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CHAPTER XVI. 



HAMBURGH FOWLS. 



THE SPANGLED HAMBURGH FOWL. 



THIS beautiful variety is distinguished from other members 

 of the same family, by their large top-knots being coloured 

 instead of white, and the black and conspicuous muffle or 

 ruff on the throat and under the beak. There are two kinds, 

 the golden and silver spangled ; the ground of the feathers of 

 the golden spangled being a rich yellow, approaching to an 

 orange-red, with black spots or spangles. The silver spangled 

 differs from the preceding, by the ground of the feathers being 

 a silvery white. The comb, as in other highly-crested Fowls, 

 is quite small : the wattles are also diminutive; legs generally 

 blue ; skin and flesh white ; Eggs a moderate size, but abun- 

 dant; Chickens easily reared. In and about New York, a 

 few years since, this Fowl abounded both the golden and sil- 

 ver varieties. They may weigh, say, three and a half pounds, 

 for the female, and from four and a half to five and a half 

 for the male. The Cock stands some twenty inches high, and 

 the Hen about eighteen inches. 



