: Bue FRDIAN RON DUCK BOOK) ce Yale LK LK Re | | | r K] Kk) kK | «| Y %4 ( 3 RR ARAG 84 Ses, yy Shi yisio® ames E Rice MEMORIAL POULTRY LIBRARY CORNELL UNIVERSITY {enn 7 THE GIFT OF ¢ ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New YorK STATE COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY cornell University Library The Indian runner duck book; the one auth SUUNNOY INVAN] NI ALIIVAG) NINO ALIN M The Indian Runner Duck Book The One Authoritative American Book about this Marvelous Egg Machine Text and Photographs by C. S. VALENTINE “They say she did!” “Who did?” “The Indian Runner Duck.” “Did what?” | “Laid 320 eggs in one year.” Third Edition Revised and Enlarged Price in Paper 75 cents post paid Cloth Edition $1.00, postage 5 cents RIDGEWOOD, N.J. F. H. VALENTINE 1913 Copyright, 1913, by F. H. & C. S. VALENTINE COLA The Runner a-running did trippingly run To help out the farmer and lads; The mortgage wiped out and the College bills paid: Who says she shall rank ’mongst the fads? Press of ERNEST FAIRMAN DOW ‘West Newton, Massachusetts THE INDIAN RUNNER DUCK BOOK CONTENTS Chapter I, Early Breeders, Origin of Indian Runners. II. English History, Views and Standard. III. The Present Show Quality of American Standard Indian Runners. IV. Performance of English Standard Runners. V. The Worst About the Indian Runner. VI. The Best About the Indian Runner. VII. The Indian Runner and the Farm. VIII. New Farm Experiences with Runners. IX. Feeding Methods Safe for All. X. System and Forethought in Making a Market. XI. Educating the Market. XII. The City Market for Runner Eggs. XIII. Selling and Cooking Value of Indian Runner Eggs. XIV. Some Spurious and Some Genuine Indian Runners. XV. The New Native Type of Indian Runners. XVI. The Future of the Indian Runners in America. XVII. The Newer Variety, the White Runner. Early Breeders, Origin of Indian Runners CHAPTER I I think it was about 1904 or 1905 that the first important literature concerning the Indian Runner Ducks was published in this country. At about this time, good articles, dealing with the wonderful qualities of this new breed were published in at least three of our poultry periodicals. Soon, breeders, here and there, began to try the Runners in a somewhat gingerly way, as though rather expecting a gold brick. The great service which this early literature did the breed was to call public attention strongly to it, through what then seemed the exorbitant claims made for these birds as layers. After a few years, Mr. Irving Cook took up this breed, advertising continuously and rather strikingly. As he began the work when young and enthusiastic, and, later, gave his en- tire strength to his Indian Runner business, the Runners soon found themselves in the midst of a “boom.” But even before him several men who still breed the Runners were at work with this breed. As soon as the breed began to attract keen attention, some breeders who wished to improve it in every possible way began to make inquiries as to its origin. One early American breeder who made every effort to get the true history about this time re- ports that even then “it seemed to be a matter of surmise. All the writers’ ideas on the subject seemed to be vague, and many conflicting statements were made.” Some of the causes for this haziness and conflict of statement I have been able to run down. Much misconception arose through an accident. The first two detailed descriptions of the breed which I noted in American publications were from writers across the big waters, one in New Zealand, the other in Ireland. Birds in these countries would naturally have come from England, and be of English type. H. DeCourcy’s article was so straightforward and sen- sible, yet so conservative that it seemed to give the public good ground for confidence in the breed. Unfortunately this early article gave the West Indies as the original home of the Indian Runner. This statement has been copied by many, while others have given a widely different origin. In a recent circular, the matter was disposed of in this way: “Coming originally from the West Indies, they are a cross of Rouen and Wild Mallard.” Of the three supposed facts given here (West Indian origin, Rouen blood, Mallard blood,) probably not one could be proven, though the last might have some credibility through the fact that most breeds of ducks are descended from the Mallard. I have long suspected that the DeCourcy statement, as printed in this country, was an office, or “proof” error. Trying to get at the facts, I wrote to Mr. DeCourcy in October, 1910. inquiring if this were not the case. The reply was directly to the point: “If my article says ‘West’ it was a misprint,—or perhaps, a clerical error of mine.” As the real, native home of the Indian Runner has long been believed to be the East Indies, it is quite easy to see how such an error could arise through the misplacement of a letter or two. At no other period except when the breed was just being introduced could such an error have worked so much mischief to the facts. Among the early breeders here were Mr. Cook, Mr. Fay Davis, M. V. Decker and, in 1900, A. J. Hallock. Mr. W. Delano’s name has also been given me as an early breeder, but I have been unable to get any information from this source. It will be admitted without question, I think, that our one reliance for the early history of the breed IN THIS COUNTRY must be the statements of the earliest breeders, 6 While the “West Indies story” was going the rounds, with no one contradicting it, and gaining strength through repetition, the British birds were being quietly bred for some time, before the public began to awaken to the value of the Runners. The Davids brothers, of Kansas, began about 1902, Davis in 1897, Hallock in 1900. These three, I know, had their birds from Great Britain. I think there is no room for doubt that all the other early breeders had stock from the same source, either direct or through contemporary breeders. During the season of 1912 not less than 1000 breeders adver- tising Indian Runners were listed. There may have been others. and many new ones have since entered the field. Eight years ago Reliable Poultry Journal—for years a favorite medium with the duck breeders—carried only two Indian Runner advertisements in May in the Classified lists. One of the two who were thus advertising in 1903 was Cook. In 1906 he blossomed out as the breeder of “the only true fawn and white colors, and the world’s heaviest laying strain.” Re- membering that this was only seven years ago, we may well be amazed at the advance which the Runners have so recently made in public favor. According to these figures, the fawn and white type became “the only true” just about seven years ago. It may be remembered, also, that this was the year the Standard which breeders have followed since, up to 1910, began to be followed. It would seem that, even in Great Britain, the Runners were not well and widely known so very much longer than they have been known here. In 1898, four years before Mr. Davis received his first birds, a book on poultry for profit was put out by a Brit- isher who had previously written another poultry book, and who might have been thought to be fairly well posted. He mentions only three breeds of ducks, but takes occasion to remark: “It is much to be regretted that no steps have been taken to breed lay- ing strains of ducks.” The history of the Runner in England, however, is easily to be followed back for twenty-five years. If it becomes hazy as we go farther back, this need not surprise the Yankees who have managed so to conceal their tracks in about sixteen years that in a new book advertised as the best in America, and giving SIXTEEN LINES to the Runners, it is plainly stated that the origin of these ducks cannot be traced authentically. But a Rouen cross is there admitted. Was that Rouen cross a Yankee contribution? If, as no one really doubts, the Indian Runner Ducks came to us from England, it would seem, indeed, the part of common- sense, and of courtesy no less, to accept the story of their origin as presented by the best and oldest English breeders. American shrewdness, however, professes to have discovered that the Brit- ish, no matter how decent people they be, are presumably equivo- cating about the origin of the Indian Runner Duck. Soon after 1900 a new story, to the effect that the British did not get their Runners from East India or any other old place whence old sea-captains come out of obscurity, but just across the channel in Belgium, appeared! But its authors carelessly omitted to tell us how it happened that when those Belgian ducks flew (?) across the channel, they chanced to light in County Cumberland, away off to the north-west, as far as possible from Belgium. Frankly, I think this story very far-fetched. For, the English certainly could not be ignorant of the existence of these thousands of Belgian ducks. If they were really the same thing as the In- dian Runners it would be well known on both sides of the chan- nel; in which case the only possible conclusion would be that the English breeders have deliberately clouded their origin, then lied about it for these scores of years. Certainly no fair-minded Americans wish to support this unworthy view. The inevitable “old sea captain” (another one!) figured in another story as the source from whence the ducks came. But the one point needing special notice is that the Virginian lady who 8 told it stated she, herself, “sent eggs and the breed all over the world, some very early to Belgium and Holland, France and Ger- many.” She also affirmed: “There are no Runners in India, only what went from England to a Maharajah, sent by Mr. J. H. Wilson, a great poultry enthusiast, who was also a breeder and exhibitor and judge, and was instrumental in getting the Indian Runner Club formed.” Mr. Wilson was an early Sec’y of the Club in England. We may call him as witness that at least one inference which has been drawn from this story is not valid. Fortunately, a letter from him is in existence in America, dating back some years, in which Mr. Wilson stated that to his own knowledge, his strain had not then been crossed for fifty years. It can be only the name that is. but thirty years old, in any event The lady who named them about thirty years ago (?) was utterly behind the times. It comes back to the conclusion which I have more than once. suggested: viz., that the question is, in essence, simply one of whom we elect to believe, when those who “know” tell stories of such opposite tenor. One wonders greatly about the Holland, Belgian and German claimants to the name “Indian Runner” Mr. L. Van der Snickt, stated that “the same duck” has been “selected for centuries” in Holland, Belgium and France. Strangely enough, (if these statements were true) the Belgian Runner Club has asked permis- sion to use the Standard of the British Indian Runner Duck Club. To most people, this fact would seem evidence enough that the Belgians’ ducks were, at the best, not more than near-Runners. Every week throughout the year come inquiries as to the various types of Indian Runner, or recitals of experience with the breed in one type or the other. As to the birds themselves, I have had little difficulty in replying to questions. As to origin, history, etc., the people who had the facts have varied in their willingness. to let the public have them—at least through this medium; and it 9 has had them through no other medium thus far. The public wants these facts and it wants them badly. Several of the earlier breeders gave me all the help I asked. For this they have my hearty thanks, and I know that they will have that of the public which is interested in Indian Runners, as well. Others ignored my request, or answered far afield. To one breeder, I wrote thus: “Davis, of Michigan, tells me that you were one of the original breeders of Indian Runners. I want to find out just when they came into the United States and who imported them. Do you know who was the first, and wheth- er or not the birds came from England? Also, how long ago? I see McGrew says little is known about them. I know what Eng- lish breeders say, but it seems to me it ought to be possible to find out where United States breeders got them, and when the first were imported. It has been given out here that they came from the West Indies, which I do not at all believe, unless the two types which we are breeding at present in this country had a different origin entirely. Reply would very greatly assist,” etc. All but one of these questions was ignored in the answer. I had two ideas in mind in speaking of origin. The West Indian story, which I have refuted elsewhere, had gone all over the United States, and, having been credited to a reputable writer, who was a breeder of the Indian Runners before most of us had heard of them, it was quite generally accepted as fact; especially by those who did not know much about the duck in England, and what the best English breeders had to say about it. Moreover, England and the West Indies have had many dealings, throughout many years, and it was not an incredible story, in the light of pos- sibilities, that our Indian Runners should have come to us, in part, at least, through the West Indies. Aside from this, there was the possibility of different origins of different strains. In 1910, at the New York show, a man prominent in affecting the fate of Indian Runners in this country 10 by his public acts, said, in my hearing, that it would be very easy indeed to reproduce the Indian Runners by the use of two or three of our earlier breeds,—at least as far as the solid fawn marking, on white was concerned. All breeders of fancy fowls know, after they have a little experience with breeding and ex- hibiting, that no man dare say what blood is in any one strain of birds of any breed, when it has been long out of the origina- tor’s hands. That “foreign” blood has been put into the Indian Runner of some strains, no breeder of experience and observa- tion can fail to see. Indeed, it is usually admitted, in a general way, although no one confesses to having introduced such blood. 11 English History, Views and Standard CHAPTER II After we trace back to a certain period, or, possibly, forty years or so, the history of the Indian Runner in England be- comes more and more hazy. English breeders say that the ear- liest literature on the breed—or, at least, that which goes farthest back, is a little treatise by John Donald, of County Cumberland, where the breed was first known. In this book, Mr. Donald states that the Indian Runners were brought to England by a sea captain, about sixty years before his book was written. Certainly anything brought to an insular country, before men flew as birds, must have been brought by a sea-captain. H. DeCourcy, of Ire- land, a writer whom we know quite well in America—thinks it is now over twenty years since he first saw this (undated) book. This would make it eighty years since the breed first made any history in England that is now remembered—a period so remote that none would now be alive who had personal knowledge of the facts and of its introduction and earliest history. Mr. Donald still breeds Runners, especially the new found “native” type. One of the English treatises, “The Indian Runner,” was. writen by Jacob Thomlinson, who first knew this duck in County Cumberland. He refers to Mr. Donald’s (earlier) work, and al- so to a brief treatise by Mr. Henry Digby, giving credit to these men for all items not within his own, personal knowledge. The illustrations in the Thomlinson pamphlet are from drawings by Mr. J. W. Walton. “They give,” says Mr. Thomlinson, “a clear insight of what a TRUE Runner SHOULD and SHOULD NOT be.” This shows that Mr. Walton has long been a trusted author- ity on Runners, having intimate personal knowledge, both of cor- rect type and of history. 12 The models from which these pictures were drawn were in- tended to be used as “a guide to both old and new fanciers, to ob- tain a more uniform idea of type and standard.” This shows how English breeders regard Mr. Walton’s drawings, and how they defer to his knowledge of the breed. Mr. Thomlinson’s own knowledge of the breed reached back thirty years, but his treatise was also undated. However, he gives us a point to rest on by saying that he first took “particular notice” of these birds in 1884, when one duck made for him a record of 180 eggs. As this “completely overshadowed” other breeds, it was the foundation of Mr. Thomlinson’s vital interest in the Indian Runner. From the fact that Mr. Donald was a resident of County Cumberland, the original seat of Indian Runner culture in Eng- land, it seemed to follow that he was most likely to be right as to their origin, and it was to him that the earlier English breeders looked very largely for information. The power of the true Indian Runner to stamp its color and marking, in the case of a cross, is taken as evidence of very long fixation of its characteristics in the native state. Eighty per cent of such progeny, it is said, will favor the Runner, especially in characteristic color. This varies considerably above the propor- tion given by Mendel’s law. English breeders seem willing to allow that the long neglect has made it almost certain that many types would appear in various parts of the Island; for, the original blood must have been largely tainted during the slowness of the nation to recognize the peculiar value of the breed, and to place it early under the care of some organization which would watch out for the preservation of its most valuable and vital characteristics. Like the Rhode Island Red in this country, the breed had a sadly neglected youth. Quite a number of importations have in later years, been made into this country from the flocks of Mr. J. W. Walton, 13 “Honorable Secretary” of the Indian Runner Duck Club of Eng- land. Mr. Walton says that the best birds have always been in a very few hands. He wrote me, personally, that even in Eng- land “breeders, exhibitors and judges fell into nearly every pos- sible trouble with Indian Runners and reduced them from an out- standing and most distinctive bird to a common type, small, cross- bred duck with fairly even markings. That was the Exhibition Runner (?) of ten or eleven years ago. 100 per cent of Ameri- can (Standard-bred) Runners and 99 per cent of English are wrong in shape, and position of legs. Color without type is of no value.” Mr. Walton has also said that it was quite certain that many earlier judges of Indian Runners “had no acquaintance with the genuine Runner.” It was under this strained situation that the Indian Runner Duck Club in England took up the work, and formed a Standard calculated to preserve the distinctiveness of this most remarkable breed. The birds illustrated in English poultry journals at about this time, according to Mr. Walton, “showed strong evidence of Mallard blood.” It was within the decade before the English breeders found their bearings that most of our earlier wmportations were made, This shows how strong was the probability that many of these earlier importations into the United States were of mixed blood. The British Indian Runner Duck Club intervened to save the Runners from extinction as to their most distinctive characteris- tics. It superseded the Standard formed by Mr. Donald and Mr. Digby, (with which there had been dissatisfaction for some time) by one better designed “to retain the valuable utility and artistic qualities” of the breed. A part of its object, as stated, was to keep the exhibition of the Runner “free from dishonorable and fraudulent practices.” In order to get at the English ideal of shape, it may be well to give a word to “the old, cod, soda-water bottle.” This bottle, 14 whose form is given as a general model to work toward, was round, and tapered toward each end. The taper is gradual, in the bird, from the thighs back. Mention is made of the funnel- like expansion where neck passes into body. The accepted angle of carriage is up to sixty-five degrees when the bird is traveling, and from this to seventy-five degrees when alert. The neck is a strong feature, the head and neck together carrying thirty points. LENGTH, THINNESS, and FINENESS are especially demanded. In these points, the great majority of American Runners have failed breeders seeming to overlook the added beauty and grace given by a slender neck. The color demanded in contrast with the white is a fawn, rather warm and soft, sometimes expressed also as of “ginger color,” a term which the American breeders have adopted, but which I have not seen in the American shows. Many males shown here were decidedly of a pinkish, rather than ginger tone, a shade which carries directly toward the claret disqualified by the American Standard. The color is required to be uniform, from surface to skin. Mr. Walton has used the happy term “Sunny fawn.” Two tones of fawn are required. These seem to blend into a warm fawn of the true shade desired, when seen from a short distance away. The trick in getting color on the English-bred Runner, is to get one tone a good ginger, and the other as near it as is possible, the outer portion being the lighter. As this is the portion most visible on the breast and body, it gives the appear- ance of evenness, as soon as the new coat loses a little in strength of color. If too weak in color when the new coat is first donned, it will be washy in the extreme after a few months, and will well justify the term so often applied to the lighter birds bred to American Standard, “a dirty white.” The English Standard lays emphasis on the point that type must receive greater consideration than color or markings. Short, thick necks, squat specimens, smallness at the expense of the long 15 shape, are decided defects. Slate and dark red in drakes are not favored. It should be perfectly plain to any normal mind that the English type of Indian Runner, being so much older than any- thing made in America, justly lays claim to the title of “The True Indian Runner.” Up to 1910, (so convinced were many of our judges, even, that the American Standard was not requiring the true type) the English-bred birds were able to get, in some in- stances, very good prizes, though not often the best. In Jan., 1910, such a male bird took second at Madison Square Garden. For months before the 1910 revision of the American Stand- ard of Perfection, a sustained fight was made to educate the pub- lic, and incidentally, the Revision Committee, up to a knowledge of the real type of the genuine Indian Runners, and of the injury the proposed discrediting of Penciled Runners would be to the breeders of the English type, and to the breed. Perhaps a dozen breeders took part in this, one being a poultry judge. But the Standard had called for an entirely different type for so many years, that the Revisers were simply afraid to give any recognition to the breeders of the genuine Indian Runners. The extreme Standard weight in this country is four pounds for females and four and one-half pounds for matured males. I have seen English males weighing five and one-half pounds, but this is not common. Five pounds is reasonably common. The preferred weights mentioned in the (present) English Standard are three and one-half to four pounds for ducks, four to five pounds for drakes. Head, bill, eyes and neck take nearly one-third the points in the English Standard; body, shape and carriage together comprise 45 points—nearly one-half the exhibi- tion value—while color, markings and condition receive the other 25 points. That is, color, even with marking and condition added, counts only one-fourth the show value. I have never noted in the ranks of the breeders of the orig- 16 inal variety, any feeling of enmity toward the favored American type, in itself. But the feeling is very general—I think I may say, fairly universal—that the breed name belongs of right to the original type. The plain fawn with white should have come in if come it must, as a second variety, with a variety name. It is precisely as though the Silver Penciled Wyandotte should attempt to push aside the original Silver Wyandotte, and make insistent claim to being “the only true Wyandotte.” Surely ‘“sHaPE makes the breed ; color (only) the variety.” Is it not so, breeders? In November, 1910, after the first edition of this book had gone to the printers, English interest in Indian Runners was keyed up by a sensational exhibit at the Crystal Palace Show. This ex- hibit was made in the name of Mr. J. W. Walton, and consisted of a team of amazing Indian Runner ducks shown there. Mr. Walton gained all five prizes in each class. The authoritative re- port in “The Feathered World,” London, said, concerning this sweeping victory: “And well he might, if an upright carriage has anything to do with the qualifications of a Runner. There’s an old saying, ‘Like water off a duck’s back’, but I fail to see how it could be applied to, say, the second prize drake, for he stood so absolutely perpendicular, I doubt if any water could possibly get there in order to run off again; if it did, the process would be a decidedly rapid one.” The females were described as of “a soft, sweet shade, be- tween a fawn and a buff, with exquisite lacing throughout.’ (Those who contend for the greater beauty of the solid fawn, should note how admiringly our English fellow-breeders regard the lacing, or penciling.) The especially upright carriage char- acterized all the birds of this “wonderful” team, the best speci- men being described thus: “This bird, when the least disturbed or excited, stood perfectly erect, tail down between legs, a level line down back from head to tip of tail.” The reporter spoke of 17 meeting one onlooker who said jokingly that he “should always dread the danger of the bird falling backward.” Mr. Walton has been somewhat reticent about these myster- ious Runners. He has felt so strongly the danger to the breed from a certain attitude in England which led nearly to its ruin, some years ago, that he resolved to keep full control over the new “wonder” ducks, in his own hands and those of one or two friends, who have worked with him, till their characteristics were well impressed on the best of the earlier stock. None of the birds was offered for sale at the Palace Show, the prohibitive price of a thousand guineas each being catalogued. I have considered it necessary to mention and to stress these facts and these proofs, since Belgian ‘‘authorities” have persisted in claiming that the English Indian Runners were only an inferior type of a common Belgian Duck. A certain critic came out plump with the statement that Mr. Donald, through his booklet, “was strongly active in clouding the real cradle of the Runners, by claiming that they were first im- ported into England in an India ship. The critic is also father to the statement that Rouen blood was used in getting larger size, thus necessitating the disqualification for claret breast. Concern- ing the remark about Mr. Donald, Mr. Walton says: “So far from Donald’s pamphlet clouding their origin, if it had not becit for that pamphlet the new birds might never have been located and secured. Donald’s pamphlet is vindicated and his facts in the main substantiated. The early birds, without a doubt, came by an India ship; and the assertion that Donald clouded the cradle of the Runners is absolutely unwarranted and untrue. The re- verse is the fact. XM—(the critic) by his own writings proves that he, for one, knows nothing about the Indian Runner. From first to last, his article is wrong, and how any one with such ig- norance of Indian Runners could profess to correct others is be- yond my comprehension.” 18 The above facts go to show that the modern English Indian Runner, beautifully penciled (or laced, as the words have come to be almost interchangeably used) very erect in carriage, and racy in type, is immovably fixed as the real distinctive and charming correct model of Indian Runner type. To it belongs the breed name; to it, the first place. Others must follow it, as variations upon its excellent characteristics, and must come in purely as varieties. If to say this be “partisan,” surely it is the only logi- cal partisanship, and precisely in line with our American Stand- ard rulings concerning breeds and varieties, that type shall be con- sidered first. moun There is one point in especial about the carriage of the In- dian Runners, to which I want to direct attention. |The most distinctive, characteristic Runner pose may be compared to that of a pointer dog. When the bird is quickened to alertness by eager- ness or by danger, the back stiffens and becomes almost a straight line from head to stern. Only the best ducks in America show this pose. A very large number have an angle at base of neck, which makes the bird appear ungainly. Many do not apprehend this as a defect, if the head is held high. But the head may be very high, yet the bird may not show more than 45 degrees of erectness in the body, and when this is the case, the angle at base of neck is very unpleasantly prominent. Sometimes the head will be carried high, while the body is held less than at an angle of 45 degrees. The lower the body, in proportion with a high head, the more prominent the angle. I have discarded birds elegant in shape and otherwise, because of this one fault. ° It will be a long time before all our birds show the straight line of back, but it is what we ought to work toward. When a bird'can “point” nearly vertical in pose, then we have what I consider a bird of good car- riage. For some reason, this pose does not seem to come as na- turally to the males as to the females.’ At least, many more ‘ot the females which I have’ seen show it, when excited. ‘'' a 19 The Present Show Quality of American Standard Runners CHAPTER III The American Standard type of Indian Runners, as seen in the best shows, is not only a different type of bird from the Eng- lish Runner, but it is in the main decidedly different from the ideal which has, up to the present date of writing, been pictured and described in the American Standard of Perfection. The ideals of the breeders have been gradually changing, as to color, and the birds that win now are quite different in color from those that won a few years ago. The allowance of gray for so many years, as well as the preferred fawn, while possibly it seemed necessary at the beginning, did not work to the good of the breed. A far larger proportion of males still come with gray breasts than would have been the case could the Standard have demanded, from the first, that fawn should be the one color, without the gray as an alternate. Amazingly enough, a breeder has recently appeared in the public prints, claiming that a gray sheen characterizes the best ducks! Considering the years of bitter battle for pure, solid fawn in American Standard Runners, this might well be named the height of inconsistency and folly. I have studied much over the peculiar demands at some points of the American Standard of Perfection, in its dealing with Indian Runners. Its ideal pictures in the 1905 American Stand- ard are near the demands for good Runners, as laid down by the English Standard. At two points in the text, however, the Amer- ican demand swings quite away from the English Standard just 20 WINNING AMERICAN STANDARD INDIAN RUNNERS OF THE BEST PRODUCED BEFORE 1911. TYPE IS BETTER NOW revised. Where the latter calls for legs placed well back, and makes legs placed too wide apart a defect, the American Stand- ard demands legs “set well apart.” And whereas the English Standard calls for bronzy green on the head and rump of male the American Standard has demanded as the ideal, for the 5 years previous to 1910 a “light fawn” color, which must be even throughout the entire plumage, except where the white markings should be seen. The American demand for “light fawn” was modified to “fawn” in 1910, but many breeders advertise “golden fawn.” The birds show, without doubt, a beautiful color, when really solid and even, pure and unblotched with white; and it is then rightly very much admired. In November, 1910, I went to the earlier show held in New York, chiefly to study the Indian Runners. These picked birds were mainly very good in the even color then preferred for both sexes. Only a few were good in carriage; scarcely one had a fine neck; and fully thirty per cent were notably splashed with white in the fawn of the back. Every female in one of the winning pens as late as 1912-13 showed these white blotches, also. Others had a white line down the breast. These are bad faults to be seen year after year in show birds making special claims on color. If type were placed first, this point would not count so strongly. The present foolish insistence on fawn heads and rumps has resulted in what might be called chaos. I find one of the first prize American Standard birds thus described in my notes of the Madison Square Garden show in 1912-13: “Head, good in type; nasty mottling on neck, below white; gray rump; whole bird gray- ish fawn; nice slim neck.” A bird scarcely grayer than this was sold by Irving Cook two years earlier as a winner for this Garden show, and it did not get a place. The reason given was the ten- dency to gray. A very large number of the American Standard birds shown at New York for two years past, at least, have had 21 rumps either gray or mixed with gray. Where this can be con- sidered an advance on the natural bronzy color, who can see? In the 1912-13 show, very many of the heads showed mottling of two shades of yellowish brown. A third prize bird showed a “‘bad- ly mottled head and gray rump.” Is this a gain over the natural bronze? Is it not rather a great loss? One experienced breeder who will increase very largely in the Penciled birds in the near future, and who has bred both the penciled and the solid fawn birds, tells me that he will give up the solid fawn because the standard calls for head and rump of fawn. The illustrations of Runners in the poultry publications gen- erally, up to 1909, were not of a sort to furnish much of an ideal to breeders in general. There were few birds of typical car- riage in this country; indeed, even in 1913 they are comparatively few. I mean those which will hold the high carriage practically all the time. The photographs from life commonly published in 1909 and 1910 gave little hint of the Runner which the “ideal” in the American Standard showed. The American Standard type birds have been generally claimed to be “sports” from birds imported from England. Re- cently comes one who says they are merely selections from the lighter English birds. If so, the original selection must have been of unfortunate quality. Inasmuch as English breeders in the ear- lier years, before they learned wisdom, flirted with the solid color will-o’-the wisp, it would not be strange if the earlier importa- tions did throw some sports of this kind. But the British breed- ers have long regretted their waste of time and the detriment they worked the breed in trying to get this solid color. To one who knows Runners and “the ropes”, many illustra- tions published during the past year have been a pure source of fun. The most extreme have been a ludicrously exaggerated neck and head shown looking almost like a serpent’s head, and one professing to be the imported “head” of a certain wonderful 22 pen, the body being about one-fourth as thick as its length, and the head nearly one-fourth as long as the entire body, besides. In the longest bird I hawe scen in the imported stock, in life, the head while longer than the average of Runners, is about one-sev- enth as long as the body, by actual measurement. A large number of breeders are using a laughable artificial cut, apparently crayon work, in various sizes. One firm is using a photograph showing a bird posed at about 80 degrees, looking almost perpendicular. One is strongly reminded of a pair of birds of similar pose, as photographed, shown here last year as il- lustrations in one of the poultry prints. Mr. Walton said of this “pair”, that the pictures were both of the same bird and that it was stuffed and set up at the required pose. He pronounced it absurd and impossible. Another most absurd one is of a group of birds “bred and owned” by So-and-so, every one of which looks as if stamped out by a die, every marking division being mathematically sharp and even; just woodeny studies in what the retoucher’s pencil can make the birds appear to be. Imagine the disappointment of a customer who buys from such a fake photograph,—not “from life,” but from the brain and fingers of the office man! Beauti- ful photographs of Runners, in their best poses, but unretouched, are now obtainable. The best, however, are of the white Run- ners and the English Penciled type. Good photographs demand good birds as originals. Judging from the birds which appear in the New York shows, the American Standard Runner has improved very rapidly in type during the last two years. It is significant that it has not im- proved in color but rather the reverse. This is significant for three reasons, viz.: (a) it is just about two years since the “new native” blood became available for crossing; (b) the color has grown worse while the type improved; and (c) a breeder of the American Standard birds who is posing as an authority on the 23 importation of Walton stock, (even to the extent of denying Mr. Walton’s own statements about the matter), has recently come out in defense of the green egg. All these things point to the use of the “new native” blood to improve the American Standard birds. In the 1912-13 show I saw for the first time a bird in the Ameri- can Standard class almost as good in all-around type as many of the English Penciled birds. However, since the American Standard continues to call for legs wide apart and penguin form, and breeders are beginning to defend the requirement for “legs well apart”, which I think they have never done before, it will be impossible for the American Standard birds ever to equal the English birds in type so long as they breed to the demands of the American Standard and judge by it. If judges favor the round bird despite the American Standard demand for “penguin form”, breeders will breed for the round bird in spite of what the Standard says. Even an ex- president of the American Poultry Association has been heard to say, recently, from a University platform, that birds are judged here by a fashion-standard set by judges in the big shows, and not really by the strict words of the American Standard of Per- fection. The demand for “penguin form” is one of the things no one can explain. The best English breeders do not seem to know why it was used. “Penguin carriage’”—had it been demanded, one could understand: but penguin form? Consider! the per- guin, as described and illustrated in our authoritative works, is a short, thick bird with a very short, thick neck, which sits on its stern, with its back at an angle of possibly seventy degrees. It is notably thick and broad at the middle, and its wings are “flippers,” without quills, held pointing downward and forward. Imagine a Runner of that form! And, imagine the American Standard of “Perfection” gravely demanding that form for ten years! “Long, narrow, racy-looking,” and “resembling the penguin in 24 form.” It would take a Barnum, a Bailey and a superintendenc of several North American zoos to fill that double requirement! Does any reader want to breed a so-called Runner of that de- scription ? A certain garrulous breeder has written publicly of buying eggs from prominent breeders of Penciled Runners and getting “birds scarcely decent for market.” This breeder seems ignorant of the fact that if the birds thus raised were so poor in market quality, it was because they were not properly fed! This same breeder says that the white-egg goal was reached “long ago,” by breeders of American Standard type; yet in 1910, almost no one mentioned white eggs. According to advertising put out, a “white-egg strain” of “light fawn” ducks distinguished this breeder’s stock for a full year after the Standard repudiated “light fawn” color. This same breeder, who has been claiming nothing but white eggs since 1910 (!) is now reported to me to have very recently sold Runners 100% of which laid green eggs. Three reputable judges saw these birds, it is said. This seems rather effectually to dispose of one of the loudest claims to a white-egg strain in American Standard Runners. Possibly the better breeders have such strains. It has persistently been made to appear that some strains of American Standard Runners lay white eggs. Perhaps this may be true, in time, if not now. But, letters continue to come to me complaining bitterly that these same breeders, despite these claims, continue to send out stock which produces green eggs. A letter written Feb., 1913 says: “Last spring I bought four ducks and a drake, said to be genuine fawn and white American Standard, and layers of white eggs. We always got one green egg from the bunch. We set only pure white eggs. Saved but five ducks making nine in present bunch, and always get some green eggs. Willa penciled drake help us, and to what extent?” Here we find American Standard Runners giving more than 25 25% of green eggs, which is as high as the new Cumberland-Fairy Fawns of the diluted blood have ever laid under my care. Since the American Standard blood is thus proved even now no better than the “Cumberland-Fairy Fawn,” in this respect, the hue and cry about the green egg blood of the latter, is plainly shown to be for effect. Breeders of this new stock have plainly told custo- mers what to expect, and others have not; that is the real vital difference. A breeder of Penciled stock writes, as late as May 31, 1913: “One correspondent says he gets three-fourths (75%!) green eggs, from his American Standard birds.” Far more than the Cumberland-Fairy Fawns have ever given here. Another letter received the same month of 1913 tells a hard luck story: “I have been breeding American Standard Runners for the past three years. I now have 24 show birds, some that car- ried away the blue at our state shows the past season. As far as color, I believe there are none in Ala., that can beat me; yet they do not lay the pure white egg exclusively, nor lay as persistently as some I have heard of. I have eagerly obtained and read all the literature I could find regarding them, but until I received your book from the—Poultry Journal I had found nothing and no one who seemed to know what the trouble was or even gave any details regarding them. I feel very much indebted to you, as I have no desire to mislead the public nor take no pride in produc- ing that which is inferior to the best. My ducks are beauties as far as color, and they also have long slim necks and good head points, but they lack carriage and even the gait I have looked for in running; yet by being given first and by comparison I could see I had good ones as per the American Standard. I personally know six breeders who have discarded them (American) because they would not lay as they expected, neither would they lay white eggs and they had trouble in selling them for market purposes. The Runner has been given a black eye around here; for all the ex- breeders don’t fail to knock them. But I believe that if the right 26 type is introduced and the people shown, this can be overcome. I am not down and out, for I like the duck and intend to get on the right track now. At present there are two or three flocks of White Runners here, but I am afraid of them, as all have the Pekin type very much pronounced.” Another letter, received in February, 1913, says: “Last year I bought from one of the largest and most noted Fawn and White breeder’s best eggs, and got just one-half penciled birds—not a bird from the eggs was even average good. I saw the owner in person, and he said probably the manager sent me from his utility pens instead of his best! This is only one of the many times ! have been treated most shamefully. This breeder you know very well, either personally, or by reputation. In both stock and eggs I have seldom gotten more than scrubs, for first price goods.” ‘The writer of the letter says of the seller: “He has wonderful birds. I have seen them several times.” This brings up a fact with regard to the American Standard birds which is the greatest count against them. Breeders of this stock are continually charging that the penciled birds do not breed true to color; actually, however, it is in the American Standard birds that the most culls appear. This is strictly and logically what would be expected, since they have always been bred away from a natural color which is known to be very persistent, just be- cause the American Standard frowned upon that color. Then, in order to get better type, more of the original blood had to be put in, when at once the throw-back to this original penciled color be- came more pronounced, making more “culls,” from the American Standard point of view, even to “one-half penciled birds.” Straws proverbially show the way of the wind. One of the straws is found in the 1912 literature of a breeder who claims to breed and offers for sale right along, birds of both types, while publicly crying down the penciled birds in page after page of de- ‘ceptive stuff. Despite the fact that this breeder talks so constant. av ly of breeding both kinds, and of sales of the Penciled stock at low prices, the literature sent out direct to customers says there has not been a dark fawn male on this place in several years. Curiously enough breeders of the American Standard type always use the term “dark fawn” to describe the English birds; thus this fact of having no English males, on the place is proof as positive as any buyer needs that the “English Penciled” or ‘dark fawn’ birds offered year after year by this breeder are nothing but culls from the American Standard birds. oe Sy Performance of English Standard Runners CHAPTER IV Many breeders of the Indian Runner have been calling at- tention to the proud fact that Indian Runners won the Australiaa Contest prize with a marvelous record, as announced a year ago. But the majority of them have not a shadow of right to use this as a talking point for their birds, since it was not the American Standard Runner which made these records. Believing that this was the fact, I wrote to Mr. Dunnicliffe, Organizing Secretary, in connection with the Hawkesbury con- tests, asking him what kind of Runners were in these Australian contests. He very kindly wrote me the facts, which supported my belief. These are his exact words: “The Indian Runners kept in Australia have been bred from stock imported from Eng- land. The English Standard is followed by all our poultry clubs and shows. As is the case elsewhere, there are people here who breed Rouen blood into them to improve the size, but any trace of this blood in them would knock them out in the shows. In the matter of laying, we find that any infusion of Rouen blood de- preciates them, and the best laying records have been put up by birds of pure, English blood, selected here for many years for their laying capacity.” If I have not, on the other pages of this book, made it suffi- ciently clear that I have no wish to coerce the fancier who likes the solid fawn and white birds into raising anything else, I want to doso now. But, I have seen his birds where he shows his best. I know them to have been often inferior to the original type in 29 several respects, because he has too far ignored true type, in a craze for a certain color. In doing this, as all know, he breaks, like many other breeders, a fundamental rule of the law-giving Association. But what of that? Is he not a fancier, and may he not do as he fancies? Neither, for any cause, would I put a handsome bird out of existence ; but I certainly would oppose her shoving aside the real claimant to honors. I first took up this breed to test it for the benefit of the thousands of readers of a great farm paper, whose consulting expert on poultry I was for ten years. I found it better than I expected, and I found many more people interested than I had looked to see. It is because of these people, and many others like them, who will in the future want to know as much as possible about the Indian Runners, that I have ventured to try to preserve the true history and to inform the public as to the ac- tual value of these birds, in the best type. A Runner breeder who first saw the new type, Cumberland-Fairy Fawn, in May, 1913, said 30 of them would be worth $3000 regardless of color of eggs, and that a yardstick would touch all the way from the top of skull to point of bills of every one of them! There is one specific point, viz., length—about the genuine Runner, aside from the carriage, which up to 1910 was scarcely teferred to in periodicals in this country, although the Standard does say that the birds shall be long and narrow. The long birds are frequently downed at New York in favor of those show- ing the light, even fawn, evenness of color seeming to have been the chief item in a good Runner, from the American point 0: view, in addition to good carriage. The English Standard just revised gave something definite to go on, in stating what should be considered “fairly good weights and lengths”; though it cautioned that these must not count alone, but must be in connection with well balanced type. It also recommended that judges see the birds on the run before 30 A Watton Pair or 1911. FEMALE, BEING IN FOREGROUND, LOOKS RATHER TOO LARGE Hatr Wa tons oF 1910 Hatcu. ANcestry: “Watton” Stock, BRED WITH THE BEST EARLIER PENCILED BLoop IN AMERICA making awards. But I think these “fair” lengths will open the eyes of our breeders. They are: 25 to 30 inches for ducks, and 28 to 36 inches for the drakes. Runners, by the yard, as one might say! At the mammoth Crystal Palace show in London, late in 1912, Mr. J. W. Walton, Honorable Secretary of the British Indian Runner Club, in connection with Mr. Dodd, judged the Runners. A portion of the floor was wired off, and every bird was put on the floor to show its paces, those of each class com- peting thus together. The result was an entire reversal of the order of precedence from what would have seemed proper when the birds were in the coops. No Runner can be fairly judged without being seen both near at hand and on the move. The stern should be very different from the Pekin type so often seen here. Birds that have laid for a considerable time do get heavier at the rear, but the true shape is rather light at the stern, tapering from the thighs to the tail. This, with length and carriage, gives a bird whose distinctiveness differentiates it from all other types the minute the eye falls on it. This, to my mind, is what we want, especially as this is the heavy laying type in this breed, according to testimony. Mr. Scott, of New Zealand, calls the I. R. the “Queen of Layers,” and states that his best bird gave him nearly $10.00: worth of eggs in one year. The average price was about 37%4c per dozen, according to his report of his “World’s Record.” Of course, he does not breed the American Runner. It was certainly not more than 13 years after Mr. Thomlin- son’s first “particular attention” that the first birds were im- ported into this country. This makes it very probable indeed that the earlier birds imported into America, were very poor birds, from the present point of view of the English Indian Runner Duck Club. In Mr. Thomlinson’s book appears a por- trait of a Canadian duck, “never beaten in Canada,” sketched— 31 as a warning— by the Secretary of the English I. R. Club. The faults especially named are bad carriage, and “wide on legs.” The width between legs, and the solid fawn which the American ideal demands, are regarded by the English as decidedly detri- mental to the breed. “If the legs are placed wide apart, you are certain to get a waddler instead of a Runner, and if not placed well back you get horizontal carriage,” says Mr. Thomlinson. It is true that the English Standard demands an appearance of uniformity of the darker markings in the body color of the female, but it states with equal distinctness that these feathers may carry two tones, one described as “soft fawn,” the other as penciling which is “brighter and warmer in tint,” (Another shade of fawn, in fact). It avers that the overlapping of the feathers makes the females appear almost solid fawn, quite even in tone. This question does not come up with regard to the drakes, as they do not show penciling, in either the American or the English type. Some of those in America who do not breed the penciled type of Runner are pushing strongly to make the strongly pen- ciled type favored, in order to put it farther from the American Standard type. At least one bird of extreme penciling received a blue ribbon at New York in 1912-13. This is in strongest opposition to the English Standard up to the present time, which has called clearly for indistinct penciling. Fine, typical birds selected to this Standard demand were compelled to go without a place in this show, sharply-penciled birds wrongly ranking them in the favor of the judge. Unless the new British Standard makes a change in this demand, breeders will need to watch this point. Numbers of breeders who have had both types affirm that the English Standard-bred Runners are better layers; laying earlier, more in numbers, larger eggs, and eggs of better color. The Indian Runners of the best English type lay eggs of a trans- 382 parent whiteness not seen, so far as I know, in any other eggs offered for table use in the regular markets. They should ave- rage three ounces, when the birds are well kept and matured. And, they are superior to hens’ eggs for nearly all sorts of cooking. Calling attention again to the fact that the ducks in the Australian competition—vide Mr, Dunnicliffe’s letter—were Eng- lish Standard-bred Indian Runners, I will note a few statements that have been made as to laying capacity of the Indian Runners —the English Indian Runners, I mean. For, I do not think there is a certified record published for the American:type. A large proportion of all the figures given have come from across the water. One big record came from New Zealand. I have several official records made in public work; also, one, made by English bred ducks of an American breeder; one, made in Eng- land by Mr. Thomlinson’s ducks. The last-named record is 180, made in 1884. Mr. Thomlinson states that he has had a few exceed this in later years. The half-Walton’s have a genuine record of above 200, made on a northern American farm. The Australian Competition, a public, official record from birds handled at an Agricultural College, was for three successive years reported as an average of 200-217 without meat, and last made by two pens. Also, from one pen, 199 in ten months. Private claims, for which, so far as I know, no proof is shown, run winningly from 204 and 209 to 240, 260, 280 and 288. Several breeders claim ducks having a record above 200; one states that his birds lay all winter, and one refers modestly to one of his ducks with a record of 200 eggs in nine and one- half months. This is only 21 a month; many Runners are fully equal to this, during the favorable months. The rub is to get it during December and the moulting period. The 288 record hails from England, and I do not know that proofs have been given as to its authenticity. 33 During 1910, I tried for many months to find some verifi- cation of a record, reported here in 1909, of 320 eggs from one Indian Runner Duck in a single year. At first, it was reported here that this record was made in Australia. It was thought to be a public record. Late in 1910, an English writer and traveller wrote me that he had seen this duck, about which all the Runner world was agog. He wrote: “I had the pleasure of seeing the record duck while I was in New Zealand, as I went to see the plant of its owner. * * * It is his ‘Wonder’ strain and laid 320 eggs in 365 days, and 512 eggs in 23 months, going through two complete moults. He had six ‘Little Won- ders,’ bret from this one, entered in the Cambridge Laying Com- petition, which were only four and one-half to five and one-half months old when entered, and had gone through a complete moult. When I left, had put up the good total of 900 eggs in seven months, notwithstanding these obstacles; the last twelve weeks’ totals averaging over thirty-nine.” I have not seen any of Mr. Scott’s ducks, but the photo- graphs show them to be fair to good in carriage, but rather heavy in type. Naturally, a record so far beyond what we have been accustomed to think possible raises many eyebrows among us. Mr. Scott claims to have five strains, each of which has made a record of above 200 eggs average, “equal to and over the 300-egg record.” He tells of a bird which laid 202 when from 3% to 4% years old; and of three which laid 200 eggs each in eight and one-half months. It could not be expected that birds placed in competition many miles away from home, in strange hands, could do as well as they would do at home, under the owner’s careful eye and hand. But the Cambridge Duck Egg-Laying Test reports through its Secretary, that six Scott birds from four and one-half to five and one-half months old when entering the tests, and moulting twice during the year, made a total of 1301 eggs for 34 the year, average 217, “and for 12 weeks averaged over 39 eggs per week.” This is the pen mentioned above by my correspond- ent. This average means thirteen eggs per duck in each two weeks, for twelve weeks in succession. It is the Indian Runner Ducks’ strongest bid for universal notice! Personally, I would rather rest the case of the Indian Run- ner on this record, and the more than 200-egg record of the Australian Agricultural College tests for three years in succession. It seems, however, that there is no limit that can be set to the claims. One “testimonial,” used year after year by a promi- nent foreign firm, tells of a Runner which laid “240 eggs in 240 days.” This report comes from a burg in Spain, not to be found on the maps available! One photograph which I have seen purports to be of a Runner “from a gentleman that guaranteed that she laid 339 eggs in 365 days during her first season’s lay- ing.” Most of her eggs were reported infertile. Perhaps this is the real “limit.” The public always looks askance at phenomenally high claimed records. When the highest records come from those who are known to have been somewhat “shady” in business transac- tions, people are even less inclined to believe in these records. Add to this that the record of the American Standard Runner in the Missouri competition was only 130 or thereabout, and the case looks bad. But, few breeders of Runners will lay this low record up against the Runner (even of the American type), (it is virtually double the average record of American hens) ; because they know the Runner has averaged 150 in private hands in large flocks under farm handling. Mr. Scott is a great believer in strain and stamina, and in bringing birds to maturity before permitting them to begin laying. In connection with the chapter on feeding, I give his method and kinds of feed used. Doubtless, the majority of people are unaware that our 35 veteran, Mr. I. K. Felch, furnished a sworn record, some years ago, of a Light Brahma hen having laid 313 eggs in one year. I am certain that the average Indian Runner duck will come nearer her “Wonder” average than will any breed of hens to the “wonder” record for hens. I know of one published record for an American hen, higher than the 320-egg duck record; but it was not a sworn record, as far as I know. From the far west, a man of convictions writes: ‘Throw- ing out the penciled type is an injustice to all its breeders as well as to the true breed; it is tearing down what we have been building up for years. Our own ducks have won over all kinds of so-called Indian Runners, scoring to ninety-six and a half and ninety-six and three-fourths at state shows. We have been breeding this English type for eight years, and find no fault in them, while the fawn and white proved worthless under the same conditions. Why should the Revision Committee wipe either the English type or the American type off the face of the American soil?” Please note that this letter was neither written for publication, nor for advertising, but is the outspoken expres- sion of a man’s belief, which he supports by his practice. After the 1910 revision, the whole prestige of the fancy was brought to bear against the penciled ducks, until no visitor at a show would cast a glance at them. It was only the belief of their breeders that they were decidedly superior to the American Standard type in actual intrinsic value that kept the breeders of the English type from throwing up the game. A few dollars and a year’s work might easily place any one of them on the popular side, at half the cost in wear and tear of holding to the English type. Yet they did hold to it, tenaciously. The matter of color is still a bone of contention. But, the English duck was described as “fawn” in color long before there were any American Standard birds of the present color in ex- istence. The matter of the name belonging especially to the 36 first in the field, namely, the English type of Runner, is thus so plainly one of common-sense and fair dealing that I think no one can candidly consider it without admitting the justice of the claims of the English type. In the ranks of the breeders of American Standard Runners, no one seems to have been satis- fied with the 1910 revision. And, although arguing strenuously for the ‘American Standard bird as the “only” Runner, breeders and judges constantly ignore some of this Standard’s demands. The way the color question was working out before the last revision was shown very clearly in an exhibit at the Syracuse, N. Y., Fair, the year of the last revision. The Standard then called for “light fawn.” Criticisms without number were made on the rating of a certain bird, practically white, which, because of superior type, was given the blue. During the same Fair, in 1911, I stood before the Runner coops, and saw a beautiful bird, as far as type went, with no prize. The bird was almost white. I asked a man who was demonstrating Runners, (evi- dently the leader in the winnings) why this bird was neglected, when at another time a bird of the same sort received first under the same judge. My supposed ignorance was not much enlight- ened, for the smiling reply was: “Oh! that was a mistake.’ Later, I was told that it was this same bird that won the blue the previous year. Now, they begin to talk of going back to this Standard. As the initiated know, it was the loss of the word “light” from the Standard description that made the difference. Yet the columns of the poultry periodicals are still dotted with adver- tisements describing the birds of rabid fighters for the Ameri- can Standard bird, which advertisements claim the owners to have the acme of the American Standard type; yet, they are described as “light fawn throughout.” And the Standard calls for “light fawn” in tail of duck only! One breeder has declared in print that the American Indian Runner Standard is a joke, 37 and that the bird it demands has never been bred and cannot be bred. Despite many such statements, the new Standard does not call for light fawn and white, and it does not disqualify the pen- ciled birds. The American Standard disqualifications refer to the dark breast known as “claret” and to the blue bars on wing, which are generally taken as showing foreign blood; beyond this, absence of feathers in the wings and twists in wings, back or tail, complete the list of special disqualifications, and I find noth- ing in the general disqualifications which applies to Indian Run- ners. The American Standard everywhere stands firmly for shape as making the breed—any breed. For instance, under Plymouth Rocks, it says: “The six varieties are identical, except in color.” When it comes to the Indian Runner, the Standard allows 25 points out of one hundred for color, and 41 for shape. Yet, with only 25 points on color, and 61 for shape and carriage, how is it that the light fawn breeders, who show by their advertising that they haven’t even the color demanded by the American Standard, can claim to have a good Runner? Sixty-one points for shape and carriage, and every judge considering color first! Now, listen: There must be more than one shade of fawn: because even the American Standard calls for darker fawn in head of drake than in other parts. Fawn color is a light, yel- lowish-brown; so says Webster. And if the Standard has no specific definition, it must accept the usual meaning of a word. es Therefore, the English duck known as a “fawn” duck long be- fore the American Standard style was in existence, has double ” claim to use the word “fawn,” if its breeders so desire, because it has two shades of fawn! Those breeders of the American type who, apparently, were not willing to give the English ducks any chance, have persist- ently denied the purity of the penciled type, although the great 38 British show, the Crystal Palace, was giving them the leading prizes year after year, and the most prominent English breeders asserted their superiority as a distinctive and pure type. One man here states that he does not know whether the tinted-egg layers are better than the others or not, because he has ducks that lay tinted eggs early in the season and mostly white eggs later on. This man has bred ducks many years. Any one who has bred them but a single season knows that ducks, at the beginning of the lay, often give eggs covered with a coat- ing or “veil” which does not belong to the shell, and which washes off!