282 THE POLAND, OR POLISH FOWL. 



On the other hand, trust to chance for an occasional white one 

 among the black, and you get a fine bird. 



There is a singular variety of the Polish, which has the en- 

 tire plumage of a uniform slaty-dun colour. Other curious 

 combinations of colour are probably to be found here and there, 

 in the hands of careful breeders. One has been lately raised 

 in which the golden-plumage has been crowned by a large 

 globe-shaped white crest of dense features ; how long this will 

 continue permanent, remains to be tested. There was also a 

 breed, called after Lord Erdley, which obtained a prize at one 

 of the Poultry-shows in the Zoological Gardens. 



The Polish are chiefly suited for keeping in a small way, 

 and in a clean and grassy place. They are certainly not so 

 fit for the yard of the farmer, becoming blinded and miserable 

 with dirt. It is a main point to procure them genuine, as the 

 degenerate things one sees in towns are frequently palmed on 

 the buyer instead of the handsome, deep-bodied, short-legged 

 variety. I have seen a slight sub-variety, having the crest 

 entirely white, but inferior in shape and beauty. Indeed 

 there is no breed of Fowls more disfigured by mongrelism than 

 this. The Polish will, without any cross-breeding, occa- 

 sionally produce white stock that are very pretty, and equally 

 good for laying, &c. It is singular, however, that if you 

 attempt to make a separate breed of them, they become puny 

 and weak. It is better for those who wish for them to depend 

 upon chance : every brood almost of the black producing one 

 White Chick, strong and lively as the rest. 



The Polish Fowls are excellent for the table, the flesh being 

 white, tender, and juicy ; but they are quite unsuitable for 

 being reared in any numbers, or for general purposes : they 

 are so capricious in their growth, frequently remaining "stuck," 

 as the country people call it, for a whole month, without get- 

 ting bigger, and this when about a quarter or half grown, the 

 time of their life when they are most liable to disease. As 



