314 Mr. W. B. Tegctmeier on Modern 



folded on the top of the head in the hens (fig. 8, p. 313). 

 The ear-lobe or lappet in all is white, as in the Indian speci- 

 mens of G. ferruginous, and in the breed known as Spanish 

 (figs. 7 & 8) this whiteness extends over the wliole face. At 

 the earlier poultry shows Spanish were rarely, if ever, seen 

 without a small proportion of red over the eyes, but at the 

 present time such birds would have no chance of winning 

 prizes at a competitive show. The size of the ear-lobe, about 

 half an inch square in the wild original, has been increased to 

 seven inches in depth by four or more in Avidth, and in many 

 old birds its growth would quite obscure the eyeball and 

 interfere with vision unless cut away. 



The colour of the plumage in Spanish is black in both 

 sexes, although purely white chicks are occasionally pro- 

 duced, and sometimes a black bird will more or less com- 

 pletely assume white feathers at the autumnal moult. The 

 chickens, when just hatched, are clothed in black and white 

 down, whereas buff Cochin chickens are entirely buff, and 

 the various breeds approaching the colours of the G.ferru- 

 gineus have three characteristic broad stripes of dark brown 

 down the back, which are in strong contrast to the lighter 

 ground on which they are placed. 



■In all the Mediterranean breeds, which may be taken to 

 include the varieties known as Spanish, Minorcas, Leghorns, 

 Andalusians, &c, the hens are non-sitters. The birds have 

 been selected for prolificacy, and the instinct for incubation 

 so rarely encouraged that it has at last ceased to prevail, and 

 not one hen out of fifty becomes " broody " or manifests any 

 desire to hatch her eggs. Before the advent of poultry shows 

 Spanish fowls were valued as prolific layers of large white 

 eggs, and those from the most prolific layers were selected 

 for the production of chickens. For the purpose of exhi- 

 bition, however, the birds have been selected for fancy points, 

 and prolificacy altogether ignored, the result being that the 

 variety is nearly useless for practical purposes, and has gone 

 out of general favour, except as a purely fancy fowl. 



Minorcas, a breed that has for many years been largely 

 bred in the south-western counties of England, differ from 



