350 The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 



then faces which scarcely need a hair or feather to be pulled over the principal surface, thoujh 

 capable of enlargement in size under such manipulation. Such birds are now exceedingly rare, 

 trimming having taught breeders to rely upon the tweezers for what they used to obtain — with what 

 difficulty they only know— by care and judgment in mating their stock. 



We may also add that the ear-lobes shown of late have been by no means equal to those seen 

 formerly. We have frequently seen them in former years all that could be desired, being perfectly 

 open, flat, and free from folds ; but lately we have scarcely been able to find a bird anywhere 

 whose lobe was free from folds, wrinkles, or duplicature. The fault has arisen from a too great 

 regard to mere size of face and lobe, apart from shape and quality ; and hence may also be held 

 to have some connection with the general adoption of trimming already referred to. 



Mr. Teebay has already alluded to the difference in " quality" of faces. Various yards have 

 very marked peculiarities in this point, and the celebrated strain of the late Mr. Lane, of Bristol, 

 which at one period won more prizes than any other, was of the rough or "cauliflower" type of face, 

 though the surface of white was extraordinarily large. There can be no doubt, however, of the 

 superior beauty of the soft and smooth faces, and Mr. Lane himself, for a year or two before his death, 

 had been transforming his old strain to this character by judicious crosses, and had to a considerable 

 extent succeeded when death dispersed his yard. There appears little doubt that all the older 

 English strains were of the rough-faced type, and that we owe the smooth faces to subsequent 

 importation from the Dutch fanciers. These Dutch birds, however, had faces much smaller than 

 the English, singularly corroborating Mr. Teebay's experience of the effect in diminishing face of 

 in-breeding to get smoothness ; and very much careful breeding was required before the quality of 

 the one was to some extent engrafted upon the size of the other. This was the great secret of Mr. 

 Rake's success, his sound judgment in crossing enabling him to show smooth faces of greater size, 

 or large faces of finer quality (whichever view be preferred) than all his competitors ; and though 

 a final defeat caused him ultimately to retire, we believe that in point of fact this defeat was really 

 inflicted by his own stock. 



In breeding Spanish, and especially in crossing different strains, the most satisfactory results 

 will usually be found to follow by putting the smoother-faced cockerels (even if the face be small, 

 to the large and rough-faced hens, than by adopting the contrary plan. Perhaps no breed, however, 

 bears crossing so ill as the Spanish; the result of crossing even first-rate strains, if very alien 

 blood, being, as we have elsewhere seen, often the apparently unaccountable but most disheartening 

 deterioration of face in every point. Recrossing back to one of the parent strains will, however, 

 generally remedy this in the second generation ; but still it is very desirable, by preserving distinct 

 families and noting pedigrees, to avoid, as far as possible, crossing at all from an entirely 

 alien yard. 



It is very difficult to foresee the ultimate quality of the young chickens. The very best 

 are often the longest in showing their good points ; and indeed, as a general rule, those which 

 show very white in face at an early age rarely turn out first-rate specimens. One of the most 

 experienced breeders we ever knew had on one occasion actually given o'rders in October for a 

 cockerel to be " potted ;" but his " man " thought difterently, and kept him on a little longer, chiefly 

 however on account of an uncommonly beautiful comb ; and this very bird during the next two 

 months picked up " hand over hand," making ultimately the champion cockerel of his year. Birds 

 which show a plain blush or red as chickens, however, may be discarded without hesitation ; and in 

 general those which present a dark, dirty blue appearance when young, with a very slow but steady 

 change to white as they grow older, make the best specimens. Very promising chickens will 

 however, often show the fatal red over the eye as time draws on ; and only the most careful 



