GIANT AMERICAN CREST / MINIATURE AMERICAN CREST

Beak: Light in color, stout, with smooth wattle carrying out its lines.

Throat: Very deep and full.

Crest: Neither peak nor shell, but about halfway between these two, formed in such a way that you see a hollow section where the head feathers carry out the line of the skull back into the crest with crest feathers growing up and partly around this section. in testing, you should be able to rest your finger on the bird's skull with your finger tip snugly into the crest with the crest feathers coming up around your finger. Lines of the crest should be carried on down by both the mane and chain in an unbroken line. Both peak and shell crests are to be cut 10 points. A strong, good typed bird showing a very small or poor crest should be placed if it carries enough other points. No good typed bird is to be thrown out as long as it shows some crest.

Neck: Short, extra full, but looking real tight in feather.

Breast: Very broad, full and deep showing all the power it can. The head and neck should be held back giving the bird a "chesty" look. Keel should be straight, but never cut over 3 points. The flesh should be bulged out on either side of the keel and the breast should be wider than the depth of the bird. This does not mean that a broad shallow keeled bird should win over a deep bird, for we want both depth and breadth.

Back: Straight, giving this breed something of the Carneau type rather than that of the King. Birds should be cut for hollow back, starting from a slight swing up to a King type. The Maltese type, those showing a sharp break, should be disqualified. Many of the best birds show a hollow back and such birds can be placed Champion if they have the proper number of other points to carry it past a better backed bird.

Wings: Held high. Tightly folded. Short and strong secondaries should cover the back and primaries, and be held high enough so that the birds do not show "sails", a very bad fault. Wing butts should help the bird look broader.

Tail: Short, well folded and carrying out the lines of the bird. Feathers in the vent, abdomen or belly region should be tight and held close to the body, carrying out breast lines without a break, losing themselves into the lower tail coverts. Feathers on the rump and upper tail coverts should also be tight and held close to the body. Wings should rest on the rump with no space between.

Legs: Tightly feathered, very muscular, and showing great strength. Not too long, set apart with plenty of breast between. Shanks should be thick showing large bone. Toes should be well spread, looking short because of their chubbiness.

Bone: Heavy throughout adding to its look of great strength.