 

 last winter, but he was not so successful with them as he ought to have been, or indeed as he 

 deserved to be ; for they were by far the three best ducks of the breed ever seen together. Mr. 

 Burn also showed an exceedingly brilliant duck in 1871, and I think also in 1872, but it was not 

 so small as those of Mr. Sainsbury. These few that I have mentioned are almost the only ones 

 I have ever seen which at all approached perfection, and my reason for mentioning them is to 

 show the extreme rarity of such brilliant colour. 



"The bill of the duck should be deep black; it is generally shaded off at the tip to slate- 

 colour, but the less of this and the darker the bill the better. Ducks are often seen with patches 

 of green upon the bill, and some of the judges do not seem to object to it — at all events, I have 

 seen a duck in a first prize pen at Birmingham so adorned — but I think it a great blemish, 

 indeed quite a disqualification. I would never award a prize to such a duck, nor would I keep 

 such a one in my own yard. 



"All Black East Indians, both drakes and ducks, are liable to throw white feathers. These 

 appear most usually at the base of the lower mandible and round the eyelids. Sometimes a white 

 feather or two shows itself on the breast. I do not mind a few, if only a few, at the base of the 

 lower bill. I never yet saw any bird of the breed absolutely free from white feathers. If none are 

 to be seen the first year, some are sure to show themselves after the first moult, often sooner than 

 that ; and the most provoking part of it is that the smaller and more delicate, and on that account 

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