CU.VP. 111.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 81 



cooks to equal those of the Dorking. The 

 hen is likewise not only a steady sitter 

 when hatching, but so capital a nurse that 

 she commonly brings up a greater proportion 

 of her brood than any other hen whatever ; 

 arising, perhaps, not so much from her su- 

 perior care and tenderness, as from the short- 

 ness of her legs, which prevents her from 

 tiring the chicks by leading them over too 

 great an extent of ground. The hens of this 

 breed are, therefore, often put to hatch the 

 eggs of pheasants, and make admirable foster- 

 mothers. 



There are many varieties of dwarf-breeds : 

 one of purely white plumage, and so small 

 as to be not larger than a middling-sized 

 pigeon ; and another, called the " Turkish- 

 cock," which has been considered as the 

 origin of our Bantam ; though on comparing 

 the description given of it two centuries ago 

 by Aldrovandi, the Italian naturalist, who at 

 the same time described the Bantam, it would 

 be seen that the idea is founded upon an 

 erroneous supposition. We, therefore, look 

 upon the Bantam as a distinctive breed of this 



G 



