Modern British Game. 
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heavy broivs, holloiv eyes (pale in colour), fiat shins, short iviry-feather, and both sexes having a tendency to 
carry their wings goose-fashion. Many of these grave faults are now " bred out," though occasionally one or 
other is present in some otherwise good specimens at our best Shows. 
The present type of the high-class Modern Game Fowl dates distinctly from the seventies ; but prior to 
that date birds somewhat of their type were known as Yorkshire Whip-tails. The Judges of the time were 
principally instrumental in bringing about the change, favouring the long lean head, long tapered neck, short 
close-fitting hackle, broad prominent shoulders, short wings, narrow fine sickle feathers, small low-set tail, 
carried close together, and extreme length of limb. 
In colour, the black-breasted red cocks were lighter and brighter in top-colour, but this brought with il 
faulty markings on the knee joints, ticked or laced breasts, and rusty markings behind the thighs. These 
faults are too often prominent in some of the most stylish Show birds of to day. The hens are too often 
exhibited with rusty markings on sides of wings, pale in breast, and shafty all over— fauits that should not 
he t<)iemted in a Show specimen. 
The Brown-Reds have undergone the greatest change in colour and markings. The cocks must now 
have Gipsy faces, black eyes, beaks, and legs ; the neck hackles and saddle hackles of a lemon shade, 
streaked with brilliant black in the centre of each feather ; the back and wing-bows, a shade darker lemon ; the 
breast, lightly and evenly laced, each feather having a lemon shaft and margin; the rest of the body, tail, and 
wings, a bright, lustrous greenish-black. The hens similar to the cocks in face, eyes, beak, and legs ; their 
hackles, black and gold, or lemon ; the rest of their plumage, a lustrous greenish-black. Faults that are 
mostly found in the Brown-Red cocks are red faces, pale eyes, streaky breasts, and, tvorst of all, pencilled secon- 
daries — birds that, in a Brown- Red breeder's eyes, are absolutely worthless. In the hens we have frequently 
seen birds winning prizes with scarcely a sound coloured feather in their bodies, being pencilled or laced all 
over with a dull brown. This presents a shabby appearance, not at all pleasing to the eye. Hens of this 
description should never get even a commended card as Brown-Reds. 
The Duckwings and Piles are sometimes shown in great perfection, though cocks of the former mostly 
exhibit rather too much Black-Red blood, in the shape of stained wing secondaries, and streaks in hackle 
and saddle, the hens also showing a brownish cap on the head, and rusty on the sides of the wings. The 
Pile cocks also show marbling on breast, and black ticks on wing-bar, and sometimes a black, or partly 
black feather in tail sickle and true tail, the hens showing too much rusty markings on sides of wings. 
These are faults that may be remedied by careful matmg of the Stock birds. 
At the same time, many specimens of the different colours exhibited at our leading Poultry Exhibitions 
are wonderfully perfect in shape, style, and feather markings, and it is an almost hopeless task for a beginner 
to expect to beat the birds penned by the leading breeders, unless he starts with stock from the very best 
strains, which means the expenditure of a large amount of solid cash. 
To Mr. C. W. Pattison, of Leichhardt, N.S.W., a most successful breeder and exhibitor of the variety, 
we are indebted for the following notes. Mr. Pattison writes : 
" Modern Show British Game are bred in quite a variety of colours— the Black-Red, Brown-Red, Red- 
Pile, and Golden-Duckwing, in the order named, being the standard colours ; but there are sub-varieties of 
the breed - viz., the Silver-Grey Birchen, Silver-Grey Duckwing, Lemon-Piles, and also strains of Blacks and 
Whites, though the latter are seldom seen. 
" With all breeders and judges of Show Game, style is considered to be of the greatest importance, so 
much so, that a bird of great merit in other points, and wanting style, is generally discarded. By style, I 
mean carriage and action, which should be upright, tall, racy, and smart. The bird's head should be long, 
lean, and narrow, forming, with the neck, a graceful curve, not rising or indented at the back ; the neck 
itself long and slender, with close-fitting hackle (the hackle feathers cannot be too narrow and close fitting), 
thus adding to the apparent length and slenderness of neck, and which tends to bring the shoulders out to 
much greater advantage. The shoulders require to be well carried forward, and prominent, broad and square, 
the back flat and short, finishing off to a fine, narrow stern ; the chest broad, but not to3 full, or turkey- 
