WHITE WYANDOTTES CHARACTERISTICS. 63 



weights, in a comparatively short and clean-limbed fowl, indicate a 

 solid, compact flesh former, with little offal. 



Although utility is the leading merit and strongest recommen- 

 dation to all interested in poultry keeping, the Whites are also a 

 clean cut and comely variety. This is associated with their useful- 

 ness; and no breeder speaks of one without coupling it with the 

 other, as, by common consent, they are pronounced a handsome 

 variety of fowls. In the show-room or on the green lawn they are 

 pretty and attractive. White breeds having been comparatively 

 rare until the past decade, the color is always pleasing to the 

 beholder, whether he breeds fowls or not; and the only reason that 

 can be given now for the sudden change of mind in breeding and 

 booming white varieties is, that they have become popular among 

 the people, by reason of fanciers catering to the tastes of the masses. 

 The rich, red comb, like a full blown rose, growing on the head, 

 red face, ear-lobes and pendant wattles, contrasting with a white 

 plumage and yellow legs, is both pleasing and attractive. 



White fowls have figured in ancient history and tradition. 

 Plutarch informs us, that a white cock was always sacrificed to 

 Anubis, the ruler of the upper world, and a saffron or brimstone 

 colored cock to the same god, under the name Hermanubis, as ruler 

 of the under world ; so in the Voluspa, the oldest part of the Edda, 

 the golden-combed cock was the symbol of light chants in Valhalla, 

 and the demoniac black cock in the halls of Hell; and popular 

 legends made a similar distinction between the white, saffron, red 

 and black cocks. 



In that wonderful work by Flaubert, "Salammbo," quoted in 

 Burchard's "Volumen Decretorum," descriptive of the siege of 

 Carthage, the author introduces the white and black cocks as indica- 

 tive of the way in which they were then regarded. Speaking of the 

 city, he says, that " The white cocks, consecrated to the sun, crowed 

 on the terraces; " and in describing the priest Schababarim, says, 

 that " with his face covered with a veil, and waving torches, he had 

 cast a black cock on a fire of Sandarack, before the breast of the 

 sphinx father of the terror." 



The white plumage is much in favor of this variety for market 

 purposes. The color does not make the flesh more tender, succu- 

 lent, or better flavored, but it improves the appearance of the carcass 

 when dressed; the pin feathers, being nearly the color of the flesh, 

 are scarcely^ discernible. They have a nice yellow skin, a color 

 highly prized by cooks and housekeepers and, of course, dealers in 



