Colour of tile Almond Hen. 
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exhibitors and judges, as regards the question ot colour, we think those who breed to what we 
have given, if they succeed in attaining it will be on safe ground, and will have little cause to 
regret it. We must, however, say that no one must expect to lay feathers of an Almond upon 
paper and expect them to resemble these plates. The feathers thus looked at will appear totally 
different ; and what is aimed at in the plates is to convey, as far as possible, a fair idea of the 
appearance of the whole bird in life. In comparison single feathers will appear very dull and cold. 
We have next similarly to consider the Almond hen. In the first place, the same cannot be 
said of her as of the cock, as to possessing standard flights and tail. We have often heard of such 
birds being seen ; but having had more Almonds in our own hands for examination than any one 
else we know, and many of them, as regards mere strength of feather, being quite as showy as most 
four-year-old cocks, we say without hesitation, that we have never yet met with such a thing 
as an Almond hen which possessed three distinct colours in the flights and tail. When we see 
such with our own eyes we will believe in it, but not till then. Certainly we have several times 
been shown birds that were termed standards, but on careful examination, feather by feather, they 
invariably proved far short of what had been stated. Sometimes a hen at four years old (being 
naturally lighter-coloured, they take longer to get properly broken in feather) will be seen with a 
standard tail, but the flights will only have two or three standard feathers on one side and perhaps 
four on the other. Some will show the desired three colours on one feather and only two on the 
next, while the third is, perhaps, nearly all white. The nearest we have ever seen to a standard 
Almond in a hen, has been to show the three colours in the first three flight feathers of each wing, 
and this is all we ever expect to see, though why it should be so it is hard to say. It is, however, 
all that is needed to make the bird look perfect to the eye in a pen or aviary, and whenever we 
find a hen possessed of this much we feel more than satisfied, as these outer flight feathers are all 
which can be seen when the hen is showing off to the cock. Let her be ever so good in carriage, 
the hen seldom drops her flights so low as the cock does, so that even if she be faulty in the fourth 
or fifth flight feathers, it is never seen until she is handled. 
We are of the same opinion with regard to the hen as the cock, with respect to the shoulders, 
breast, rump, and thighs being all of one shade or colour, before the period at which she, like him, 
becomes broken or spangled in feather. If she has a mealy-coloured rump in infancy, she, like 
the cock, will never improve in this respect, but will show the variation in shade as long as she 
lives. Some persons attempt to persuade novices differently ; but we never yet knew a single case 
of an Almond Tumbler of either sex with a mealy-coloured rump, which afterwards became of the 
right shade of colour. On the other hand, we never knew a single instance where the rump was of 
the right colour, but the bird was of a good sound colour all over, and never failed to become well 
spangled when the proper time arrived. Birds of the mealy ground-colour, even when afterwards 
they become darker, are nearly always found to retain a mealy edging to the feathers of the 
shoulders, as if each feather was laced with a lighter colour, which looks bad. 
By referring to the plate, the colour of the Almond hen will be seen at her three different 
stages of life, in the same manner as we have before represented the cocks, and it will be seen how 
the spangling gradually increases, while the white decreases in the same way. The difference 
between the hen and the cock will also be seen ; but we may here add that the nearer the hen can 
be obtained, both to the ground-colour and spangling of the cock, the more she is valued. This, of 
course, must be considered according to her age, and we have seen a few birds which could hardly 
be distinguished from cocks ; but it is rare to see what may be called a well-matched pair of 
Almonds. The reason is simply that, owing to the lighter colour, it takes a hen nearly double the 
time to acquire the same depth of colour and spangling as a cock ; and the breed being so delicate 
