166 BANTAM FOWLS. 



only three or four very indifferent specimens shown at Birmingham, 

 but" these are the very best to be had. I had the parents of these 

 Bantams from Sir J. Seabrigkt himself, and every year I take a prize 

 for them at Birmingham, also at Halifax, and every where they haA T e 

 been shown. I sell them at 3, 3s. the pair, and have had much 

 trouble to secure these for you, so numerous are the applications for 

 them." 



Thus, my dear Colonel, I have succeeded in securing some of Sir 

 John Seabright's best stock of Bantams, through the agency of Mrs. 

 S. H. Hosier Williams, one of the most successful and intelligent 

 breeders of the feathered race in England. Her stock, and that of 

 her friend, Win. Gust Gwynne, M. D., of Sandbach, Cheshire, Eng- 

 land, cannot be excelled by any in the world. The first Brahma 

 Pootra fowls I shipped to England were sent to Mrs. Williams and 

 Dr. Gwynne. Your Scab right Bantams are of the best gold laced 

 Seabrights ever imported, and equal in all respects to the celebrated 

 silver laced imported Seabrights of John Giles, Esq., of Providence. 

 One of my other pairs died on the passage over, and the other pair, 

 just like yours, I sold to George Smith, Esq., of Valley Falls, R. I. 

 Yours is the old pair, and consequently much better to breed from 

 than younger ones, as the progeny will be much more vigorous and 

 valuable. On this account I must charge you $10 more than I do 

 Mr. Smith, and shall claim from you ari extra pair from these truly 

 magnificent birds. 



Yours respectfully, JOHN C. BENNETT. 



Fort des Moines, Iowa. 



Dixon says, in reference to tlie cocks of this breed : 



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

 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 dependent wings nearly touch the ground. He is 

 as upright as the stiffest drilled sergeant, 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 unfor- 

 tunate 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 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." 



A writer in one of the public journals humorously gives the 

 following description : 



The hens are rather smaller in proportion to the cock, than usual 

 among the Bantams, but their plumage is nearly the same ; they are 

 good layers, -steady sitters, and most kind and affectionate mothers. 

 The chicks are dark brown when first hatched, and hardy and easily 

 raised. 



