THE DOKKING FOWL. 201 



plaint, though unfavourable ones would aggravate it; but that 

 it is inherent in the race and constitution of the birds." 



The White Dorkings are hardy and active birds, and are not 

 subject to consumption, or any other disease. 



Mr. Alfred Whitaker, a correspondent of the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle and Farmers' Gazette, an English publication, says, 

 in an article on the Speckled Dorkings, " I am disposed to 

 think that, when you have a real variety, breeding-in is the 

 natural and best mode of procedure, but that, when you cross 

 two thorough breeds, you have no guarantee that the cross 

 breed will be good further than the first result." 



J. J. Nolan, of Dublin, Ireland, a dealer in fancy animals, 

 has, within the past year, put forth a work for the purpose of 

 advertising the articles in which he deals, in which he speaks 

 very highly of the Coloured Dorking, which he styles the 

 " True Dorking." He says, t( Breeders will find it necessary 

 to introduce, occasionally, fresh blood into their stock of Dork- 

 ing; otherwise they become unhealthy, and degenerate into a 

 dwarfish size ; and, if you expect productive Eggs, do not give 

 more than four or five Hens to a Cock." Nolan, in speaking 

 of the Old Sussex or Kent Fowl, says, " It is so nearly allied 

 to the Dorking, as to be almost impossible to separate them : 

 they may be called identical, as, in the same clutch, some of the 

 birds will have five toes, while others will have but four : those 

 with the five toes being denominated by the breeders, Dork- 

 ing ; and they designated those with only four toes, the Old 

 Sussex. Many fanciers prefer the old Sussex to the Dorking, 

 considering the additional toe as rather a deformity, and, when 

 perching, liable to accident. They are of all the various 

 colours of the Dorking : the description of that bird may in 

 every particular be applied to them. They require, as in the 

 Dorking, fresh blood introduced, or they become degenerate." 

 I have given these extracts for the purpose of showing that a 



