156 
THE POULTEY BOOK. 
poultry shows, the deaf-car of the cock appearing to be the only point taken into 
consideration), it is now rare to see a true-bred mooney cock exhibited, but cross- 
bred cocks, betwixt the Yorkshire Golden-pheasant and the Golden Mooney, 
take the place of the true mooney cock in the pen with Golden-mooney hens, 
merely because the cross-bred bird generally has a large pure white deaf-ear ; yet 
the hens bred from the cross are quite worthless as exhibition birds, there seldom 
being two alike in depth of ground-colour ; the marking is always patchy, generally 
dark and much laced on the breast, and only very faintly marked on the lovv^er part 
of the back, very few having a good round spangle on any part whatever, and many 
are very much mossed and brown near the tail. Crossing the two breeds without 
spoiling the beauty of marking seen in the true mooney is quite impossible. 
‘ ^ Golden-pheasants occasionally produce hen-feathered cocks, in which the saddle 
feathers are exactly like those on the hen’s back (Fig. 8), only the moons are 
larger. The tail of the hen-feathered cock is similar to, but larger than, that of 
the hen, the two first tail feathers being only about one inch longer than the others, 
and very slightly curved. There are no sickle feathers, the side-tail feathers being 
as straight as in the hen. Golden-mooneys do not produce hen-feathered cocks. 
‘Mil the Silver-spangled Hamburghs, as in the Golden, two different varieties 
are included. The Lancashire Silver Mooneys, which were bred and e xh ibited 
in Lancashire by the old clubs, and the Yorkshire Silver-pheasant fowls. 
“The Silver-moon ey hens are much larger than the Silver-pheasant hens, yet 
the Silver-mooney cocks are smaller and shorter in the legs than the Silver-pheasant 
cocks. 
“The Silver Mooneys, like the Golden-pheasants, often breed perfectly hen- 
feathered cocks, with the whole plumage as beautifully aud regularly mooned as 
the hens. This never occurs in the true Silver-pheasant breed. All the tail 
feathers are beautifully mooned. These birds are often used to breed from, and 
are quite as prolific as full-tailed cocks. 
“ Silver Mooneys have rather large coarse heads, rose combs, dark faces, very close 
small deaf-ears, which are rarely pure white, but generally, in the hens, of a sort of 
leaden colour. The plumage of the hens is hard and close, ground-colour a beautiful 
silvery white, with a very large, round, rich green-black moon or spangle on the 
end of each of the body feathers. The hackle of the cock is silvery- white, and 
free from yellow shade; the ends of the longest feathers are tipped with rich black; 
the neck of the hen is silver striped with rich green-black, the moons on the greater 
and lesser wing coverts of both sexes forming two distinct rich black bars across 
the wing. The tail of the hen is silver on the outside, the feathers terminating 
with very large rich black moons ; the inside of the tail much darker than the 
outside. The tail in the cock is almost entirely black. 
“ The Yorkshire Silver-pheasants have neat heads, and rose combs, with large 
deaf-ears which are often pure white. The plumage has pure white ground, with 
a black spangle on the end of each of the body feathers ; the spangles are smaller, 
not so rich in colour; and seldom so round as in the mooney ; the haclde of the 
