16 POLANDERS. 



cock and hen. The head is flat, surmounted by a 

 fleshy protuberance, out of which spring the crown 

 feathers or top, white or black, with the fleshy 

 King David's crown, consisting of four or five 

 spikes. They are not so thickly covered with fea- 

 thers as some other breeds, and still less so with 

 down. Their form is plump and deep, and the legs 

 of the best species not too long. Perhaps the 

 genuine sort has always five claws, and as the Po- 

 land cock will produce occasionally white stock from 

 white English hens, it is not improbable, the simi- 

 larity of form likewise considered, that our famous 

 Dorking breed may have been originally raised from 

 that cross : or supposing such speculations ground- 

 less, the Dorking, differing as it does from the com- 

 mon, may have been an imported breed. 



The Polanders are not only kept as ornamental, 

 but they are one of the most useful varieties ; par- 

 ticularly on account of the abundance of eggs they 

 lay, being least inclined to sit of any other breed, 

 whence they are sometimes called everlasting layers, 

 and it is usual to set their eggs under other hens. 

 They fatten as quickly as any breed, and are in 

 quality similar to the Dorking ; their flesh perhaps 

 more juicy, and of a richer flavour. 



Besides the Polanders, there is a small variety 

 now imported from Holland, called E VERY-DAY- 

 HENS, which are everlasting layers. The eggs of 

 the everlasting layers, generally, are not so large as 

 those of the common hens, nor equally substantial 

 and nutritious. This seems an obvious consequence. 

 From October 25th to the 25th of the following 



