The Old Dutch Capuchine: NPA Standard 1993:
The primary purpose of any standard is to guide the breeder
in his quest to produce uniform specimens that most nearly resemble the ideal.
This standard should also be used to guide those persons chosen to judge
our birds. This will bring about consistent evaluation of our breed which
is our goal.
We hope to impress in the minds of all breeders of the Old Dutch Capuchine
that our breed has many characteristics or traits which must be taken into
consideration when judging or choosing breeding stock. We must look for balance
in our birds and not overly emphasize any one area, but rather focus on a
balanced bird regardless of personal preference.
Neck: Medium to long, showing fullness where it meets the breast. The longer
neck exaggerates the shortness of the tail and serves to enhance the rosettes.
Avoid short necks and those which are consistently held against the shoulders.
When showing, the bird should reach its neck out to full length positioning
it perpendicular to the ground.
Body: Wedge-shaped, breast full and wide between the shoulders. Wing butts
should be hidden from the front view by breast feathers giving a wide-width
look to the bird. Width should taper from the breast to the tail giving the
wedge shape. The body should be firm and well-muscled.
Wings: Medium to short, in proportion, with the flights ½" shorter than
the tail. Wings carried closed giving a tight-feathered look. Secondary flights
should show good width of feather. Flights to be carried on top of the tail.
Tail: As short as possible, narrow, and well closed being carried parallel
to the ground.
Legs: Medium in length, bright red in color, and free from feather growth
below the shanks. Toe nails to be light flesh colored in all varieties. Legs
should be straight and placed proportionally wide apart.
CARRIAGE (10 pts.):
The head is to be held high with the neck reaching upwards. The neck should
be vertical, i.e. perpendicular to the ground. The tail should be parallel
to the ground. From a profile view the neck and body should form an "L" shape.
The legs should be straight. The entire carriage should reflect a proud,
uplifted bird.
HEAD, BEAK, WATTLE, EYES, AND CERE (10 pts.):Head: Medium in length, with a well-rounded frontal and wide forehead. The
forehead should rise in a smooth curve from the beak to the top skull.
Beak: Medium length with the upper mandible slightly curved at the tip. The
beak is to be flesh to red colored in all colorations.
Wattle: Fine and neat, white in color.
Eyes: Lively expression. Iris to be white pearl to impure pearl. Although
impure pearl eyes with a reddish tint are accepted, the preferred color is
the whitish pearl eye (fish eye). Cracked eyes are permitted in almonds only.
Cere: Fine, narrow, and red to flesh in color. The red eye cere is preferred
since it accents the eye in the white head.
HOOD (15 pts.):The hood should be broad and well rounded. It should be set as high as possible
on the back skull, running from ear to ear, blending smoothly into the chain.
When viewing the hood from the side, the eye must be clearly visible.
CHAIN (10 pts.):The chain nuns in an unbroken line from the hood to the shoulders. It must
not meet in the front but maintain a two-fingers width from the top
to the bottom. As the hood curves downward on both sides of the head, the
chain should blend in with the hood so as to be impossible to tell where
the hood ends and the chain begins. The chain should be fine-edged and well
defined. The feathering should be moderate in length and not obstruct the
profile view.
ROSETTE (10 pts.):On both sides of the neck is an oblong-shaped rosette. The rosette should
blend into the profile and be filled in as full as possible. The rosette
is not a line of parting feathers or a crease (ditch) but rather an elliptical
(oblong) whorl of feathers similar to the rosette on a Jacobean. The rosettes
are to be symmetrical (same on both sides) and placed as low as possible
on the neck just above the wing butts. The size should be approximately
the size of a nickel.
MANE (10 pts.):The mane is to be fully feathered and form a smooth, continuous line from
the top of the head to the back. Avoid any breaks in the smooth line and
loose, bushy feathering.
COLOR (10 pts.):Rich, even, and lustrous showing iridescence throughout. Accepted colors
are to be shown in classes while unaccepted colors are to be grouped in the
Any Other Color (AOC) class. The exception is those colors which are the
result of genetic projects. These will be grouped into the Any Rare Color
class (ARC). Groupings where only one or two specimens of the color are present
may be combined into one class at the discretion of the show secretary or
club representative. In the unlikely event that a large number of a specific
AOC color is shown (i.e. 20 kites shown) these may be grouped separately
of the AOC class at the discretion of the show secretary or club representative.
Bars are to be grouped into one class.
Red: A gleaming chestnut red, even throughout, with a rich copper sheen free
from green.
Yellow: A rich golden yellow color, even throughout, with a pink luster free
from green.
Black: An intense, glistening black, even throughout, showing a green metallic
sheen free from purple. Not showing any trace of bronze or sootiness.
Dun: An intense, gun-metal coloration to be as dark even, and rich as possible.
No sulphur or bronziness should be present and the sheen should be green.
Blue Bar: Wing shield to be light blue with contrasting black bars. No checking,
sootiness, or bronze is to be present. The lower breast shades from a light
blue upwards to a darker blue on the neck and should show a glistening, green
iridescence.
Silver Bar: vying shield to be a light silvery-gray with contrasting dun
bars. No checking, sootiness, or bronze is to be present. The lower breast
shades from a light silver upwards to a dark gray on the neck and should
show a glistening, green iridescence.
Red Bar: Wing shield to be ash-gray with contrasting red bars. No checking
or sootiness is to be present. The lower breast shades from an ash-gray upwards
to red on the neck and should show a rich copper sheen.
Yellow Bar: Wing shield to be a very light creamy white with contrasting
yellow bars. No checking or sootiness is to be present. The lower breast
shades from a creamy white upwards to deep yellow on the neck and should
show a pinkish iridescence.
Splash (Tiger): Half white, half color, in an evenly distributed pattern,
conforming to the appropriate color requirements listed above. Ideally, the
color should no be grizzled but rather deep and intense.
White: Solid white; satin-like and glossy.
Almond: Deep buff (golden brown) liberally flecked with bronzish-black. Young
almonds generally have considerably less break (flecking) than older birds.
Any colors not listed above (excluding genetic projects) shall be shown in
the AOC class. Genetic projects to be shown in the ARC class.
MARKINGS (10 pts.):All colors except self white are to be monk marked. The head must be white
reaching down to3/8" under the beak and eyes. The inside of the hood is to
be colored. There should be between 7 and 12 white flight feathers with the
ideal being 10 on each wing. The tail, vent, hocks, and abdomen are white.
The balance of the bird is to be colored or in the case of splashes (tigers),
to be evenly mixed with color and white. The ideal splash (tiger) would be
alternating white and colored feathers in those areas normally colored. At
the abdomen there is to be a straight line dividing the white and colored
area. From this line to the tip of the tail, the under part of the bird is
to be white. A white self can compete favorably with the colored varieties.
However, if a marked bird is essentially equal in quality to a white self,
the marked bird has the advantage.
FAULTS: Long and narrow body; long tail; tail touching the ground; short
neck; chain meeting in the front (touching); colored underbelly; hood set
far back on the head; bushy, loose feathering - especially in the mane; ditched
rosettes; stained beak. Point cuts are determined by the severity of the
fault.
DISQUALIFICATIONS:
Bull eyes, out of condition from disease, and any deformities.
RATING SYSTEM:In addition to having each bird placed in its class, each bird will also
be rated according to the standard. The ratings are as follows:
Excellent: This is the highest rating and should only be given to those specimens
which are near letter perfect. No major faults should be visible. It is likely
that this rating may not be given at every show.
Very good: This is the second highest rating and should be given only to
those specimens which are of fine quality but possess a few minor faults.
This rating may be given to perhaps the top ten percent of the show.
Good: This rating will likely be given to the majority of birds in the show.
Birds receiving this rating will have one or two major faults and several
minor ones.
Inferior: This rating will only be given to birds not truly representative
of the Old Dutch Capuchine.