from an extra layer or an extra-good exhibition specimen of ex- 

 tra vigor is the one thing that may count most for the beginner. 

 It saves him from many years of up-hill work in trying to breed 

 up to the good specimens. 



As to ornamental quality, there is nothing in nature more 

 lovely and charming than white water fowl playing on the 

 water. The swans have been considered most attractive orna- 

 ments since time immemorial. Men have bought white domestic 

 fowls wherewith to ornament the lawns of their country places, 

 merely for the beauty of the contrast. The White Embden Goose 

 and the White Chinese variety have also been much used as or- 

 namental fowls. But the White Indian Runner, slimmer, grace- 

 ful as a fawn, distinctive in shape and carriage, bids fair to 

 become infinitely more popular than either the goose or even 

 the swan could ever become. 



Altogether, it seems to me that the most beautiful and dis- 

 tinctive fancy fowl ever oflfered to the American public is the 

 cliarming White Runner Duck. 



166 



