Silver-Grey Duckwing Game. 
293 
“To breed Duckwing cocks and hens, and to get the rich colours, you must frequently have a 
cross from the Black-red each way. Sometimes you may get them by breeding together, but 
rarely cocks ; hens you generally can. It is always best to put a pure-bred Duckwing hen to a 
really fine bright Black-red to get the cocks; all our best birds are bred this way, and the purer- 
feathered Black-red the cock is, the brighter you get your Duckwing. In breeding for hens, either 
Duckwing cock and Duckwing hens put together, or a very hard, good partridge-coloured Black- 
red hen, will bring what you want ; but if you get too much Duckwing by itself, you will have soft, 
mossy-feathered birds. The way to obviate this is every second year to breed a pure Duckwing 
hen or two, and put her to one of the clear bright Black-red cocks, and use the Duckwing cocks 
so bred as future stock birds. The reason we see so few really good Duckwings, either in hens 
or cocks, is that it takes so great an amount of care in the crossing to keep it up to the standard. 
Hackle. Breast. Flnt of Wing. Saddle. 
Fig. 73 .— Feathers of Silver Birchen Grey Hen. 
“ A bright brass-winged Duckwing cock crossed with Wheaten hens will also throw grand 
cockerels, but no good pullets, these last being too light in the breast and with ruddy wings, with 
a mealy appearance in the back-feathers. But here again you must not cross too much, or you 
will get mealy and indistinct colours, as well as softness of feather ; hence it is bad for a novice 
to go too much into crossing, but he should buy the purest-feathered fowls he can get, and breed 
till he finds out a little by experience. 
“The Silver-grey Duckwing, or Silver Birchen grey [see remarks hereafter], is a most handsome 
fowl. At one time, say fifteen years ago, we used to have some pens of them exhibited, and they 
were very much admired by Game breeders : but, unfortunately, most shows of Game at that time 
were judged by men that reahy did not know Game, and believed they were a cross of Silver-grey 
Dorkings ; therefore they were passed over, and breeders got discouraged, and gave up the breed 
solely on that account. The face was red ; hackle right from the crown of the head a pure white, 
without the least dark streak ; back and shoulder-coverts a nice silvery white, running into a black, 
with bluish cast at butts of shoulders ; saddle the colour of hackle, with a beautiful well-defined bar 
