116 Spanish. 



that of the Dorking. They very seldom show any inclina- 

 tion to sit, and if they hatch a brood are bad nurses. The 

 chickens are very delicate, and are best hatched at the end 

 of April and during May. They do not feather till almost 

 three-parts grown, and require a steady mother that will 

 keep with them till they are safely feathered, and therefore 

 the eggs should be set under a Dorking hen, because that 

 breed remains longer with the chicks than any other. 

 They almost always have white feathers in the flight of the 

 wings, but these become black. 



"In purchasing Spanish fowls," says an excellent 

 authority, "blue legs, the entire absence of white or 

 coloured feathers in the plumage, and a large white face, 

 with a very large, high comb, which should be erect in the 

 cock, though pendent in the hen, should be insisted on." 

 Legginess is a fault that breeders must be careful to avoid. 



The cockerels show the white face earlier than the 

 pullets, and a blue, shrivelly appearance in the face of the 

 chickens is a better sign of future whiteness than a red 

 fleshiness. Pullets are rarely fully whitefaced till above a 

 year old. " The white face," says an excellent authority, 

 " should always extend well around the eye, and up to the 

 point of junction with the comb, though a line of short 

 black feathers is there frequently seen to intrude its un- 

 desired presence. It is certainly objectionable, and the 

 less of it the better ; but any attempt to remove or disguise 

 this eyesore should be followed by immediate disqualifica- 

 tion." Some exhibitors of Spanish shave the down of the 

 edges of the white-face, in order to make it smooth and 

 larger. This disgraceful practice is not allowed at the 

 Birmingham Show. 



" One test of condition," says Mr. Baily, " more par- 

 ticularly of the pullets, is the state of the comb, which will 

 be red, soft, and developed, just in proportion to the con- 

 dition of the bird. While moulting and they are almost 

 naked during this process the comb entirely shrivels up." 



The White-faced WHITE SPANISH is thought to be merely 

 a sport of the White-faced Black Spanish. But, whatever 

 their origin may have been, they possess every indication of 



