POULTKY. 245 



DOMESTIC P©fJt.TRY. 



" How grateful 'tis to wake 

 While raves the midnight storm, and hear the sound 

 Of busy grinders at the well-tilled rack ; 

 Or flapping wing or crow of chanticleer, 

 Long ere the lingering morn ; or bouncing flails 

 Tliat tell the dawn is near I Pleasant the path 

 M^ By sunny garden wall, when all the fields 



Are cliill and comfortless ; or barn-yard snug. 

 Where flocking birds, of various plume and chirp 

 Discordant, cluster on the leaning stack 

 From whence the thresher draws the rustling sheaves." 



VIEW OF THE DIPORTANCE OP THE SUBJECT.— Poultry-keeping is 

 an amusement in which every body may indulge. The space needed is 

 not great, the cost of food for a few head insignificant, and the luxury 

 of fresh eggs or home-fatted chickens or ducks not to be despised. la 

 a large collection of poultry may be read the geography and progress 

 of the commerce of the world. The peacock represents India; the 

 golden pheasant and a tribe of ducks, China; the turkey, pride of the 

 yard and the table, America ; the black swan, rival of the snowy mon- 

 arch of the lakes, reminds us of Australian discoveries; while Canada 

 and Egypt have each their goose. The large fat white ducks — models 

 of what a duck should be — are English, while the shining green black 

 ones come from Buenos Ay res. And when we turn to the fowl 

 varieties, Spain and Hamburg, Poland and Cochin China, Friesland 

 and Bantam, Java and Negroland, beside Surry, Sussex, Kent, Suffolk, 

 and Lancashire, have each a cock to crow for them. 



VARIETIES OF THE DOMESTIC FOWL.— l. The Malay Fowl, from 

 its size and strength, is admirably adapted for crossing with the Dorking 

 and other native breeds. 2. The Java Fowl, nearly resembling, and. 

 in the opinion of some, identical with, the Malay. 3. The Cochin 

 China breed, equal in most respects, and more prolific than the Malay. 

 4. The Spanish Fowl, perhaps the best breed known for laying. 5. 

 The Polish Fowl, a noble and very beautiful bird, and an excellent 

 layer. 6. The Spangled Varieties, including the whole class of Gold 

 and Silver Spangled, known in different countries as Spangled Ham- 

 burgs, Every-day Dutch, Bolton Bays, Bolton Greys, Chittyprats, 

 Creoles, Corals, etc. 7. The Speckled and White Dorking, the most 

 delicate of all the varieties for the table. 8. The Sussex Fowl, most 

 probably a variety of the Dorking. 9. The Game Fowl, graceful of 

 form and plumage, with undying courage, and excellent for crossing with 

 eommon varieties. 10. The Pheasant Fowl, erroneously said to 

 originate in a cross with the Cock Pheasant. H. The Bantams, more 

 remarkable for their beauty than any other quality. 



The Malay Fowl, called also the Chittagong. — This is a large and heavy 

 fowl ; it is a close and hard-feathered bird, from which circumstance it 



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