266 
The Australasian Book of Poultry. 
the bill " thoroughly ; and, as a noted fact, many of our prominent and most successful breeders and 
exhihitors of Australian Game (who, by the way, in most instances are compelled by force of circumstances 
to breed and rear their stock in cramped-up situations) are at times positively astounded by the appearance 
of an occasional specimen (picked up on its native heath), a bird which far excels in Show points of excellence 
those birds that have had generations of ancestors all carefully bred to the recognised Show Standard. 1 his 
proves that the breed, if given free liberty, and, even if not Judiciously selected and mated, still possesses a 
definitely fixed type, so much so that even in a flock of loo head or more scarcely any perceptible difference 
in tvpc will be noticed, and with the exception of the comb, which, as before remarked, is in a large 
proportion of the birds flat, and the shades of colour ranging from the darkest to medium hues (which 
latter feature, however, will be found in any distinct breed of Poultry other than self-coloured breeds), they 
are very uniform. In the colours bred for the Show pen, the preference is allowed to a bird of the Black- 
Breasted Dark-Red stamp, though many of the best specimens are more of a ginger colour, and as a peculiar 
coincidence the last mentioned are, as a rule, finer, larger, and more vigorous specimens. '1 his applies to 
the hens and pullets more than the cockerels, many of the best in type, size, reach, and style running almost, 
if not quite, reddish-brown on back and wings, and dark, almost burnt sienna colour, on the breast ; though 
when a cockerel is produced good in type, size, and style, with a sound black breast and a good deep, rich 
red on hackle and saddle, with the deepest shade of rich maroon on back, and bright steel-blue in wing-bars, 
he is highly prized. 
Among the hens many may be found quite equal in colour and pencilling to the highest type of Modern 
British Black-Breasted Red Game, but in hardness and closeness of feather literally eclipse the British. A 
soft-feathered Australian Game cock or hen is anathema. 
Were more consideration given by the Farmers to the selection and mating of this grand race of Poultry, 
by mating the sound-coloured cocks to the best of the Partridge-marked hens, the general results as to colour 
points would become more uniform, though we really question whether this would be an unmixed good. 
However, there are many magnificent Wheaten hens also of the variety which may always be depended upon 
to produce the brightest and soundest colour in the cockerels of the first cross, but it is from these same 
Wheaten hens that the mischief is caused by producing the ruddy or reddish-brown pullets ; and again, if the 
latter are bred from the following year, brown feathers appear in the breast and fluff of the cockerels so bred, 
and some of the pullets again revert to the Wheaten. 
Next to the Black- Breasted Reds in popular favour we would place the Blacks, and among birds of this 
colour may be found the ideal Australian Game, though, again, these have suffered somewhat by the 
carelessness in breeding, and at times the injudicious crossing with the Black -Breasted Reds to obtain reach, 
some of the very best cocks exhibiting reddish feathers in hackle, and the hens a light lacing of reddish-gold 
to the feathers of throat and breast (somewhat similar in marking to a very dark Brown-Red British hen. 
The Blacks when in high condition fairly glisten in the sun, the plumage showing brilliant green and purple 
reflections ; and this breed, being rather shorter-feathered and stouter-built than the other varieties, is the 
embodiment of physical beauty. K is rare to find the Blacks as reachy as the other colours, their tendency 
being towards a more compact, large-bodied, symmetrical FowL These have, as a rule, dark brown or black 
eyes (the Black-Breasted Reds and all the other colours being invariably pearl, or yellow), and it is an 
extreme rarity to find pearl eyes in this variety. 
The Blacks are noted and stubborn fighters. Many of this colour we have seen pitted in past years, 
and they either won or died fighting. This we could not conscientiously state about the others. We have 
seen "good-'uns" and " bftlters of each and every other colour. We note with pleasure that the Black 
variety has found favour with that w^orld-renowned authority on Game Fowls, Mr. H. P. Clarke, of 
Indianopolis, Indiana (U.S.A.). Mr. Clarke, in writing about the breed, states that the birds he now owns of 
this breed are not at all like the so-called ' Colonial Game.'' Probably he meant not at all like our Show 
specimens of Black-Breasted Red, Pile, and Duckwing Game. It will be noted that we have shown there is 
a great difference between the Blacks and the other colours, but all the same the Blacks are of purely 
