Best Duck?

the story about how the Welsh Harlequins started is dubious at best. They probably did not start as Appleyard mixes, but I would not be surprised at all if they started as Runner mixes.

LOL Me either.​
 
I got my hands on an antique book that has some of the pictures of the original birds (the Welsh Harlequins). Now, even Khaki Campbells were still a very new breed at that time and, as we all know, they (the WH) are purported to be sports of the KC. The KC though of the time were very similar in body type to what we have now. The Welsh Harlequins though were very upright in appearance. I mean they were more upright than even production/hatchery Runners are sometimes. Not only that, but they were originally lighter weight than the Campbells, which is the opposite of what successive generations of Mallard-derived birds do. The lighter weight and bantam breeds quickly increase in size in subsequent generations.

Now, ask yourself, what are the chances that an honest to God "sport" of Khaki Campbell stock would mysteriously be so much smaller than the KC of the day and much more upright in appearance? LOL. It is almost laughable. Of course, though, Bonnet would want to say they were a freak occurrence, which is basically what "sports" are, a random mutation. If he had straight up said they were Runner/KC mixes, they would not have had this rare mystique about them. They would have been something anyone could potentially create. Of course, I could be totally wrong, LOL. It just seems like the more I research breed development in the last 100 years, the more I find that a lot of the early duck traders were of this type, the "horse trader" type. I am reading a book right now from the early 1900's and the author just slams the other duck breeders of the day literally right and left, accusing them all of basically being snake oil salesmen. It is very funny to read. LOL.
 
I need the title of that book. To add to your theory, within a few days of hatching I had a hard time telling some of my runner/wh mutts from the purebreds!
 

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