THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 69 



least,) but even to mislead inquirers, those who cultivate 

 natural history for its own sake, will not be justified in 

 arriving at hasty conclusions from such information. 



" We are at once struck with surprise at the impu- 

 dence of the Sebright Bantams. Oh ! the consequential 

 little atom ! That such a contemptible minikin as that 

 should have the assurance to parade his insignificant 

 person in the presence of great ladies, the female mem- 

 bers of families of weight and substance, before the 

 Misses, and still worse, the Mistresses Dorking, Cochin- 

 China, and Malay, to presume to show marked attention, 

 nay even, I declare ! to . Well, there is no know- 

 ing to what lengths impudence will go, so long as Ban- 

 tams survive extermination. 



" Here is a little whipper-snapper ! Pretty, certainly, 

 and smart, but shamefully forward in his ways. His 

 coat is of a rich, brownish-yellow ; almost every feather 

 is edged with a border of a darker hue, approaching to 

 black. His neat, slim legs are of a light, dull-lead color; 

 his ample tail is carried well over his back. His de- 

 pendent wings nearly touch the ground. He is as up- 

 right as the stifFest drill serjeant, or more so, for he 

 appears now and then as if he would fall backwards, 

 like a horse that over-rears himself. His full, rose comb 

 and deep-depending wattles are plump and red; but 

 their disproportionate size affords a most unfortunate 

 hold for the beak of his adversary ; but he cares not for 

 that ; a little glory is worth a good deal of pecking and 

 pinching, and it is not a slight punishment, nor a merely 

 occasional infliction of it that will make him give in. 

 The great hens, too, that look down upon him, and over 

 him, think proper to do battle with him on a first intro- 

 duction, though they afterwards find out that they might 

 as well have received him in a more feminine style." 

 Dixon. 



The plumage of the hens is similar to that of the 

 cocks. They are very good layers, most excellent sit- 

 ters, assiduous and affectionate mothers, but most mur- 

 derous step-mothers ; that is, if you attempt to change, 

 or add to, the number of the brood they have hatched 





