210 THE SPANISH FOWL. 



not been heretofore the custom of recording in print, informa- 

 tion of this nature. Those persons whose trade lies in the 

 buying and selling of living birds, and of which there are seve- 

 ral in London, are not persons capable of writing upon such 

 matters, even had they the inclination to reveal ichat they no 

 doubt consider the secrets of their craft. The Zoological Society, 

 on the other hand, by embracing within its objects the whole 

 animal kingdom, has hitherto found itself so occupied, and its 

 attention so distracted, by the multiplicity of its concerns and 

 the paucity of its working members, that nothing worth men- 

 tioning has been communicated to the public on this interest- 

 ing subject. However desirable, therefore, such an exposition 

 as we at first contemplated would be, it never can be carried 

 into execution, unless by ike powerful and united assistance of 

 those who direct their time and attention almost exclusively to 

 the rearing and management of birds." Animals in Menage- 

 ries, Part II. "Birds," pp. 147, 148. 



A gentleman, who has served in the British army, in whose 

 opinion, as a naturalist and a man of education, we have as 

 great confidence as in that of any mere fowl-dealer, states, " In 

 England there are two varieties of Spanish Fowl, the Black, 

 and the Gray, or Speckled, the latter being of a slaty gray 

 with white legs. In Spain there must be many varieties of 

 everlasting layers, for I have seen a lot abroad that differed 

 widely in appearance, single combs, double combs, and a great 

 variety of colour." 



Mr. Barber says, " Being of opinion that our breed of Fowls 

 required improvement, and having heard from a Spanish friend 

 that they had a very fine breed in the part of Spain he came 

 from, which were chiefly white or speckled, I last year (1846) 

 got him to procure me some, and finding that they were such 

 excellent layers, and that they were so much admired by every 

 one who saw them, I got another importation about a month 

 since, (Nov. 6th, 1847,) amongst which there are three 



