ORIGIN: Asia, imported into England before 1876 when Ludlow referred to this breed in Fulton's book of that year.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Tight, upright body, wide breast and shoulders, medium high pose. Upward sloping tail, the back is hollow.
HEAD: Smooth, fairly round and arched with medium high, wide slightly pulled forehead, without corners or plates.
EYES: Pearl coloured iris, with pupil as small as possible surrounded by white. Edge of eye lying flat, pale to flesh coloured but not red. Blood veins allowed.
BEAK: Medium long, strong at base, point only slightly bent, light flesh-coloured (wax beak), slightly reddish at the nose. Wattle fairly well developed, smooth and white. Slight beak tip is allowed in Blacks, Blue, Hammered Blue, Black and Silver Speckle and Multicoloured. However, birds with pure beaks are preferred. Full throat rising to an arch over the top part of the neck.
NECK: Medium length, rising widely from the breast, becoming thinner towards the throat.
BREAST: Wide, slightly standing out.
BACK: Short, sloping slightly towards back, wide in shoulders, hollow backline through the tail position.
WINGS: Nearly reaching the tail end, loosely closed, carried under the tail without touching the ground.
TAIL: Wide, carried in a soft rise over the wings with at least 14 and at the most 18 tail feathers, slightly bent The width of the tail should almost equal the width of the shoulders. Twin feathers are only allowed in the middle of the tail.
BELLY: Fairly wide and flat.
LEGS: Medium long, smooth.
a) One-coloured in black, red, yellow, white, dun (chocolate) and cream.
b) Blue with bars, silver blue with bars, hammered blue, silver with yellow bars and pale red with red bars, red and hammered yellow.
c) Two coloured: basic colour white, with black, red or yellow speckle (the more evenly speckled the softer). Birds with basic colour silver grey and black speckles be known as silver speckles; whites as mentioned under a) and b) with both having 6 to 8 primaries.
d) Multi-coloured: basic colour lighter or darker almond colour with speckles in all main or secondary colours on neck, breast and back, spread as evenly as possible. To soften the overall picture, birds should have beetle green sheen or a copper coloured metallic shine. Belly is as much as possible dull yellow to blue-grey. Wings usually cream coloured without even speckles overall. The tail feathers show a preponderance of black and blue streaks. One coloured tail feather lessens the value.
Dark tarnished beak; wings carried over the tail; too long back; too little arched back line; slack pose; split tail; less than 14 tail feathers.
Overall impression - shape - body holding - tail - wing holding - head - eyes - colour and pattern.
Ring Size: B
