LAKENVELDERS. 



499 



belongs to the Braekel or Hamburgh family. 

 Its smaller size, its dark legs, and its carriage 

 resemble that class of fowl ; and its small eggs 

 and unsuitableness for close confinement show 

 the same relationship. 



Mr. Percy W. Thorniley, one of the earliest 

 breeders of these birds in England, kindly 

 sends us the following notes: — 



" Since Lakenvelders made their appearance 

 in England in igoi, being exhibited for the 

 first time at Shrewsbury Show in June of 1902, 



birds imported, however, came from Holland, 

 and we in this country follow the Dutch 

 standard of a black saddle hackle in the cocks, 

 whereas the Germans favoured a white hackle, 

 but a striped or ticked hackle not disqualify- 

 ing. The hens when first imported were white, 

 with grey necks and tails, and little else can 

 be said for them, as I have not found any 

 reliable Continental standard for the females, 

 and so hens for the first year or so in this 

 country won simply through the pureness of 



Lakenvelders. 



there has been a marked improvement of the 

 breed ; and all fanciers visiting the Dutch and 

 Belgian shows state that we have better exhi- 

 bition birds in England than any shown 

 abroad. The reason for this is not hard to 

 find. The Lakenvelder Club may not be a 

 very strong society, but it has done one good 

 thing by issuing a standard, and the members 

 all striving to breed up to it. 



" Lakenvelders are by no means a new 

 variety, for they can be traced back to the first 

 half of last century in Germany. Most of the 



the white. Now we strive for a neck-hackle as 

 dense black as possible, and a solid black tail, 

 with the rest of the plumage a pure white. A 

 hen of this type is really a pretty bird. Not 

 one hen in fifty that came over, however, 

 possessed a black tail, and consequently it is 

 really harder to find a good hen than a good 

 cock. 



" The main points to breed for in the cocks 

 are a black neck-hackle, with no grey feathers 

 about the head ; a black saddle-hackle, and 

 a good black tail, nicelv carried, with the 



