188 
The Australasian Book of Poultry. 
at junction with back. These tails are carried far too high, are too big, and behind are wide open and full, 
instead of folding neat and close on top. Very often hens and pullets are met with of almost perfect shape 
in other respects, but which have their wings so tightly clipped into the plumage, and carried so high that 
the saddle, instead of being very broad as it should be, is pinched almost across the centre into a very narrow 
space, and altogether spoils the uniformity of the back. This fault is most common in specimens that are 
too narrow throughout, and is, consequently, often not noticed ; but when it appears in big, broad hens it is 
very noticeable. A hen's wings must not be carried loose, and on the droop ; nor should they be so high 
and tightly jammed into the saddle as to result in the above unsightly appearance, but the happy medium is to 
have them so gracefully folded and hidden in the plumage of the breast and saddle that at a few yards' distance 
the conformation of the wings is altogether lost in tne beautifully rounded appearance of the whole body. 
In cocks, we have seen a few cases of big, massive, wide-breasted, deep-bodied birds on Ai legs, with, 
somehow, almost unexplainable narrow backs, though the bird is excellent otherwise. This is a clear break 
away from type, and must be penalised. Such shaped cocks have puzzled me considerably, as to how a bird, 
otherwise so true to type, will occasionally come so palpably wrong in such an important particular, as in all 
Nature the broad, wide back follows the deep, broad breast almost as truly as night follows day ; but, after 
close study, the only conclusion I can come to is, that these unnatural-shaped birds are the direct descendants 
of the above pinch-backed hens, and that the defect is more deep-seated than most people imagine, the 
superficial jamming-in of the wings being only the result of cause and effect, the cause being an actual 
pinching or narrowing-in of the bick across the saddle (though the shoulders and front part of the back may 
be wide), and the tight clipped wings fitting into the cavity only the effect. A very slight cushion is allow- 
able in females, but for my own part I would sooner see them without any, as broad backs can be bred just 
as well without cushion as with it. Roach back is a very rare thing in Rock cocks, but occasionally is 
present in hens. If the back itself is actually reached, it is a case of throw out ; but very often that which 
appears to the eye as a certain case of roach back, only turns out on handling to be an abnormal carriage 
and length of plumage, with the back itself perfectly right. In such a case it is only a minor defect ; but 
for the above reason it is imperative to handle all suspected cases. Too much credit is often given fora gay, lively 
appearance in the .Show pen. It is against Nature to suppose that a bird of the weight, stamp, and type of 
a true Rock can dance a break down in the narrow confines of a Show pen. Though the product of Brother 
Jonathan, the Rock is a regular John Bull in type, with a firm grip and title to a very fair proportion of his 
Mother Earth, and when caged up his proper appearance is a grand, splendid stolidity, and quite the reverse 
of the Jack-in-the-box, natural La Gallc style of the Mediterranean breeds. A Rock, if of too gay carriage 
in the Show pen, though carrying his tail fairly well, will always, when set at liberty, run it up another inch 
or two higher, and more forward, and though you would pass the same gentleman in the pen, and, perhaps, 
give him a card, his carriage of tail if seen in the yard would horrify you to think you had let such a squirrel 
tail slip you up. For this reason I am always suspicious of these corky customers in the pens, and keep 
right off them wherever possible. Though a bird may appear of a too stubborn and solenm disposition in 
the pen, if both equal otherwise, I would put him before a too gay one, simply because I have had it driven 
home, from long experience, that all Rocks are by nature far livelier and gayer birds in the yard than in the 
pen. As I remarked in the early part of this article, they hate confinement, and I am positive are possessed 
of a fair share of stubbornness as a breed, and when boxed up (like their prototype, John Bull) they trot out 
a good big lump of this .same stubbornness, and let you know they've got it. These stubborn, 
bored-out, sober-looking chaps in the pen are invariably grand active fellows outside, when rejoicing 
in the freedom of unlimited space and you could catch half-a-dozen Cochins or Dorkings before you could 
snap a single Rock when on his own ranch. Breeding for gayness, stiltiness, and reach has well nigh ruined 
what was one of our most beautiful and useful breeds, and though I don't pose as a Specialist Judge of 
Andalusians, one need not have been a very close observer to know that the full-breasted birds of a few 
years ago, with their beautiful lacing, were far handsomer, far more weighty and massive, and altogether a 
more attractive and useful Fowl than the stilty, spindle-shanked, narrow-breasted, narrow-backed substitutes 
