Breeding Silver-grey Dorkings. 
o 2 7 
families for the production of cockerels and pullets, now unfortunately so general in the case of 
some varieties, is a clumsy and disappointing method by no means to be encouraged. I would 
select a cock as silvery as possible, with pure black breast, and mate him with hens of medium 
colour ; not too pale, or many of the cockerels will have grizzled breasts. But in any case scan 
very critically the birds of the opposite sex in the yards from which your breeders come; and if 
size has to be dispensed with on one side, let it be on that of the male bird. These precautions in 
the selection of stock-birds should secure a meritorious progeny.” 
The colour of Silver-grey Dorking hens, when anywhere near perfection, is of very great 
beauty. The light grey ground is closely covered over by a minute pencilling of darker grey, 
which gives that peculiar “silvery” appearance so attractive, both in this case and in that of the 
Duckwing Game hen. Fig. 77 represents the plumage, as far as engraving can do so ; being 
carefully drawn from feathers supplied by Mr. Cresswell, and plucked from the very perfect hen we 
have selected for portraiture. Every feather on the sides and back should show the white shaft 
distinctly ; and the plumage generally becomes very slightly darker as it approaches the tail, which 
latter is dark grey, the inner feathers almost black. The shades of grey vary, ranging from a soft 
and perhaps slightly dull grey (which should, however, remain perfectly pure and free from red or 
brown) to a very pale, bright, silvery grey. This last is peculiarly beautiful, and a celebrated 
Irish strain is noted for producing it in perfection : but such hens have the fault Mr. Cresswell has 
already hinted at, of producing very few cockerels which possess really black breasts ; white specks 
appearing towards the sides and thighs, and often to a very conspicuous degree. We are not sure 
if this difficulty can be overcome. It is quite true that many apparent impossibilities in regard to 
the relative colour of the two sexes have been vanquished by the skill and perseverance of breeders, 
but we doubt if any case strictly analogous has ever been really mastered. We have seen in the 
last chapter that the attempt to mate light silvery hens with Silver Duckwing cocks, the colour of 
which is precisely similar to those now in question, has nearly exterminated that beautiful breed ; 
but the remarkable fact is that the perseverance of breeders, which has been tested longer in the 
Game fowl than any other, seems conclusively to have proved that the only possible colour of hen to 
breed in purity the Silver-grey cock is a dark , soft grey. It is almost impossible to over-estimate 
the weight of this lengthened experience ; and fully admitting the possibility that our views may 
be proved erroneous, our full conviction still is, that in breeding and showing Silver-grey Dorkings 
there are only two possible alternatives : — Firstly, that the judges give the preference to the deep 
robin breasts and darker and softer greys in judging hens, instead of the brightest and lightest 
colours ; or, secondly, that cockerels and pullets be bred, as deprecated by Mr. Cresswell, 
from separate pens, breeding the cockerels from black-breasted cocks with the darkest hens 
that can be procured, and the pullets from the lighter hens with speckled-breasted cocks. The 
following pregnant remarks by Mr. Hewitt will entirely confirm the former of these as thoroughly 
answering the purpose : — 
“The great difficulty at the present time in judging Silver-grey D01 kings,” says this eminent 
judge, “is to find any pen even in classes of considerable numbers that are true to feather; and 
this is the more to be regretted, as some ten or twelve years back they were not by any means 
uncommon. The fact is that at that date many strains of the Silver-greys could hold their own 
even as to weight, when entered in strong classes of Grey Dorkings ; and to my own knowledge, 
from properly selected stock, chickens were bred as true to colour as any other variety of poultry. 
Mr. William Bromley, of Birmingham, had a few years back a stock of Silver-grey hens that were 
worth going miles to inspect. They were invariably deep ‘robin-breasted,’ but without even the 
suspicion of ruddiness on the wing-butts. I have seen from twenty to thirty hens at a time at this 
