THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
red, the three colours being almost equally intermixed. 
The hens are spotted white and partridge colour. They 
certainly have the appearance of a cross, but are said to 
breed remarkably true, and in the days when Game cocks 
had to pass through a severer ordeal than an exhibition 
their reputation stood very high. 
The observations of “ Newmarket” on the breeding of 
Game fowls satisfy me that he has had great experience on 
this subject, and with most of his remarks I entirely concur; 
but I think the great requirement is to give a more definite 
form to the various points by which each kind of Game 
fowl ought to be judged. This I have attempted with the 
Duckwings, and the opinions I have advanced are founded 
on experience and careful observation. 
In determining what are the true colours and markings 
it is essential to keep in mind that great test of purity of 
blood, the hereditary transmission of characteristics from 
the parent birds to their progeny. No fowls are entitled to 
be admitted as pure varieties that will not bear the appli¬ 
cation of this test; and, as primitive colours are always 
more uniformly transmitted than colours which ai*e the 
result of a cross, a careful attention to this criterion would 
materially assist us in attaining the object in view. 
I have no doubt that Duckwings of the colour I described 
in my first communication breed more uniformly than Duck¬ 
wing hens with brown wings, and Duckwing cocks with red 
saddles. In the Black Reds the brown hen partridge 
feathered on the back and wings, and the cinnamon hen 
with clear hackle, produce chickens of greater uniformity in 
colour than hens of the intermediate colour. In the Brown¬ 
breasted Reds it is the black hen with the copper-coloured 
hackle that will best bear the application of this test. 
These, therefore, I regard as primitive colours in the several 
varieties referred to. 
There is also another question connected with the breed¬ 
ing of Game fowls, that is, whether in some varieties the 
distinctive colours in the feathers are not more certainly 
transmissible when combined with legs of one colour rather 
than another ; for instance, white or blue legs in the Duck¬ 
wings ; very dark or black legs in the Brown-breasted Reds; 
white or blue legs in the partridge-coloured hens; and yellow 
legs in the cinnamon-coloured hens of the Black-breasted 
Red variety. But I must not pursue this subject any 
further at present.— A North Country Amateur. 
CHARACTERISTICS OF BELGIAN CANARIES.— 
BREEDING PIED GOLDFINCH MULES. 
Your correspondent, B. P. Brent, states that he has been 
a breeder of Belgian Canaries for thirteen years, and offers, 
through your periodical, his ideas upon their properties, 
but at the same time doubts whether they are considered 
requisite by English amateurs. His second and fourth 
points are decidedly not in character with the true and 
perfect Belgian, and I beg to refer him to the properties 
promulgated by a Nottingham fancier in your periodical of 
the 17th of March last, as possessing all the points necessary 
to constitute a first-class Belgian bird. 
The same correspondent requests also to know if any 
successful breeder of Pied Goldfinch Mules could inform 
him the art of breeding those birds, as he has hitherto been 
unsuccessful. 
From experiments tried by many individuals, sometimes 
with great patience and perseverance for a long series of 
years, the same results have attended their efforts, whilst 
others in their first endeavours have produced the most 
beautiful Pied Mules. 
Mule breeding requires the exercise of much patience 
and perseverance, and superior judgment in the selection 
and management of the birds. I will, however, venture 
to suggest to your correspondent a method which has been 
found eminently successful in producing handsome Pied 
Goldfinch Mules. 
Choose a strong, healthy male Goldfinch, two years old, 
with as much white about it as possible, particularly in the 
throat and chest, and select for its partner a strong, well¬ 
shaped, mealy-coloured female Canary—the lighter its 
colour the better—one year old. April is the month when 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, April 28, 1857. Cl 
they should be associated, for then they are seeking their 
mates. 
Mule breeding is best practised in the country, as good 
air and a lively situation are essential. Each pair should 
be kept in the first instance in separate cages. After a week 
or two remove them into a breeding cage of a tolerably 
good size, for the sake of admitting air and a sufficiency of 
light, and provide them with nest bags, &c. Place them at a 
moderate height in a quiet corner of a room where they 
are not likely to be disturbed, and they will soon set about 
their domestic duties. Give plenty of egg boiled hard and 
bread; sparingly of ripened dandelion tops gathered fresh; 
summer rape and Canary seed, with occasionally a few 
hemp seeds, and never interfere unduly with their privacy, 
but let all their food and water be fresh and clean, and I 
feel no doubt but your correspondent will announce, through 
your pleasing periodical, the fact of his being a successful 
breeder of Pied Goldfinch Mules.— John Etherington, Jun., 
Sneinton , near Nottingham. 
POLAND COCKS SHOULD HAVE NO COMB. 
When I was reading the letter of “ A Poland Fancier ” 
I was forcibly reminded of a speech made by a friend last 
week. I was showing him some Sebright Bantams of 
which I am not a little proud. “Ah! yes,” said he, 
“ very pretty, nice little toys, but not to compare to 
mine.”—“Why not?” said I.—“Why not?” replied he; 
“ mine are as large again.” Just in the same way we 
meet with those who talk of their very first-class Spanish 
fowls. Our first question is, “ Are they entirely white¬ 
faced?”—“Well,” say they, “there may be a little red over 
the eye ; but they are such large, fine, majestic birds.” All 
these are right, and they are good andmseful fowl-keepers ; 
but if those who intend to exhibit aie guided by them they 
will come to grief. Prizes are awarded according to admitted 
rules that have been acted upon for years, and none is more 
imperative than that which says a Poland cock should have 
no comb. In all the poultry pieces of the old Flemish 
painters a cock is figured with two spikes in front, and a 
something on his head between a lark-crest and a topknot. 
On this many of the comb school make their stand ; but 
this is not a Poland cock, and it should always be re¬ 
membered that a crested fowl is no more a Poland fowl in 
consequence than a five-clawed one is a Dorking.. The top- 
knot of a Poland fowl is unlike the “ Brutus ” of a Ptarmigan, 
or the lark-crests of some of the other breeds. That of a 
cock should not only be ample, but should sit aright on the 
head, and where a spiked comb exists this cannot be, as the 
fall in front, one of its chief points and beauties, is rendered 
impossible thereby.— Perruquier. 
LEGS OF THE GAME FOWL. 
Ah, “Merry Legs!” what fun you are having with the 
Game Judges ! I quite agree with you, and as they are fair 
Game I will go on with it, only, perhaps, reversing the side a 
little. Now, what are the poor Judges to do ? Every Game 
exhibitor believes that he knows what a Game fowl should 
be, and it is certain that no classes show so many good fowls 
or send them in such uniformly good condition; but, before 
all the Judges are condemned in one sweeping condemnation, 
let us see if they are wrong. 
A capital writer on Game told us the other day in The 
Poultry Chronicle what tbe colours of the legs should be, 
and he would not allow any deviation. “Merry Legs” 
says, “ Why attach so much importance to the colour of the j 
legs ?” Yet he is pretty well up. If in one class where all 
the best breeders are represented every hue and colour of 
leg is found, it does not seem that they are at all agreed as 
to what they should be. Everyman will prove his birds are 
pure, and he will probably be right. Eccentric though they 
be, Judges have taught something even to Game exhibitors. 
Formerly half the pens had with three birds three colours of 
legs, but, as disqualification followed, that is now never seen. 
One breeder ivrites, “ Duckwings should have willow 
legs.” “What!” says the second, “willow? You mean 
