_Cock._—The neck-hackle should be abundant, descending well over the shoulders, and in color, silvery-white (any approach to a yellowish tinge to be carefully avoided), the longer feathers ending in a small diamond-shaped spangle, and presenting a beautiful rayed appearance about the shoulders.
The back and saddle should have the same general style of feathers, pure white in color, except the small spangle near the end as in the neck-hackle, avoiding any appearance of the yellowish tinge.
The breast feathers should be pure silvery-white, each feather ending with a well-defined, round, large-sized greenish-black spangle or moon, showing as little white on the tip as possible, the spangles increasing in size in proportion as the feather increases in size. The body and wing-feathers must have a similar moon-shaped spangle. There is a tendency to indistinct or smutty markings in the tail, which should be avoided. The moons on the breast-feathers should be just large enough to give the breast a spangled appearance, by allowing a little of the white beyond each moon to show. The moons, if too large, give the breast a mossed or black appearance, which is a defect. The spangles on greater and lesser wing-coverts form two distinct bars across the wing, which is very requisite in a well-marked bird. Care should be taken to avoid clear white feathers in back and saddle, as they are very liable to appear in light-colored birds.
_Hen._—The neck-hackle should be composed of clear, silvery-white feathers, each plainly striped near the end with greenish-black. The back, breast and body should be clear white, each feather distinctly spangled with a large, round and greenish-black moon, as large as possible without the spangles running together and giving a mossy or black appearance in places.
The half-moon spangle should be avoided with much care in all feathers except the wing-secondaries, where it is allowable in both sexes. The wing-coverts, greater or lesser, should be clear, silvery-white, terminating in a large, greenish-black, round spangle, and forming two parallel bars, distinctly marked, across the wing. It is difficult to find a perfectly spangled tail without some black or smutty color in the main body of the feathers; this is not so persistent a defect in the hen as in the cock, and can be bred out of both, if proper care is taken. The feathers on the thighs should be as distinct as possible, care being taken to prevent a mossy or laced appearance.