DIFFERENT TYPES OF MINORCAS. 



403 



In reference to one point mentioned in the 

 above notes — the question of a Langshan cross 

 having been used upon the Minorca — we have 



been obUged to come to a different 

 ?'''* conchjbion from Mr. Harwood, except 



Cross. ^\dX the cross was probably employed 



at an earUerdate than he has had in 

 view. Having noticed and reported manifest 

 signs of it on previous occasions, in 1892 we 

 went with a friend carefully through the large 

 Minorca classes at the Palace, and both agreed 

 that there was undeniable evidence of Langshan 

 blood in rather more than half the pens. It 

 was to be seen in stature, in size of shank, in the 

 scaling of the shank, and in many cases there 

 was visible even the peculiar Langshan crimson 

 colour between the scales ; it was also visible in 

 some cases in the character of head and comb. 

 The cross was, in fact, admitted to us by one or 

 two individuals ; others no doubt were ignorant 

 of it, and had only imported it through supposed 

 pure-bred stock ; in one case the cross had been 

 made through the Black Orpington. There is 

 no doubt that the new blood has done good 

 on the whole, improving size, and flesh, and con- 

 stitution, while most of the signs we noticed in 

 1892 have since been bred out again : but at 

 that date the facts were obvious, and there is 

 little doubt that the cross was found advisable 

 owing to evil done previously by injudicious 

 breeding for exaggerated points. 



The first tendency was to breed for exagger- 

 ated combs and wattles. The late Mr. Hewitt 

 once challenged our admiration of a pen as the 



" best he had ever seen," because of 

 Exaggeration the immense size of the comb and 



wattles, the latter measuring 6\ ins. 



long. As indicated earlier in this 

 book, such enormous appendages are a severe 

 tax upon both muscular and nervous energy, 

 causing sterility or weak germs, and making 

 birds unable to stand severe weather, or to lay in 

 winter unless in warm shelter. That large ap- 

 pendages are connected with laying power to 

 some extent, no one doubts ; but that so much 

 development is ruinous in its results, has now 

 been proved by a mass of evidence which has 

 compelled fanciers to dub such birds before 

 breeding them, and it is to be hoped that excess 

 in this particular direction has now received 

 some check. The Standard of the Minorca 

 Club and Poultry Club now describes the comb 

 as " fairly large " ; that of the London Minorca 

 Club as "rather large," and that of the 

 Northern Minorca Club, now known as the 

 British Minorca Club, " size consistent with size 

 of bird." In the case of letters in the poultry 

 press complaining of the failure of the Minorca 



of 

 Points. 



as a winter layer on farms, we have traced the 

 cause to this matter of exaggerated comb, and it 

 is to be desired that the present standards should 

 be adhered to in this respect." It should be re- 

 membered that the large combs many of the old 

 breed undoubtedly possessed, before bred for 

 exhibition at all, were due naturally to the moist 

 and mild climate and rich pastures of Devon, 

 where they were far less injurious ; but that 

 when such combs were bred for, in drier and 

 colder regions, they became another matter 

 entirely. 



The other chief fancy point about this breed 

 is the white ear-lobe, concerning which there 

 has been something like a cleavage of opinion 



between the breeders in the north 

 Size of and south of England. At a very 



Ear-lobes. early period after the fowl began to 



be exhibited, a tendency was shown 

 to enlarge and broaden the ear-lobe, and among 

 judges to lay too much stress upon its size and 

 smoothness, to obtain which Spanish crosses 

 were avowedly employed in some cases, the 

 crossed blood rapidly spreading by means of sales. 

 The useful qualities of the breed were greatly 

 injured for a time by this course ; for either the 

 cross, or the increase of lobe in itself (even that 

 would be quite sufficient to account for it) 

 brought into the birds exhibited signs of white 

 face upon every side ; we are writing of what we 

 actually observed at that time, as a new 

 feature, from which the Minorca had been quite 

 free years before. In itself this white face 

 would have done no particularharm; but although 

 the white under the eye was tolerated for a 

 time, it soon had to be checked ; and then the 

 necessity for choosing birds with the large white 

 lobes, and yet without the frequent white face, 

 narrowed selection so closely, and involved so 

 much in-breeding, that once more followed a 

 decline in constitution and the number of eggs, 

 especially in winter. 



As just indicated above, regarding this point 

 there was undoubtedly some difference of opinion 

 between northern and southern breeders of the 

 Minorca ; so much so that the body originally 

 known as the Northern Minorca Club was 

 mainly formed to embody views more favouring 

 a comparatively large lobe. There was a great 

 deal of discussion in 1900 and the early part 

 of 1901 about the ear-lobe, especially in connec- 

 tion with a bird that had taken high honours, 

 and been objected to by many West of England 

 breeders as having far too large and broad a 

 lobe ; in fact, an almost circular one. But when 

 this was over, and the disputants got down to 

 figures and description, the differences appeared 

 much less than had been supposed. It appeared 



