250 



The Dorking Fowls and Poland Fowls. 



Vol. X. 



criterion of purity. The first we ever saw 

 was a pair presented to us by Dr. Wright, 

 of Boston, which he imported. The hen 

 was of an ivory white, and the cock was a 

 lead or hawk-coloured fowl. Since then we 

 have seen some bred by Mr. Allen, of Black 

 Rock, and Mr. Chapman, of New York, 

 which "were of various colours, but gene- 

 rally speckled. Our portraits were sketched 

 by Mr. Rotch, from specimens in his yard, 

 one of which was imported. 



A g-entleman in Boston, who has paid con- 

 siderable attention to the rearing of poultry, 

 says : " So far as my experience has gone, 

 the Dorkings are decidedly the best breed 

 for laying; the eggs come abundantly, and 

 are of the largest size, except when they 

 have been bred 'in-and-in,' too much. I 

 have already seen the effect, and therefore 

 hope to receive a new lot of Dorkings du- 

 ring the summer." 



L. F. Allen says, in the American Agri- 

 culturist, "The Dorking is a fine large bird, 

 weighing, when at maturity, five to eight 

 pounds. They are large bodied, and of bet- 

 ter proportion, according to their size, than 

 any breed I have yet seen ; their bodies being 

 very long, full, and well fleshed in breast 

 and other valuable parts. They are .short- 

 legged, thickly feathered, with fine delicate 

 heads, both double and single combs, and a 

 shining beautiful plumage. The colour of 

 their legs is white, or flesh-coloured, having 

 five instead of four toes, the fifth being ap- 

 parently superfluous, and rising like a spur 

 from the same root as the heel toe in the 

 common varieties. They are most excel- 

 lent layers, good and steady sitters, and kind 

 careful nurses. Their colour is various — 

 from nearly white to almost black, many of 

 them beautifully variegated. They are the 

 capon fowl of England, and are bred in great 

 quantities for the luxurious tables of the 

 wealthy classes in the counties about Lon- 

 don. In America they are a scarce bird. I 

 never saw one till the fall of 1841, when a 

 friend by whom I sent, brought me out half 

 a dozen from England ; and although they 

 were but chickens when they arrived, and 

 from their long confinement on the voyage, 

 miserably poor and full of vermin, they ra- 

 pidly improved, commenced laying during 

 the winter, and have thus far exceeded any 

 other fowls I ever kept, in their good quali- 

 ties. The young have proved very hardy, 

 and easy to rear. The males, of which I 

 imported two, are large strong birds, and the 

 hens are all I could desire of them. Their 

 eggs are of a large size, clear, white, and 

 excellent in quality. For capons, they no 

 doubt exceed all other fowls whatever, often 



weighing, full grown, ten or twelve pounds. 

 This variety I have determined to ketp for 

 my own purposes." 



The Poland Fowls, as they are gene- 

 rally called, were, according to English au- 

 thors, said to be imported from Holland. 

 Their colour is a shining black, with a. 

 white top-knot of feathers on the heads of 

 both cock and hen. The head is flat, and 

 surmounted by a fleshy protuberance, out of 

 which springs the crown of feathers or top- 

 knot, white or black, with the fleshy King 

 David's crown, consisting of four or five 

 spikes. They are not thickly covered with 

 feathers as some other breeds, and still less 

 so with down. The true breed is rather 

 above the middling size; their form is plump 

 and deep, and the legs of the best sorts are 

 not too long, and most have five claws. The 

 top-knot of upright, white feathers, covers 

 so much of the head as almost to blind the 

 eyes; indeed some require clipping, or they 

 would become an easy prey to the hawks. 

 The contrast of this perfectly white crest 

 with the black plumage, is truly beautiful; 

 but the top-knot of the cock differs from his 

 hen, hers being broad and erect feathers, 

 while his are narrow and hanging down in 

 every direction, but they must be perfectly 

 white, and the rest of the plumage perfectly 

 black ; broken colours, it is said by some, 

 show a cross breed. 



Mowbray says, " the Polanders are not 

 only kept as ornamental, but they are of the 

 most useful varieties, particularly on account 

 of the abundance of the eggs they lay, being 

 least inclined to sit of any other breed, 

 whence they are sometimes called everlast- 

 ing layers, and it is usual to set their eggs 

 under other hens. They fatten as quickly 

 as any other breed, and in quality similar 

 to the Dorking; their flesh perhaps more 

 juicy and of a richer flavor." They are a 

 quiet, domestic fowl, neither quarrelsome 

 nor mischievous, and their eggs of good size, 

 fine flavored and thin shells. Mowbray 

 states that his five Poland hens, in eleven 

 months, laid five hundred and three eggs, 

 weighing, on an average, one ounce and 

 five drams, exclusive of the shells, making 

 a total weight of 50^ pounds. 



"The Poland is," says L. F. Allen, in the 

 American Agriculturist, "a shining black 

 in colour, with a beautiful white tutlt on its 

 head, a medium size, a good layer, seldom 

 sitting to hatch; rather tender to rear while 

 a chicken, and more thinly feathered and 

 not so hardy in colds and storms as the com- 

 mon hen. In a great part of the United 

 States it will thrive successfully, and lay as 

 many eggs as any other fowl, perhaps more. 



