1875.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
4,57 
The Duck-Winged Game 
Of the Game varieties of fowls the Duck-Winged 
is one of the most beautiful. Although its grace¬ 
ful form and dignified carriage is well represented 
in our illustration, yet its brilliantly colored plu¬ 
mage can only be 
truly shown by the 
painter’s art. Its 
bright and varied 
colors are so beauti¬ 
fully blended to¬ 
gether that it excites 
the admiration of 
those even who take 
no delight in breed¬ 
ing poultry, while to 
the fancier it is one 
of the first favorites. 
The face of the Duck- 
Wing Game is a deep 
crimson ; the head is 
covered with small 
6 iivery - white feath¬ 
ers ; the hackle is 
white, slightly tinged 
with straw - yellow ; 
the back is maroon, 
claret and straw-yel¬ 
low ; the sadddle is 
slightly darker than 
the hackle, with fine 
short feathers hiding 
the points of the 
wings; the shoulders 
are bright brass- 
yellow from the butts up to the clear steel bar, and 
no light streak is admissible in a well-bred bird ; 
the shoulder butts are black ; the breast and tail 
are black, with a shade of bronze upon the sickle 
feathers ; the eyes are red, and the legs yellow. 
The weight is from five to six pounds. The hen, 
when pure bred, has the head gray; comb and face 
bright red ; hackle silver-gray, with dark stripes; 
the breast is bright 6almon-red ; the back and 
shoulder coverts should be slaty-gray, free from 
pencilling; the tail is dark-gray, so dark as to be 
■nearly black; the fluff inside is a steel-gray, and 
the legs yellow. In breeding Duck-Wings for color, 
much care and skill is necessary, but for the ordi¬ 
nary uses of poultry it is not necessary to do more 
than select the best birds, feed well, and keep them 
in the best and most 
vigorous health. Un¬ 
fortunately for game 
poultry,their courage 
and endurance has 
been put to wrong 
uses, and through 
their enforced con¬ 
nection with the bru¬ 
tal and cruel sports 
of the cock-pit, they 
have in a measure 
come to be identified 
therewith, and are 
wrongly supposed to 
be good for nothing 
but fighting. On the 
contrary, the game 
fowl is one of the 
most, if not the most, 
beautiful of our 
fowls. It is the best 
table fowl, so far as 
regards quality and 
flavor of flesh. Its 
eggs are exceedingly 
rich, and much de¬ 
sired for pastry or 
cakes. The cock is 
•courageous, and will 
mot hesitate to attack a hawk, and will defeat the 
intruder in every attempt to ravage the poultry- 
yard. The hen is an excellent mother, and al¬ 
though somewhat nervous and excitable when 
brooding her chickens, yet with care and quiet 
gentle treatment she may be handled with ease. 
While brooding, 6he is as courageous as the cock, 
and will defend her chickens from a hawk, and 
generally with success. A farmer whose grain 
fields, and those of his neighbors, offer a too tempt¬ 
ing foraging ground for these active fowls, would 
be wise to choose some of the heavier bodied 
breeds, but where no damage of this kind can oc¬ 
cur, any of the varieties of game fowls might be 
chosen by those who fancy them, and wish for de¬ 
licious eggs and flesh. 
■- i«i m - 
Brown Leghorn 
The Leghorns have a high reputation as layers. 
Of these Italian fowls the brown variety has recent¬ 
ly become very popular. It was introduced by Mr. 
F. J. Kinney, of Worcester, Mass., who bought the 
first trio that was imported, in 1853, from on board 
a ship in Boston harbor. Since then Mr. Kinney 
has made several importations from Leghorn, in 
Italy. The accompanying illustration is a portrait 
of a pair of birds bred and owned by him, and is 
copied from a photograph of the live birds. The 
character of these birds is of the very best. They 
are yellow skinned, and excellent table fowls, are 
extremely hardy, and enormous layers. Mr. Kin¬ 
ney reports that his hens lay on the average 340 
eggs in the year. They are heavier birds than 
the White Leghorns, and arc much hardier and 
precocious ; pullets often begin to lay before they 
are five months old, and continue laying during the 
whole winter. They are gay plumaged birds, and 
have become very 
popular of late 
amongst fanciers, as 
they must also soon 
become amongst 
farmers, if they have 
not become so al¬ 
ready. The Brown 
Leghorns are de¬ 
scribed as haviug the 
comb of the Black 
Spanish fowl, with 
its head and body, 
and the plumage or 
color of the Black-red 
Game. The Brown 
Leghorn cock is 
black-breasted, with 
hackles of orange- 
red, striped with 
black; the ear-lobes 
are white. The hen 
is salmon-color on 
the breast, with the 
rest of the plumage 
similar to that of the 
partridge, or brown, 
finely penciled with 
dark markings. They 
thrive in confinement 
well, and Mr. Kinney informs us that he has raised 
a thousand healthy birds in ten yards only. We 
are not informed as to the size of these yards, but 
if they are more than usually spacious, this fact is 
a proof of the hardiness of this breed. A prominent 
English poultry fancier is of the decided opinion 
that this breed is the best of all our American breeds, 
when 6ize and product of eggs is taken into con¬ 
sideration. They are non-sitters, which is a great ad¬ 
vantage, when eggs are the product mainly desired. 
The pair of fowls here represented, have descended 
from Mr. Kinney’s Brown Prince, a noted premium 
bird, which is three years old, and weighs seven 
pounds, and from two hens which are of the 
Signora strain. The hen Signora is eight years old, 
and weighs 6ix and a quarter pounds. She has 
laid in all 1,580 eggs, 
and is still laying as 
well as ever, 'fids 
fact is remarkable, 
and shows the value 
of this breed, and 
especially of this 
strain, which has been 
carefully bred from 
the best selected 
stock, with a view to 
the production of 
flesh and eggs. There 
is scarcely any stock 
of the farm which is 
so poorly managed as 
the poultry ; yet there 
is none that may be 
made more produc¬ 
tive. A yield of two 
or three dozen eggs, 
and a brood of three 
or four chickens, is 
generally considered 
a fair seasons’ pro¬ 
duction for a hen. 
This is the conse¬ 
quence of keeping 
poor stock, or neg¬ 
lecting that which is 
better, and capable of doing better with proper 
treatment. Poultry may be improved by careful 
breeding as well as a pig or a cow. An infusion of 
new blood should be procured every year or two, and 
a bird of undoubted excellence should be bought. 
A PAIR OF BROWN LEGHORN FOWLS. 
