Spanish. 117 



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. JFrom the absence of contrast 

 of colour shown in the face, comb, and plumage of the 

 Black Spanish, the AVhite 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 charac- 

 teristics ; black, with metallic lustre, 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 supe- 

 rior 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, Avhich first appears like a 

 small knob under the skin, and increases till it has covered 

 one side of the face. It is considered to be incurable. 



