340 • The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 



hens in their second or third year being greatly to be preferred to pullets. Not more than eight 

 hens should be put with a cockerel, and four are generally sufficient for a cock in his second or 

 third year ; indeed, very few Spanish cocks are to be trusted for early chickens after their first or 

 second year, especially if much exhibited, the eggs from hens running with such cocks being 

 generally clear until the season begins to be warm. There are, however, exceptions to this rule ; 

 for I bred five years in succession from the cockerel that was in the pen which won the silver plate 

 at Birmingham, in 1859, for the best pen of Spanish in the exhibition. This bird was the winner 

 of a great number of prizes, being successfully exhibited till over four years old ; he was stated by 

 Mr. Hewitt and other judges to be the best Spanish cockerel ever exhibited up to that time, and I 

 have never seen his equal since. I kept him till seven years old, and his eyesight was perfectly 

 clear to the last ; but, as just observed, in this case there was no fault to find with his services as a 

 stock-bird, in spite of his exhibition triumphs. 



" The chickens, to make large birds, should not as a rule be hatched earlier than the middle of 

 April ; those hatched earlier may win a few prizes at the summer shows, but are worthless and 

 appear stunted later on in the season, when the April hatched birds go past them, and make much 

 finer specimens. 



" Spanish chickens are generally put in warm, close houses, and fed principally on soft food for 

 eight or ten days before they are sent to an exhibition, and generally before being sent off have 

 the small hairs on the white face drawn with a small pair of tweezers. The face, comb, and wattles 

 are then washed with common brov/n soap and slightly warmed soft water, using a very soft 

 sponge. This is all young birds require. Old Spanish for exhibition require to be kept in small 

 yards, and the less sun or wind reaches them the better. When old birds have their free liberty, 

 and are exposed to the sun or to dry cold winds, especially in the spring of the year, the white faces 

 of even the best birds will become streaked with red, and some cocks will turn quite pink on the 

 upper part of the face ; yet if these very birds are penned in small yards where there is little wind 

 or sun, their faces will keep beautifully white. Old birds that have had their free liberty require to 

 be put up in a close and rather warm house for at least three weeks before exhibition, to bleach their 

 faces and soften the white, as well as to clear their faces from any 'yellow' they may happen to 

 have on them. Some exhibitors prefer to put them up in a rather dark place, which certainly will 

 clear the faces sooner ; but it often bleaches the comb and wattles as well, so as to make them look 

 quite sickly ; and by taking a little more time there is no need for it. I may here ask again. What 

 other variety of fowls could bear the above treatment, repeated time after time, without becoming 

 tender >. nay, would any other bear it without becoming diseased .' — yet even this is not all that 

 exhibition Spanish sometimes have to bear. 



" Some of the largest-faced Spanish have their faces very much disfigured with hair-like 

 feathers ; and these are drawn out by tweezers, leaving an arch above the eye near the comb. 

 Sometimes they are drawn out so close up to the comb as to make the bird look quite ridiculous. 

 Though these feathery-faced birds, especially the hens, have often very large faces, there are many 

 objections to them ; for even when trimmed by an expert, the feathers left near the comb are so 

 large as to make the bird look unnatural. Again, every feather drawn from the face leaves a black 

 mark in the hole the feather has been drawn from, and these make the face look very dark, and 

 quite unlike the pure kid-like white face so much admired. Many years ago I tried, by breeding 

 from the naturally clearest-faced birds I could get, to produce Spanish as free as possible from 

 hairs on the face. I found that it could only be done by repeated in-breeding ; but by so breeding 

 I ultimately procured many birds as clean and apparently free from hairs as could be wished for. 

 These neat-faced birds, had, however, always the smallest faces, and consequently were of little use 



