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INDIAN
RUNNER DUCK COLOURS
The
Indian Runner is a unique duck. However, crossed with other
breeds, the Indian Runner produced nearly all the Light Duck
breeds, which have a lower carriage than the true Runner.
There
are now many standard colours of Runner in the UK, and several
more in Australia and Germany.
Conventional colours are Black, Chocolate, Cumberland Blue, Fawn,
Fawn-&-white (pencilled and American), Mallard, Trout and
White. The Fawn, Fawn-&-white, and the White were the
original colours.
More recently produced are the Apricot and Blue Duskies, Silver ('Streicher')
and Apricot Trout (Blaugelb in Germany, 'Saxony')
HISTORY
When
did the birds reach
Europe
?
It is possible
that the Dutch ‘found’ the Runner in
Indonesia
and brought it to
Europe
first.
For centuries middlemen from the
Far East
had controlled the trade in nutmeg, mace, cloves, pepper and
cinnamon. The Europeans wanted to go straight to the source, the
Moluccas, northeast of
Bali, and the race was won by the Portuguese. In 1511 they reached these
Spice Islands and brought a full cargo back to
Europe
.
The Dutch sought influence in the area too, and in 1592 Cornelis de Houtman was sent by Amsterdam merchants to Lisbon to discover as much information on the Spice Islands as he could. In 1594 the merchants founded the company 'compagnie van Verre' (meaning "the long-distance company"), and in 1595 four ships left Amsterdam and they reached Banten, a
north-western port in Java. They then went on to Bali and returned
in
1597(source:wikipedia).
Eventually, the Dutch influence led to the founding of the United East India Company in
1602 (VOC). Later they built the walled
fortress of
Batavia
– now
Jakarta.
The interest here in the ducks is that a Dutch ship returned with hundreds of salted penguin (pingouin)
ducks on its way to the
Cape of Good Hope, and the cargo also contained duck
eggs (records from the Maritime Museum, Amsterdam). It is unlikely that live
ducks returned to
Europe
at this point but Dutch painters, in the 1600s, depicted crested
ducks and pied ducks. These genes may have come from the
Far East.
London
Zoo, 1835
The first located UK reference to Runners is at the London
Zoo in 1837-38 where they were referred to as ‘penguin ducks’
– the same name of course attributed by the Dutch to their
Runner from Java and
Bali. Weir’s 1902 reference leaves no doubt that these were
Indian Runners: ‘ . . . these were a light and dark fawn colour,
the ordinary blue bars on the wing being the dull slate tint. The
ducklings were extremely odd-looking little things and frequently
fell in their attempt to walk fast or run [which is typical of
Runner ducklings].’ Further research has determined that they actually arrived in 1835.
Conventionally
known as the 'Indian' Runner, its origin was finally pinned down by
Walton (1909) to the East Indies, though the Dutch probably knew
this much earlier because of the connection of the Dutch East India
Company with Batavia.
The Runners became more famous in Cumbria and Dumfries. The
Cumbrian Runners were described, imported, bred and exhibited by a
succession of enthusiasts such as Donald, Digby, Walton and Smith.
The purists fought hard to champion their pure breed against the
utility brigade, who labelled the pure Runner the 'Penguin
monstrosity'.
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The Bali is a Crested Runner.
It is judged separately from the Runners because the crest is
an important additional criterion in judging.
Trout Runners
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Details
about the book
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The
Indian Runner Duck - A Historical Guide
Hardback book, stitched, printed on good quality
coated paper; 202 pages. Over 100 black&white illustrations and
photographs. Eight page colour section. A collection of documents and
information going back to the 1830s, some not previously available in print.
How
to buy it £16.00 plus p&p
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More
colours of Indian Runners
Find out more
about Runner Ducks at www.runnerduck.net
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