Page:Ducks- and how to make them pay (IA cu31924003102971).pdf/85

Rh doubt because a selection is not made of them, but I have every reason to believe that this could be altered in a few years that is to say when a duck lays blue eggs, these should all be put aside to be sat upon, and also have a drake hatched from a blue egg from a different strain. If the eggs are selected in this way it would be easily overcome. When I say Rouens do not commence laying so early in the season, I do not mean to say I consider them bad layers. When they commence they keep on for a long period, often laying later than several of the other varieties. Their eggs, as a rule, prove very fertile. The drake should have a yellow bill with a slight greenish tinge, so that it looks like a clear yellow bronze. If it is a clear yellow it is objectionable. Some of the bills come a dark heavy colour, but these are not recognized in the show pen. The shape of the bill is shown in the illustration. It should be both wide and long. The head is of a very rich beetle-green, extending down to the neck, and should show a distinctness where it finishes off at the bottom. There should be a white ring round the neck, like a collar. This should be plainly seen. The breast is of a rich brown— what some people call a claret brown. It should be all of one colour, and not run into a grey, extending lower than the water line, so that when the drake is swimming in the pond all the breast looks of a rich claret-brown. It is only in good specimens where you get this claret-brown colour. Frequently they will become a little speckled, with lighter feathers intermixed. The lower part of the body is of a beautiful steel, what is usually called French grey.