26 



THE ASIATICS. 



shape Irom quarter to keel is V-shaped, not rounded at the 



sides. This and a want of fulness in front generally go 



together, and are generally cut one point. When the quarters 



are full, giving rounded shape to side lines, the. breast is 



sure to have a rounded front from wing to wing front. This 



fulness of the shoulder or quarters, as its effect in breast is 



called, is what gives the effect of the breast being carried 



well forward of the thighs, when such appearance is called 



perfect. 



BODY AND FLUFF. 



In the old standard the body and fluff were considered 

 together. The keel should be carried rather low, but not 

 so low as to hide the full profile of the hock, and the keel 

 muscle must be full and firm to the touch. The fluff should 

 be moderately full and with the full thigh fluff gives a broad 

 appearance to the bird when viewed from behind. The sur- 

 face and under-color are white, though the latter may be 

 bluish grey. 



When keel is so crooked as to affect the shape we have 

 described as perfect, showing a hollowness in front of thighs 

 and a want of depth to body, a cut of one-half to one point 

 should be made, and we have seen cases where one and a half 

 and even two points were necessary; but slight notches or 

 slight turning of the keel, if no apparent alteration to shape 

 of body appears, may pass uncut in Brahmas, but should 

 a tie appear, the crooked keeled bird should lose, or be given 

 a check for the defect, which would decide the tie without 

 another examination. 



If the thigh fluff be scant and fluff proper be shrunken 

 as compared to our model, a cut of one-half to one point will 

 in a large majority cover these defects. 



THE WINGS. 

 Here- again color comes in with such effect that shape is 

 too often overlooked. Light Brahma wings are a trifle more 



than medium in length and 

 are well cupped in the rose, 

 that is, they should have a 

 prominent round sweep from 

 cape downward. The prima- 

 ries are folded smoothly under 

 the secondaries, which lay un- 

 der the saddle hangers. The 

 wing fronts are strongly mus- 

 cled and covered by the breast 

 plumage at the quarters. In 

 color the fronts are white, or 

 slightly mixed with black. 

 The secondaries are black, but 

 have white on the lower web 

 of sufficient width so that the 

 wing bay is white. The white 

 along the upper edge of the 

 upper web, growing wider as 

 it extends around the tip and 

 along the upper edge of the upper web, growing wider as the 

 secondaries comb upward. The five feathers between the 

 secondaries and the cape have less and less black, until the 

 top one is altogether white in order to*secure the white sur- 

 face color. The primaries are black, or nearly so, having a 

 white edge to the lower web. 



The same description applies to the wings of the female, 

 except that the primaries are black in the shaft, the balance 

 of the feather being black and white, but to escape a cut for 

 defective color the black must predominate in the feather. 

 The wings should be carried high enough to secure the flat 

 cape across the back and should be so folded that the points 

 lie under the saddle hangers in the male and are well bedded 

 between the cushion and fluff of the female. 



A Black Ticked Saddle Feather. 



.Cut one-half to one and one-half points, according to 

 degree of imperfection, if the wings are carried too low, or 

 the. primaries are loosely folded, showing below the secon- 

 daries; if white predominates in the primaries of the females 

 and is top prominent in the males; if straw color shows in 

 the surface color, or brick color in the white of flights. If 

 the wings have a generally bad color, or have twisted feath- 

 ers in them, cut one-half to one and one-half points. If the 

 primaries are folded outside of the secondaries, refuse the 

 specimen a score card, for such birds will not prove worthy 

 breeders. 



Wing Primary 



lary of the Male. 



For color, see feathers forming illustrations Nos. 12 and 

 12%. Such feathers making up the primaries of a male, 

 should not be cut under the rule "black or nearly so, but 

 showing a white lacing to lower web," while in the female 

 white may appear as in No. 13 so long as the surface be 

 black in the larger proportion as here seen, buit upper web 

 may be solid black. In hens one often sees nearly all white 

 with the shaft only black, yet both colors are clear in shade; 

 one and one-half may be a reasonable cut, but when the 

 colors are neither black nor white like feather No. 14, we 

 think one and one-half to two and one-half should be the 

 penalty. This defect is more frequent in old hens. 



The secondaries are a white feather with the centers 

 being a very dark slate or black, but all color showing on 

 the surface must be white. Where the surface of wing is 

 shaded with straw or yellow, one-half to two points will 

 cover this defect. Of the feathers (five in number^ between 

 secondaries and cape, the fifth must be white and the others 

 sufficiently white to secure white in surface color. The cut 

 then almost always comes in surface color and primaries. 



Should the primaries be composed of feathers like Fig. 

 UA the cut surely should be all of one and one-half points, 

 and lesser defects one-half to one and a half 



