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THE AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



SPANISH FOWL, 



THE SPANISH FOWL. 



Of this beautiful and noble race of fowls un- 

 til recently few specimens have found their way 

 into this country. They possess very striking 

 characteristics in their large single comb and 

 white face; and however these features have 

 undergone changes, either from breeding " in- 

 and-in," or the admixture of other families, we 

 have usually sufficient evidence of their origin, 

 even when disfigured by illegitimate alliances. 

 At the period of Mowbray's writing it appears 

 to have been scarcely known. 



Dixon, in his "Ornamental Poultry," re- 

 marks : " The Spanish breed is, in all probabil- 

 ity, of ancient and remote origin, and does re- 

 ally seem to have reached us from the country 

 after which it is named." 



The name Spanish is said by some writers to 

 be a misnomer, as they were originally brought 

 by the Spaniards from the West Indies, and al- 

 though subsequently propagated in Spain, it is 

 now very difficult to procure good specimens 

 from that country. They were taken, in con- 

 siderable numbers, from Spain into Holland, 



where they have for many years been bred with 

 great care ; and it is from that quarter our best 

 specimens come. 



The introduction of the Spanish fowl, there- 

 fore, into Holland and the Low Countries may 

 be reasonably assigned to the period when the 

 latter territory belonged to Spain, and constant 

 intercourse was maintained with the peninsula 

 by the commercial habits of the Dutch nation. 



The names by which many of our domestic 

 poultry are at present known to us, so far as 

 they are indicative of their native country, are 

 frequently matters of discussion. That Poland 

 gave us the tufted bird, so remarkable an orna- 

 ment to our yards, or that the Hamburgs were 

 originally of German extraction, the evidence 

 that we now possess has not yet certified ; but 

 with Spanish the case is different ; though pos- 

 sibly the wider term of the " Mediterranean 

 fowl" might be still more applicable. 



From Gibraltar to Syria north and south 

 the countries that border on that vast inland sea, 

 with its numerous islands, abound with fowls 

 that bear such resemblance to the Spanish race, 

 in the striking points we have alluded to, as may 



