The Dorking is the perfection of a table bird, combining delicately-flavoured white flesh, which is produced in greatest quant.i.ty in the choicest parts--the breast, merry-thought, and wings--equal distribution of fat, and symmetrical shape. Mr. Baily prefers the Speckled or Grey to the White, as "they are larger, hardier, and fatten more readily, and although it may appear anomalous, it is not less true that white-feathered poultry has a tendency to yellowness in the flesh and fat." Size is an important point in Dorkings. Coloured prize birds weigh from seven to fourteen pounds, and eight months' chickens six or seven pounds. The White Dorking is smaller.

They are not good layers, except when very young, and are bad winter layers. The eggs are large, averaging 2-3/4 ounces, pure white, very much rounded, and nearly equal in size at each end. The hen is an excellent sitter and mother. The chickens are very delicate, requiring more care when young than most breeds, and none show a greater mortality, no more than two-thirds of a brood usually surviving the fourth week of their life. They should not be hatched before March, and must be kept on gravel soil, hard clay, or other equally dry ground, and never on brick, stone, or wooden flooring.

This breed will only thrive on a dry soil. They are fond of a wide range, and cannot be kept within a fence of less than seven feet in height. When allowed unlimited range they appear to grow hardy, and are as easily reared as any other breed if not hatched too early. If kept in confinement they should have fresh turf every day, besides other vegetable food. Dorkings degenerate more than any breed by inter-breeding, and rapidly decrease in size.

Dorkings are peculiarly subject to a chronic inflammation or abscess of the foot, known as "b.u.mble-foot," which probably originated in heavy fowls descending from high perches and walking over sharp stones. The additional toe may have rendered them more liable to this disease. It may now arise from the same cause, and is best prevented by using broad, low perches, and keeping their runs clear of sharp, rough stones, but it also appears to have become hereditary in some birds. There is no cure for it when matured except its removal, and this operation fails oftener than it succeeds; but Mr. Tegetmeier states, that he has in early cases removed the corn-like or wart-like tumours on the ball of the foot with which the disease begins, and cauterised the part with nitrate of silver successfully.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Golden-pencilled and Silver-spangled Hamburgs. Black Spanish]

CHAPTER XV.

SPANISH.

This splendid breed was originally imported from Spain, and is characterised by its peculiar white face, which in the c.o.c.k should extend from the comb downwards, including the entire face, and meet beneath in a white cravat, hidden by the wattles; and in the hen should be equally striking. The plumage is perfectly black, with brilliant metallic l.u.s.tre, reflecting rich green and purple tints. The tail should resemble a sickle in the c.o.c.k, and be square in the hen. The comb should be of a bright red, large, and high, upright in the c.o.c.k, but pendent in the hen; the legs blue, clean, and long, and the bearing proud and gallant.

With care they will thrive in a very small s.p.a.ce, and are perhaps better adapted for town than any other variety. They are tolerably hardy when grown, but suffer much from cold and wet. Their combs and wattles are liable to be injured by severe cold, from which these fowls should be carefully protected. If frost-bitten, the parts should be rubbed with snow or cold water, and the birds must not be taken into a warm room until recovered.

The Spanish are excellent layers, producing five or six eggs weekly from February to August, and two or three weekly from November to February, and also laying earlier than any other breed except the Brahma, the pullets beginning to lay before they are six months old. Although the hens are only of an average size, and but moderate eaters, their eggs are larger than those of any other breed, averaging 3-1/2 ounces, and some weighing 4-1/2 ounces, each. The sh.e.l.ls are very thin and white, and the largest eggs are laid in the spring.

The flesh is excellent, but the body is small compared to that of the Dorking. They very seldom show any inclination to sit, and if they hatch a brood are bad nurses. The chickens are very delicate, and are best hatched at the end of April and during May. They do not feather till almost three-parts grown, and require a steady mother that will keep with them till they are safely feathered, and therefore the eggs should be set under a Dorking hen, because that breed remains longer with the chicks than any other. They almost always have white feathers in the flight of the wings, but these become black.

"In purchasing Spanish fowls," says an excellent authority, "blue legs, the entire absence of white or coloured feathers in the plumage, and a large white face, with a very large, high comb, which should be erect in the c.o.c.k, though pendent in the hen, should be insisted on." Legginess is a fault that breeders must be careful to avoid.

The c.o.c.kerels show the white face earlier than the pullets, and a blue, shrivelly appearance in the face of the chickens is a better sign of future whiteness than a red fleshiness. Pullets are rarely fully white-faced till above a year old. "The white face," says an excellent authority, "should always extend well around the eye, and up to the point of junction with the comb, though a line of short black feathers is there frequently seen to intrude its undesired presence. It is certainly objectionable, and the less of it the better; but any attempt to remove or disguise this eyesore should be followed by immediate disqualification." Some exhibitors of Spanish shave the down of the edges of the white-face, in order to make it smooth and larger. This disgraceful practice is not allowed at the Birmingham Show.

"One test of condition," says Mr. Baily, "more particularly of the pullets, is the state of the comb, which will be red, soft, and developed, just in proportion to the condition of the bird. While moulting--and they are almost naked during this process--the comb entirely shrivels up."

The White-faced WHITE SPANISH is thought to be merely a sport of the White-faced Black Spanish. But, whatever their origin may have been, they possess every indication of common blood with their Black relatives, and their claims to appear by their side in the exhibition room are as good as those of the White Cochins and the White Polish. The plumage is uniformly white, but in all other respects they resemble the Black breed. From the absence of contrast of colour shown in the face, comb, and plumage of the Black Spanish, the White variety is far less striking in appearance.

The ANDALUSIAN are so called from having been brought from the Spanish province of Andalusia. This breed is of a bluish grey, sometimes slightly laced with a darker shade, but having the neck hackles and tail feathers of a glossy black, with red face and white ears. The chickens are very hardy, and feather well, and earlier than the Spanish.

The MINORCA is so called from having been imported from that island, and is a larger and more compactly-formed breed, resembling the Spanish in its general characteristics; black, with metallic l.u.s.tre, but with red face, and having only the ear-lobes white; showing even a larger comb, and with shorter legs. They are better as table fowls than the Spanish, but the Andalusian are superior to either. The Minorca is the best layer of all the Spanish breeds, its chickens are tolerably hardy, and it is altogether far superior to the White-faced breed.

ANCONA is a provincial term applied to black and white mottled, or "cuckoo," which on all other points resemble Minorcas, but are smaller.

The "Black Rot," to which Spanish fowls are subject, is a blackening of the comb, swelling of the legs and feet, and general wasting of the system; and can only be cured in the earlier stages by frequent purgings with castor oil, combined with warm nourishing food, and strong ale, or other stimulants, given freely. They are also subject to a peculiar kind of swelled face, which first appears like a small k.n.o.b under the skin, and increases till it has covered one side of the face. It is considered to be incurable.

CHAPTER XVI.

HAMBURGS.

This breed is medium-sized, and should have a brilliant red, finely-serrated rose-comb, terminating in a spike at the back, taper blue legs, ample tail, exact markings, a well-developed white deaf-ear, and a quick, spirited bearing. They are cla.s.sed in three varieties, the Pencilled, Spangled, and Black varieties, with the sub-varieties of Gold and Silver in the two former.

The Pencilled Hamburg is of two ground colours, gold and silver, that is, of a brown yellow or white, and very minutely marked. The hens of both colours should have the body clearly pencilled across with several bars of black. The hackle in both s.e.xes should be free from dark marks.

In the Golden-pencilled variety the c.o.c.k should be of one uniform red all over his body without any pencilling whatever, and his tail copper colour; but many first-cla.s.s birds have pure black tails and the sickle feathers should be shaded with a rich bronze or copper. In the Silver-pencilled variety the c.o.c.k is often nearly white, with yellowish wing-coverts, and a brown or chestnut patch on the flight feathers of his wing. The tail should be black and the sickle feathers tinged with a reddish white.

The Speckled or Spangled Hamburg, also called Pheasant Fowl, from the false idea that the pheasant was one of its parents, is of two kinds, the Golden-speckled and Silver-speckled, according to their ground colour, the marking taking the form of a spot upon each feather. They have very full double and firmly fixed combs, the point at the end turning upwards, a dark rim round the eyes, blue legs, and mixed hackle.

They were also called Moss Fowls, and Mooneys, the latter probably because the end of every feather should have a black rim on the yellow or white ground. In the Golden-spangled some judges prefer c.o.c.ks with a pure black breast, but others desire them spangled.

"One chief cause of discussion," says Miss Watts, "relating to the Hamburg, regarded the markings on the c.o.c.ks. The Yorkshire breed, which had been a favourite in that county for many years, produced henny c.o.c.ks--_i.e._ c.o.c.ks with plumage resembling that of a hen. The feathers of the hackle were not narrow and elongated like those of c.o.c.ks generally, but were short and rounded like those of the hen; the saddle-feathers were the same, and the tail, instead of being graced with fine flowing sickle feathers, was merely square like that of a hen.

The Lancashire Mooneys, on the contrary, produce c.o.c.ks with as fine flowing plumage as need grace any chanticleer in the land, and tails with sickle-feathers twenty-two inches long, fine flowing saddle-feathers, and abundant hackle. The hen-tail c.o.c.ks had the markings, as well as the form, of the hen; the long feathers of the others cannot, from their form, have these markings. On this question party-spirit ran high: York and Lancaster, Cavalier and Roundhead, were small discussions compared with it; but the hen-c.o.c.ks were beaten, and we now seldom hear of them. A mixture of the two breeds has been tried; but by it valuable qualities and purity of race have been sacrificed."

The Black Hamburg is of a beautiful black with a metallic l.u.s.tre, and is a n.o.ble-looking bird, the c.o.c.ks often weighing seven pounds. There is little doubt that it was produced by crossing with the Spanish, which blood shows itself in the white face, which is often half apparent, and in the darker legs. But it is well established as a distinct variety, and good birds breed true to colour and points. The c.o.c.ks' combs are larger, and the hens' legs shorter, than the other varieties.

Bolton Bays and Greys, Chitteprats, Turkish, and Creoles or Corals, Pencilled Dutch fowls, and Dutch every-day layers, are but incorrect names for the Hamburgs, with which they are identical.

The Hamburgs do not attain to their full beauty until three years old.

"As a general rule," says Mr. Baily, "no true bred Hamburg fowl has top-knot, single comb, white legs, any approach to feather on the legs, white tail, or spotted hackle." The white ear-lobe being so characteristic a feature in all the Hamburgs, becomes most important in judging their merits. Weight is not considered, but still the Pencilled c.o.c.k should not weigh less than four and a half pounds, nor the hen than three and a half; and the Spangled c.o.c.k five pounds and the hen four.

The Hamburgs are most prolific layers naturally, without over-stimulating feeding, surpa.s.sing all others in the number of their eggs, and deserve their popular name of "everlasting layers." Their eggs are white, and do not weigh more than 1-1/2 ounce to 1-3/4 ounce each; and the hens are known to average 240 eggs yearly. Not being large eaters, they are very profitable fowls to keep. The eggs of the Golden-spangled are the largest, and it is the hardiest variety, but the Pencilled lay more. The Black variety produces large eggs, and lays a greater number than any known breed.

They very seldom show any desire to sit except when they have a free woodland range, for even if free it must be wild to induce any desire to perpetuate the species, and they never sit if confined to a yard. The chickens should not be hatched earlier than May, but in the South of England they will do very well if hatched by a Cochin-China hen at the beginning of March. They are small birds for table, but of excellent quality.

Hamburgs do not bear confinement well, and will not thrive without a good run; a gra.s.s field is the best. Being small and light, even a ten-feet fence will not keep them within a small run. They may indeed be kept in a shed, but the number must be very few in proportion to its size, and they must be kept dry and scrupulously clean. They are excellent guards in the country, for if disturbed in their roosting-place they will make a great noise. The breed has improved in this country, and British bred fowls are much stronger than the imported birds.

[Ill.u.s.tration: White-crested Black. Golden and Silver-spangled.

POLISH.]

CHAPTER XVII.

POLANDS.

This breed might with good reason be divided into more families, but it is usual to rank as Polands all fowls with their chief distinguishing characteristic, a full, large, round, compact tuft on the head. The breed "is quite unknown in Poland, and takes its name," says Mr.

d.i.c.kson, "from some resemblance having been fancied between its tufted crest and the square-spreading crown of the feathered caps worn by the Polish soldiers." It is much esteemed in Egypt, and equally abundant at the Cape of Good Hope, where their legs are feathered. Some travellers a.s.sert that the Mexican poultry are crested, and that what are called Poland fowls are natives of either Mexico or South America; but others believe that they are natives of the East, and that they, as well as all the other fowls on the Continent of America, have been introduced from the Old World.

The Golden-spangled and Silver-spangled are the most beautiful varieties, the first being of a gold colour and the second white, both spangled with black. The more uniform the colour of the tuft is with that of the bird, the higher it is valued.

The Black Poland is of a deep velvety black; has a large, white, round tuft, and should not have a comb, but many have a little comb in the form of two small points before the tuft. The tuft to be perfect should be entirely white, but it is rare to meet with one without a slight bordering of black, or partly black, feathers round the front.

There are also Yellow, laced with white, Buff or Chamois, spangled with white, Blue, Grey, Black, and White mottled. All the sub-varieties should be of medium size, neat compact form, plump, full-breasted, and have lead-coloured legs and ample tails.

The top-knot of the c.o.c.k should be composed of straight feathers, growing from the centre of the crown, and falling over outside, but not so much as to intercept the sight, and form a circular crest. That of the hen should be formed of feathers growing out and turning in at the extremity, so as to resemble a cauliflower, and it should be even, firm, and as nearly round as possible. Large, uneven top-knots composed of loose feathers do not equal smaller but firm and well-shaped crests. The white ear-lobe is essential in all the varieties.

"Beards" in Polands were formerly not admired. Among the early birds brought from the continent, not one in a hundred was bearded, and those that were so were often rejected, and it was a question of dispute whether the pure bird should have them or not. Bearded birds at shows were the exceptions, but an unbearded pen of Polands is now seldom or ever seen.

There was formerly a breed of White, with black top-knots, but that is lost, although it seems to have been not only the most ornamental, but the largest and most valuable of all the Polish varieties. The last specimen known was seen by Mr. Brent at St. Omer in 1854, and it is possible that the breed may still exist in France or Ireland.