Australian Game

Origin: Australia

Category: Hardfeather Heavy

Egg Colour: Tinted

Sitter: Yes

Schedule for Judging Modern Australian Game. (The Standard issued by the Poultry Club of N.S.W., with a few minor additions.)

THE COCK

Head - Long and strong.

Beak - Strong, slightly curved, stout at base.

Comb - Pea or triple (if undubbed); in no case to grow further back than a point directly above the back of the eye.

Face, Ear-lobes, and Throat - Fairly smooth.

Eyebrows - Slightly overhanging.

Neck - Long and slightly arched.

Hackle - Short and close-fitting; Saddle Hackle - short.

Body - Short, stout, widest at shoulders, and tapering to tail.

Back - Flat; shoulders, broad, high, and square.

Breast - Hard, broad, and full.

Wings - Medium length, strong, well clipped under the saddle hackles.

Thighs - Prominent, set on wide apart, long, stout, and muscular.

Shanks - Evenly scaled and slightly rounded.

Spurs - Set low down on the shank, and inclining downwards.

Feet - Flat on the ground.

Toes - Strong and well spread, the hind toe well extended and flat on the ground.

Tail - Medium in length, slightly drooping in carriage, and carried moderately full; the sickle feathers fairly abundant, and slightly curved.

Plumage - Sound, glossy, and hard.

Size - Large; minimum weight of adults, 9 lbs.

General Appearance - Upright, active, and reachy.

THE HEN

The Hen should resemble the Cock in all points, making allowance for difference in sex.

Minimum weight of adults, 7 lbs.

COLOUR

There are no specific points allocated to colour in Australian Game. These are descriptions of varieties.

Black-Breasted Red Game

In both sexes:

Beak - Dark horn colour.

Face, Comb, Ear-lobes, and Wattles.—Deep, rich red.

Eyes - Pearl, yellow, or daw.

Shanks and Feet - Willow or olive.

In the cock

Head and Hackle - Rich, deep red, free from stripes or spots.

Back, Shoulder Coverts, and Wing-bows - Dark red.

Wing-bars - Steel-blue.

Breast and Wing-butts.—Greenish-black.

Under-parts - Black.

Wing Primaries - Black with edging of bay to outer web on the lower feathers.

Wing Secondaries - Outer web deep bay, inner web black, with a blue-black tip on the end of each feather.

Saddle.— Rich, deep red.

Tail - Glossy green- black.

In the hen

Head - Brown.

Neck - Yellow, the feathers striped with black in the centre.

Throat and Breast — Dark salmon, running off to a lighter shade on thighs and vent, each feather showing shafts of a lighter shade.

Body - Dark brownish drab, or deep, solid partridge brown, evenly and minutely pencilled with markings of black. This marking should have a wavy appearance, and on no account should run into distinct bars.

Tail - Black; the tail coverts and two top outer feathers of the tail the same as the body colour.

Australian Duckwing Game

In both sexes:

Beak, Face, Comb, Ear-lobes, Wattles, Eyes, Shanks, and Feet - The same as in Black-Reds.

In the Cock

Breast, Tail, Wing-bars, and under-parts - Same as in the Black-Red.

Hackle and Saddle - Creamy white.

Back, Shoulder Coverts, and Wing-bows.—Deep, bright gold.

Wings - Primaries, black, with edging of white to outer web: secondaries, clear white on the outer web, black on the inner, the tip of each feather being marked with steel-blue.

In the Hen

Head and Neck Hackle - White, with distinct black stripes on each side of a white shaft, down the centre of each feather.

Back and Wings.— - Grey or ash colour, evenly and minutely pencilled with markings of black. This marking should have a wavy appearance, and on no account should run into distinct bars.

Breast - A lighter shade of salmon than that of the Black-Red hen, the thighs and under-parts running correspondingly greyer.

Tail - Black. The tail coverts and two top outer feathers of the tail the same as the body colour.

In Australian Pile Game

In both sexes:

Beak, Shanks, and Feet - Yellow or willow, the former preferred.

Face, Comb, Ear-lobes, Wattles, and Eyes - The same as in Black-Reds.

"In the Cock:

White where the Black-Red cock is black, red where he is red.

In the Hen:

Head and Neck Hackle - Golden, with a white stripe down the centre of each feather.

Back, Wings, and Tail - Creamy white.

Breast and Throat - Dark salmon, running off to a lighter shade on thighs, the under-parts and vent being almost white, each feather showing shafts of a lighter colour.

In Australian Black Game

In both sexes:

Beak, Eyes, Shanks, and Feet - Black,

Face, Comb, Ear-lobes, and Wattles - Deep rich purplish-red.

Plumage — Metallic glossy greenish-black throughout.

In Australian White Game

Beak, Shanks, and Feet - Yellow.

Eyes - Pearl, yellow, or daw.

Face, Comb, Ear-lobes, and Wattles - Rich bright red.

Plumage - Pure spotless white throughout.

In Australian Hen-Feathered Game

In the Cock:

Feathered as hens.

In both sexes:

Colour - The same as that of the hens of the various varieties of the Australian Game hens, such as Black-Reds, Duckwings, Blacks, etc.

SERIOUS DEFECTS

• Roach back,

• Crooked breast,

• Duck feet,

• Wry tail,

• Any other deformity or disease;

• Comb any other than triple or pea on hen;

• Feathers on shanks or feet;

• Any fraudulent dyeing, dressing, or trimming, beyond the dubbing and dressing of the heads of cocks.

SCALE OF POINTS

Relative importance of defects and order in which they are to be taken into consideration in Judging Australian Game - Points to be deducted.

Points

1  Want of Symmetry and strength  15

2 Want of size 10

3 Want of condition 10

4 Want of hardness in handling 10

5 Bad or faulty plumage 10

6 Legs too fine (5), flat-shinned (5) 10

7 Tail too heavy (5), badly carried (5) 10

8 Too much hackle 10

9 Bad head 5

10 Bad feet and legs 5

11 Bad coloured eyes 5

Total = 100

STANDARD WEIGHTS

Minimum weight of adult cock, 9 lbs (4.1kg).

Minimum weight of adult hens, 7 lbs (3.2kg).

SOURCES

• The American standard of perfection, illustrated. A complete description of recognized varieties of fowls, as revised by [the Association at its 62d-67th annual meetings, 1937-42.] Public Domain accessed from: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009169004

• https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009202629 The Poultry club standards, containing a complete description of all the recognised varieties of fowls, ducks, geese and turkeys, ed. by William W. Broomhead.

• The Australasian book of poultry by Compton, A. J; Publication date 1899 Publisher: Melbourne, George Robertson and Co.Schedule for Judging Modern Australian Game. (The Standard issued by the Poultry Club of N.S.W., with a few minor additions.) https://archive.org/details/australasianbook00comp/page/n17

• AUSTRALIAN GAME. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71532177