76 FARMING FOR LADIES. [chap. hi. 



sons to have been originally brought either from 

 Persia, or some other region of the East, and 

 have been described as such by foreign na- 

 turalists, though called by the names of 

 the " Paduan" and the " Jago Cock ;" but 

 from whatever race they may have descended, 

 they are certainly a very handsome and esti- 

 mable species ; the more valued as producing 

 such numbers of eggs as to be called " eve?-- 

 lasting layers" Their plumage is nearly all 

 of shining black, with a few tail-feathers of 

 different colours ; their head surmounted by 

 a tufted crest, and the comb so large, par- 

 ticularly in the hen, as sometimes to hang 

 over on one side. 



It is, indeed, not improbable that the far- 

 famed '■'■ Shack-bach " — introduced some years 

 ago by the late Duke of Leeds, which ob- 

 tained such high repute as to be considered 

 superior in every quality to any other sort 

 of fowl in England, and by many persons 

 looked upon as a good substitute for the 

 turkey, — was bred from a cross with either 

 the Polish or the Spanish, and some other 

 kind which is not known. It is yet not a 

 little extraordinary that, notwithstanding their 



