Welsh Harlequin

The Welsh Harlequin duck was produced as a mutation from the Campbell by Group Captain Leslie Bonnet. Starting at his house in Hertfordshire in 1949, two light coloured sports of pure Khaki Campbell ducks he was keeping were bred together and he named them Honey Campbells.

In an act of clever advertising their name was changed around 1950. Leslie Bonnet had moved to a farm in North Wales around 1950. There he wanted to sell them to 'a wealthy local woman who kept a show farm, on which all the animals were Welsh'. And voilà, the Welsh Harlequin was born and the new name was a success.

Tragically, in 1968, a fox destroyed most of Bonnet's flock but an enthusiast called Eddie Grayson had some of the original Welsh Harlequins and crossed these with the original strain of Khaki Campbells, reviving the breed and stabilising the colour form.

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Classification: Light

Purpose: Egg layer and table bird

Origin: Wales, U.K.

Colours: In Australia and in the U.K. the only recognised colour for the Welsh Harlequin is Brown Silver. It has a distinctive bronze/green speculum (whereas the Abacot Ranger is similar in colouring but has the iridescent blue speculum of the wild Mallard). The drake has a bronze lustre on his head (the head of the drake of the Abacot Ranger is metallic green).

Eggs: White or greenish colour, 240 - 330 eggs/year

STANDARD WEIGHTS

Standard Drake 2.25 - 2.50 kg

Standard Duck 2.00 - 2.25 kg

Bantam Drake 700 - 900 g

Bantam Duck 700 - 800 g

SHAPE - DRAKE AND DUCK

Carriage: Alert, slightly upright, the head carried high. Shoulders higher than the saddle, and the back showing a gentle slant shoulder to saddle. The whole carriage not too erect (approx. 35 degrees) but not so low as to cause waddling. Activity and foraging power to be retained without loss of depth and width of body generally.

Type: Body deep, wide and compact, sides appearing slightly compressed, retaining depth throughout, especially from shoulders to chest and from middle of back through to thighs; broad and well-rounded front. Back wide, flat and of medium length, gently sloping with shoulders higher than the saddle. Abdomen well developed at rear of legs but not sagging; well rounded underline of breast and stern. Wings closely carried and rather high. Tail short and small, rising slightly. Head: Head refined in jaw and skull. Face full and smooth. Bill proportionate, of medium length, depth and width, well set in a straight line with the top of the skull. Eyes full, bold and bright, high in skull and prominent. Neck of medium length, slender, and almost erect.

Legs and feet: Legs of medium length, and well apart to allow of good abdominal development; not too far back. Feet straight.

Plumage: Tight and silky.

COLOUR - DRAKE

Head and upper neck: dark brown with bronze-green lustre, almost reaching the shoulders, where a 0.5 - 1.5 cm wide, well defined white ring (finer and more clearly defined at the front than the back) completely encircles the neck.

Breast, neck base and shoulders: rich red-brown mahogany, finely laced with white. This colour washes along the upper flank finishing at the upper thigh coverts.

Underbody and stern: Creamy white

Back: Upper back feathers white, finely stippled with dark brown and fringed with white. Lower down the back the stippling becomes heavier, each feather preferably finged with white until solid dark brown on the rump, where there is a slight green lustre.

Tail: Dark brown bordered with white; undertail bronze.

Wings: Primaries off-white, overlaid with brown. Speculum bronze with green lustre, bordered by a very fine line of white. Wing coverts light mahogany laced with creamy white. Scapulars and tertials as for the breast colour, laced with creamy white which gives a rich tortoiseshell effect. Underwing creamy-white.

Bill: Olive green without any trace of blue, black bean at the tip.

Eyes: Dark brown.

Legs and webs: Orange.

COLOUR - DUCK

Head and upper neck: Honey-fawn with brown graining on the crown.

Main body feathers: Fawn to cream; central shaft of feathers marked with brown. These markings less distinct on breast and underbody.

Rump: Mid-brown with darker brown cetral streak to each feather.

Tail: Mid-brown.

Wings: Primaries brown edged with white, slightly darker than the drake. Speculum bronze. Well defined lacing on the wing coverts. Scapulars a mixture of fawn, red-brown and cream producing a rich, tortoiseshell effect. Underwing creamy-white.

Bill: Dark slate tinged with green.

Eyes: Dark brown.

Legs and webs: Orange brown in young birds, dark brown in mature birds.

Colour genetics: Dusky Mallard (md), Harlequin Phase (lih), Brown Dilution (d).

The bronze colour of the head and the speculum is a result of the sex-linked, recessive brown dilution gene. The rim of white on the secondaries is indicative of the recessive harlequin gene.

Availability: Rare

Scale of Points

Carriage: 15

Head, bill and neck: 15

Body: 15

Legs and feet: 5

Condition: 10

Colour: 30

Size: 10

Serious Defects

Blue wing bars.

Lack of neck ring in male.