148 
THE POULTRY BOOK. 
The characteristics of the Silyer-pencilled, as here given, are strictly in accordance 
with those laid down in the “ Standard of Excellence.” 
In weight and size Silver-pencilled Hamburghs are considerably below the 
general standard : the carriage of the cock is very erect ; the tail is well borne up, 
and the head occasionally thrown back so far that the neck often touches the tail ; 
the general form is exceedingly neat and elegant. In the hen the carriage is 
sprightly and active, but not so impudent as that of the cock ; both sexes are 
alike noisy and restless in their habits, neat and very pretty in their form. The 
neck-hackle in both sexes should be pure white ; pencilling with black, a very 
frequent fault in the hackle of the hens, being very objectionable. The saddle 
of the cock must be pure mealy white. The cock’s tail is black, the sickle and 
side siclde-feathers being glossed with green, and having a narrow white edging. 
In the hens the tail must be distinctly barred or pencilled with black. 
The breast and thighs of the cock are white, as are the upper wing-coverts or 
shoulder, but the lower wing-coverts are marked with black on the inner web, 
showing a line of dots across the wing, forming a bar. The secondary quills, or 
those flight-feathers which are alone visible when the wing is closed, are white on 
the outer web and blackish on the inner web, and have a rich green-glossed black 
spot at the end of each feather. In the hens the entire plumage of the body, 
namely, that of the breast, back, wings, and thighs, should have each feather dis- 
tinctly pencilled or marked across with transverse bars of black ; the more defined 
these are, the better, as there should be a perfect freedom from a mossy appearance, 
which is caused by the two colours running into one another. The legs and feet in 
both sexes should be of a clear leaden or slaty blue. The comb in the cock is evenly 
set on the head, square in front, well sprigged above with small even points, not 
hollowed on the upper surface, and terminating in a single flattened pike behind, 
which inclines slightly upwards. In the hen the comb is the same in form but 
very much smaller. The ear-lobe in both sexes must be a dead opaque white, free 
from red on the edge. 
Mr. Brent also states, ^‘By all means avoid the chestnut patch which is too 
frequently seen on the wing of the Silver-pencilled cock, who should have a suffi- 
cient depth of colour in the markings of the wings, and in the gray down at the roots 
of the feathers, or he will not breed darkly-marked hens ; for although the sickle 
feathers of a Golden cock may be bronzed all over without fear of spoiling him as a 
breeding bird, such an amount of silver on a Silver cock’s tail would, in the 
majority of cases, cause him to throw light hens. The tail of a Silver-pencilled 
pullet should be neatly barred in her first full-sized plumage ; but they generally 
become waved or grizzled after the second or third moult.” 
The same description applies generally to the characters of the Golden -pencilled 
birds, substituting the rich deep reddish bay as the ground-colour for the clear 
white silvery ground that characterises the Silver birds. As, however, there is a 
slight difference in the marking of the sickle feathers and tail coverts, we quote the 
following from the Standard : ” The sickle feathers of the cock, according to 
