Chap. VII. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE BREEDS. 



261 



vary considerably in character ; for instance, Mr. Ballance states 87 

 that his Malay " pullets of last year laid eggs equal in size to those 

 of any duck, and other Malay hens, two or three years old, laid 

 eggs very little larger than a good sized Bantam's egg. Some wero 

 as white as a Spanish hen's egg, and others varied from a light cream- 

 colour to a deep rich buff, or even to a brown." The shape also 

 varies, the two ends being much more equally rounded in Cochins 

 than in Games or Polish. Spanish fowls lay smoother eggs than 

 Cochins, of which the eggs are generally granulated. The shell in 

 this latter breed, and more especially in Malays is apt to be thicker 

 than in Games or Spanish ; but the Minorcas, a sub-breed of Spanish, 

 are said to lay harder eggs than true Spanish. 38 Tbe colour di tiers 

 considerably, — the Cochins laying buff-coloured eggs ; the Malays a 

 paler variable buff; and Games a still paler buff. It would appear 

 that darker-coloured eggs characterise the breeds which have lately 

 come from the East, or are still closely allied to those now living 

 there. The colour of the yolk, according to Ferguson, as well as of 

 the shell, differs slightly in the sub-breeds of the Game. I am 

 also informed by Mr. Brent that dark partridge-coloured Cochin 

 hens lay darker coloured eggs than the other Cochin sub-breeds. 

 The flavour and richness of the egg certainly differ in different 

 breeds. The productiveness of the several breeds is very different. 

 Spanish, Polish, and Hamburgh hens have lost the incubating 

 instinct. 



Chickens. — As the young of almost all gallinaceous birds, even of 

 the black curassow and black grouse, whilst covered with down, are 

 longitudinally striped on the back, — of which character, when adult, 

 neither sex retains a trace, — it might have been expected that the 

 chickens of all our domestic fowls would have been similarly 

 striped. 39 This could, however, hardly have been expected, when 

 the adult plumage in both sexes has undergone so great a change 

 as to be wholly white or black. In white fowls of various breeds the 

 chickens are uniformly yellowish white, passing in the black-boned 

 Silk fowl into bright canary-yellow. This is also generally the 

 case with the chickens of white Cochins, but I hear from Mr. Zurhost 

 that they are sometimes of a buff or oak colour, and that all those 

 of this latter colour, which were watched, turned out males. The 

 chickens of buff Cochins are of a golden-yellow, easily distinguishable 

 from the paler tint of the white Cochins, and are often longitudinally 



37 See 'Poultry Book,' by Mr. 

 Tegetmeier, 1866, pp. 81 and 78. 



38 'The Cottage Gardener,' Oct. 

 1855, p. 13. On the thinness of the 

 eggs of Game-fowls, see Mowbray on 

 Poultry, 7th edit., p. 13. 



39 My information, which is very 

 far from perfect, on chickens in the 

 down, is derived chiefly from Mr. 



Dixon's ' Ornamental and Domestic 

 Poultry.' Mr. B. P. Brent has also 

 communicated to me many facts by 

 letter, as has Mr. Tegetmeier. I will 

 in each case mark my authority by 

 the name within brackets. For the 

 chickens of white Silk-fowls, see 

 Tegetmeier's 'Poultry Book,' 1866, p. 

 221. 



