THE BLUE DUN FOWL. 311 



The theory that the colour of the Blue Bun results from a 

 combination of white and black (i. e. very dark purple or 

 slate-colour) in the progenitors, as betrayed by the habitual 

 " crying back" of the breed, is confirmed by the fact of the 

 speckled black and white or gray and white Spanish pro- 

 ducing whole-coloured slaty-gray birds, though of a darker 

 hue than the Blue Buns, in which the permanency of the 

 tint appears to be equally uncertain. It will be worth while 

 to keep some of the aberrant Chickens of the Blue Buns, and 

 record what is the result of their propagation inter se. 



I am now much inclined to transfer these birds to the Game 

 Fowls, and altogether abolish the " Blue Buns" as a distinct 

 race, but await the consent- of able amateurs in Poultry. There 

 are Blue Bun families belonging to several breeds : we have 

 them in the Spanish, the Polish, the Game, and the Ham- 

 burghs, and it would be more correct to refer each Blue Bun 

 to its own proper ancestry. It is a nice question, which there 

 is not space to discuss here, how far colour is typical of certain 

 species or sub-species ; in some parts of a bird it never varies 

 at all, but in the general plumage it varies considerably, under 

 limitations ] thus, I never saw or heard of a brown or golden 

 Spanish Fowl. Meanwhile, descriptions of one or two other 

 Blue Buns will aid in attaining a clearer view. The first, a 

 decided Game Fowl, cannot differ much from ours. " You 

 say that your Blue Buns are perhaps the result of accidental 

 crossing, whereas they have been known, both in Yorkshire 

 and Lancanshire, for many years, as a pure, unmixed, and 

 distinct variety. They are also the most courageous and 

 impetuous of the Game Fowls, seldom having been known to 

 lose their first battle. Their plumage is, I think, the most 

 beautiful of any of their specie. The breast is of a rich dark 

 slate-colour, the feathers having a broad margin of a darker 

 hue, the saddle of a deep blood-colour, and the hackles of the 

 neck and tail of a dark red, gradually shading to a beautiful 



