CRESTED FOWLS. 



168 



GOLDEN-CRESTED FOWL. 



legs bluish. Their color is a dark yellow or 

 rather buff colored ground, with small black 

 spots on the ends of the feathers ; crests stand- 

 ing upright, large, open, and of mixed colors. 

 Some of the cocks are a bright red with black 

 breasts ; wings spangled with reddish gold color. 

 The carriage of the cock bold and lofty. 



They are very scarce, and we have no relia- 

 ble information as to their origin. We found 

 them in the hands of a gate-keeper on the Great 

 Western Turnpike, near Albany, and he could 

 give no account of their origin. He had bred 

 them for a number of years, and by selecting 

 those of the most odd and fanciful colors for 

 propagation, produced a breed unrivaled in 

 beauty, and as strongly marked in character as 

 the Dorking or Black Poland. 



They are good layers ; their eggs are small, 

 but rich in quality ; flesh white, juicy, high-fla- 

 vored, and delicate. When young, like all the 

 family of crested fowls, they do not make good 

 sitters of course do not hatch well. They are 

 a splendid bird, and make a beautiful appear- 

 ance in the poultry-yard, and are greatly ad- 

 mired. They are rather tender in constitution, 

 and it is difficult to raise their chickens, owing, 



probably, to the fact of their having been bred 

 " in-and-in" too long. 



Boswell says, in his work on poultry, there is 

 an ornamental sub-variety known as the Golden 

 Poland, with yellow and black plumage. 



Some travelers assert that the Mexican poul- 

 try are crested ; but these, as well as all the rest 

 on the continent of America, have been intro- 

 duced from another continent. They are equal- 

 ly abundant at the Cape of Good Hope, where 

 their legs are feathered. In Egypt they are 

 very much esteemed on account of the excel- 

 lence of their flesh, and are said to be so com- 

 mon as to be sold for two-pence or three-pence 

 each. 



Boswell says, " The whole breed of crested 

 fowls is much esteemed by the curious, and 

 reared with care." And Buffon says, "There 

 can be little doubt that all the fowls with crests 

 have originated from intercrossing with the Pa- 

 duan or Polish." 



It was from the crested variety of fowls that 

 Mowbray stated he had obtained from five hens 

 in eleven months five hundred and three eggs, 

 weighing, on an average, one ounce and five 

 drachms, exclusive of the shells. 



