152 



THE AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



THE SEBEIGHT BANTAM FOWL. 



Sir John Sebright, from whom they derive their 

 name, and to whom we are indebted for this 

 variety, as "being the very prettiest of all do- 

 mestic fowls," and when hereditary breeding has 

 not been too closely persisted in, they are not 

 without utility likewise. 



The English know more, I will venture to 

 say, of the science of breeding, than all the other 

 nations on the globe, and this knowledge is ex- 

 ercised on their domestic animals, from the no- 

 ble race down to a tom-cat, Guinea-pig, or lop- 

 eared rabbit; and from the proud and graceful 

 swan to the no less proud and scarcely less 

 graceful bantam. 



Much mystery has been attached to the proc- 

 ess by which these birds were brought to their 

 present state of perfection. Whether originally 

 bred from selected specimens of the spangled 

 birds in most of which, as in the Spangled Po- 

 lands, certain feathers, those on the wing-cov- 

 erts more especially, are usually found of a laced 

 character or whether we should be content to 

 place them as one among the numerous distinct 

 I >ranches into which this family have been di- 

 vided, remains a matter of discussion, and one 

 too, which at this date is not likely to be satis- 

 factorily determined. 



" The last object," says a writer in the Poultry 

 Chronicle, " Sir John arrived at, was to improve 



the Bantam to a clear erect carriage. To effect 

 this, he, about forty-five years ago, obtained a 

 buff colored Bantam hen at Norwich ; she was 

 very small indeed, with clear slate-colored legs ; 

 on the same journey he purchased a cockerel, 

 rather inclining to red in color, destitute of 

 sickle-feathers, with a hen-like cackle, and also 

 (at Walford) a small hen resembling a Golden 

 Hamburg. After this, by drafting for five or 

 six years, he gained the very penciled feather 

 he so anxiously sought after, by in-and-in breed- 

 ing, for about twenty years. He afterward had 

 a white cockerel from the Zoological Gardens 

 by which he made his silvers." 



One of the most remarkable characteristics 

 of the Sebright cock is the total absence of both 

 hackle and saddle feathers ; he is also perfectly 

 " hen tailed," that is, devoid of sickle-feathers ; 

 the principal feathers being straight and form- 

 ing a square tail, like that of the hen, perfectly 

 upright and not inclining to either side, for this 

 would constitute a very serious objection, though 

 by no means an uncommon occurrence, even in 

 the produce of the best-selected birds. The 

 tail-coverts are somewhat more developed than 

 in other fowls, and great stress is justly laid 

 on these being perfectly laced, since, in the few 

 places are the colors more apt to run. The 

 comb must be double, terminating in a well- 



