440 



POULTRY CULTURE 



initial type of fowl. While it is entirely possible that this variety 

 has been developed direct from the Mallard, it is much more prob- 

 able that it was developed, by long-continued selection for table 

 qualities, from common ducks of the same color, just as the fowls of 

 the European meat type were developed from mongrel fowls. The 

 type was developed especially in the north of France, and takes its 

 name from the city of Rouen. ^ The body color of the male is gray ; 

 the back is quite dark, with a greenish coat, or sheen, becoming 



darker green 

 near the tail ; 

 the under parts 

 are very much 

 lighter, the un- 

 der sides of 

 the wings and 

 some of the 

 feathers under 

 the wings be- 

 ing white; the 

 breast is claret- 

 colored ; the 

 head and the 

 upper part of 

 the neck are 

 green, a white 

 ring separat- 

 ing the green 



from the body and breast colors, which extend to the lower part of 

 the neck ; the tail and wings show mixed gray and brown, with 

 some green ; the wing when folded shows a rich blue-green bar 

 (called the " ribbon ") with narrow white bars on either side. The 

 female has penciled brown plumage, the general color tone of which 

 is strikingly like that of the females in black-red types of fowls, and 

 has the same blue-green and white bars seen on the male. A variety 



' This is the view of most of the earlier writers, and considering the nearness 

 of that town to Paris, the great poultry market, and the custom of giving names 

 of towns or districts to poultry for which they became celebrated, there seems 

 no good reason for the efforts of later writers to make the name a corruption of 

 "Rhone" or "roan." 



Fig. 468. Cayuga Ducks. (Photograph by E. J. Hall) 



