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BANTAMS 285 



are still to be seen, but Goldens have retrogressed markedly 

 during the past few years. 



The Japanese Bantams are characterized by extremely 

 short legs, long tails and short backs. The shanks are so 

 diminutive that a really good bird appears to be in a sitting 

 posture, and makes a ludicrous picture as it walks about. 

 The tail is long in both sexes, that of the cock being par- 

 ticularly well developed. ' The back is so short that the 

 head and tail are often in contact. The comb is high, 

 straight and single. There are many colors, the most popu- 

 lar being solid black, pure white and white with black tail 

 and wings. There are also birchen, duckwing, buff, etc. 



The Frizzled Bantams are curious, for the fact that 

 each body feather is curled, the tips pointing forward instead 

 of backward. This is a very old character, commonly found 

 among the fowls of the Orient. In bantams it is found in 

 many colors, the most attractive being the whites. 



The Polish Bantams exactly resemble the large breeds 

 which they represent. Both sexes carry large globular 

 crests, which rise from a bony protuberance on the skull. 

 The feathers of the cock's crest are pointed like the hackle, 

 while in the hen they are rounded. Many also have a 

 spherical mass of feathers on the throat known as the 

 " beard.'* The comb is what is known as the V-comb; that 

 is, it is divided into two small, horn-like projections, which 

 are almost lost in the flowing crest. The best Polish Ban- 

 tams are white throughout. There are also Buff-laced and 

 White-crested Black, but most specimens are much too large. 



Recently very creditable diminutives of the Barred Plym- 

 outh Rock, Partridge Wyandotte, Rhode Island Red, White 

 Leghorn, and perhaps others, have appeared. Some of 

 these birds are of good quality and in most cases require 

 only some further reduction in size to secure recognition as 

 true bantam breeds. 



