393 



CHAPTER XXV. 



SPANISH. 



THIS fowl stands at the head of a group 

 which almost certainly did come to us 

 from the Spanish Peninsula, all the names 

 of the nearest kindred races testifying to the 

 same origin, whilst there is ample evidence that 

 fowls of the same type are still found in that 

 country. But the general type itself is found over 

 a much wider area. The smaller size and yellow 

 legs of the Leghorn family are minor differences, 

 as are various colours of plumage ; but all round 

 the Mediterranean — in Greece, and Asia Minor, 

 and Algiers, and Egypt, as well as in Italy and 

 Spain — are found fowls which, in their large 

 single combs, sprightly carriage, absence of the 

 incubating instinct, and generally more or less 

 white ear-lobes, evidently belong to one great 

 family. 



This wide distribution around the Great Sea 

 of a race with such characteristics, and especially 

 with the peculiarity of not incubating, is remark- 

 able, since such a modification of instinct is 

 necessarily the fruit not only of long domestica- 

 tion, but of methodical selection for eggs as a 

 chief product. Some have traced the loss of the 

 instinct to centuries of artificial incubation in 

 Egypt, and this may have had some influence; 

 but we are disposed to attribute more effect to 

 the prevalence of the Roman Catholic religion, 

 which permits the use of eggs when flesh is for- 

 bidden, round the northern coasts of the Sea, 

 where the type has become most marked. We 

 find some corroboration of this idea in the fact 

 that in other parts of Catholic Europe races of 

 non-sitting layers have been developed, though 

 of a different character in other respects. It is, 

 however, needless to discuss these questions 

 further, and we may proceed to describe in this 

 chapter the oldest representative of this highly 

 useful family of fowls. 



The white-faced black Spanish has been much 

 the longest known of these breeds, and it is 

 perfectly easy to understand how it probably 

 came to us direct from Spain. In the days of 

 Philip the intercourse between this country and 

 Spain was very great, so that Spanish and 

 Portuguese wines almost drove French vintages 

 for a time from the English market. It is 



further to be observed that at a later period, 

 when Spanish were already known and bred in 

 England, to a somewhat rough or cauliflower 



type of face, a second introduc- 



History '^'°" °f birds with smaller and 



of smoother faces came from Holland, 



Spanish. precisely that district of Europe 



which had been most over-run by 

 the Spanish armies under the Duke of Alva. 

 This crossing of strains considerably improved 

 the English birds in face, as well as giving 

 constitution ; and two perceptibly different 

 types of face remained till quite a late period, 

 tlie late Mr. Henry Lane, of Bristol, having 

 bred chiefly the heavier kind, and only com- 

 mencing a year or two before his death to 

 transform it into a smoother character, which he 

 saw to be more and more preferred by the 

 judges. Another change which has taken place 

 is in colour of the legs, which were many years 

 ago desired as light as possible, and occasionally 

 were brought nearly white, being put in poultices 

 before exhibition in order to improve their 

 colour ! Yet another transformation must be 

 recorded in the comb of the cock, which at 

 one time was expected to fall over on one side, 

 while now desired straight and upright. 



The greatest change of all, unfortunately, is 

 recent, and to be seen in a decline of popularity 

 which has no parallel in any other breed. In 

 Tlie Poultry Chronicle of early exhibition days, 

 there were more advertisers of Spanish than of 

 any other variety ; no fowl was so well known ; 

 none had so good a reputation as a prolific 

 layer of large white eggs, especially in and 

 round London. Now the breed has a class to 

 itself at very few shows, is extremely delicate, 

 and we fear it must be confessed, but a poor 

 layer. The change has often been attributed to 

 breeding too much for white face ; but the facts 

 do not warrant such a conclusion. The real 

 reason has been lack of breeders, and in conse- 

 quence a lack of blood, and an amount of 

 in-breeding that has been ruinous. For a time, 

 the city of Bristol had a circle of Spanish 

 fanciers almost impossible to beat, headed and 

 founded by the late Mr Rake ; and we well 



