246 THE PRACTICAL POULTRY KEEPER. 



YOKOHAMAS, PHCENIX FOWLS. There have been in- 

 troduced from Japan, through German importers, some 

 very peculiar fowls, mostly known in England under 

 the above names. The general character of the bodies 

 and heads, and the colours, resemble that of Game fowls ; 

 Piles and Black-reds being the usual colours. The 

 peculiar point is the immense length of the cock's hackles 

 and streamers. Those called " Phoenix " have been longer 

 in feather than others shown as Yokohamas ; but we believe 

 the whole class to be one race at the bottom, and it is to be 

 hoped that some one name may be adopted. In Germany, 

 for want of stock, many have had to be crossed with 

 common Game fowls ; and even so, tails three and four feet 

 long have been produced ; but sickles nearly seven feet long 

 have been dropped by some of the importations, and at Tokio, 

 in Japan, there are said to be feathers nearly 27 feet in 

 length. The illustration is engraved from a painting made 

 in Germany. 



This breed is of course of purely ornamental value, and 

 much care is required to keep the plumage in good order. 

 Length of feather, if in decent condition, will naturally be 

 the chief point in judging. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



BANTAMS. 



THERE is not the slightest reason for supposing that any of 

 the diminutive fowls known as Bantams are descended from 

 an original wild stock. They are in many cases the exact 

 counterparts of ordinary domestic breeds, carefully dwarfed 

 and perfected by the art of man ; and even where this is not 

 so, the process by which they were produced is occasionally 

 on record. They are, in fact, more than any other class, 



