DOMESTIC FOWL. 



19 



THE SPANISH 



bird, in every particular. Although called Spanish, it is rather a 

 misnomer. They were originally brought by the Spaniards from 

 the West Indies ; were, for some time, successfully propagated in 

 Spain, but it is now most difficult to procure good specimens from 

 that country. I have had my fowl, as above stated, from Holland, 

 where they breed all the different sorts of poultry, perfect and 

 distinct, but have no doubt of their having been brought there 

 from Spain. When I first introduced them into the show-yard of 

 the Koyal Dublin Society, their exhibition of poultry consisted of 

 a very few baskets of hens, tied by the legs, to the manifest tor- 

 ture of the spectators, as well as the birds, since which their ex- 

 hibition has become most extensive and creditable, and worthy 

 the consideration of royalty. At the Dublin show, for 1848, there 

 were exhibited more than two hundred lots of the different sorts 



