TYPES, BREEDS, AND VARIETIES OF FOWLS 427 



avowed object in every case is to make the bantam, in shape, color, 

 appurtenances, everything but size, just like the large breed 

 that it resembles. The exact likeness desired is rarely secured 

 , , some students of the types say, never. 



FIG. 452. Black Cochin 

 Bantam cockerel 1 



Usually the head (and 

 appurtenances), wings, 

 and tail of the bantam 

 are larger in proportion 

 than those of the cor- 

 responding ]arge fowls, 

 and the carriage is dif- 

 ferent, particularly in 

 the males, which are 



FIG. 453. Black Co- 

 chin Bantam pullet 1 



the most insolent and pugnacious of birds, often domineering over 

 cocks of the large breeds, and always ready to attack anything. 

 The most common and best-established varieties may be divided 

 into six groups : Common, Game, Rose-Combed, Polish, Asiatic, 

 and Japanese. 



Common bantams are usually the offspring of unions of ordi- 

 nary Game Bantam males with small mongrel hens. They nearly 

 always show something of the Game style, 

 with various colors. A 

 family so produced may 

 continue for some gen- 

 erations, bred for small 

 size, with little attention 

 to color, or a color type 

 may be fixed without try- 

 ing to conform to any 

 popular standard. Thou- 

 sands of such families 

 appear and disappear. 



Game Bantams are principally of two kinds. One, which may be 

 called the common Game Bantam, is a miniature of the Pit Game. 

 This is the most common of the established varieties, the black-red 

 type being most abundant. The Exhibition Game Bantam, modeled 

 after the large Exhibition Game, is a great favorite with fanciers 



1 Photograph from owner, Dr. J. N. MacRae, Gait, Ontario. 



FIG. 454. White Co- 

 chin Bantam pullet 



FIG. 455. White Cochin 

 Bantam cock 



