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CHAPTER XXV. 



POLISH FOWLS. 



We believe every writer on poultry, without exception, agrees in the opinion that the name 

 given to the varieties of fowls which are grouped under the general title of Poland or Polish 

 has no possible connection with Poland, and that the birds in question are not specially known 

 there more than in other localities, though crested fowls are extensively spread over all the con- 

 tinent of Europe and Southern Asia. Dr. Horner's suggestion, that the name probably had 

 reference rather to the peculiar poll or crest of these birds, is most probably the correct solution of 

 the problem. We have what is known as a " polled " breed ot cattle at the present day ; and 

 Dr. Horner's view of the matter has at least so far found acceptance that the name of Polands — 

 once very common for these fowls — is now nearly abolished, and Birmingham and most other shows 

 have adopted that of Polish as preferable". If the name of Polled fowls could be substituted, it 

 would perhaps be better still, and the change would involve no practical difficulty whatever, as in 

 the case of Hamburghs ; but as no real inconvenience arises from the present designation, there is 

 no occasion to press even so trifling a change upon reluctant fanciers. 



The most conspicuous characteristic of Polish fowls is of course the crest, but there are also 

 craniological differences which, though not so evident to mere cursory examination, are still more 

 remarkable and distinct — such, in fact, as would many years ago have been considered sufficient 

 to mark distinct species. That they were not so regarded was evidently owing to the uncertainty 

 which then prevailed among comparative anatomists as to the constant character of these cranio- 

 logical features ; Blumenbach affirming* that " very small indications " of them are found in the 

 cocks, and even those slight indications very seldom ; and Pallas inclining to the idea that they were 

 produced by a cross with the Guinea fowl ; whilst even Professor Owen's Osteological Catalogue of 

 the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons (Vol. I., p. 272) describes a Polish skull (No. 1,414) 

 in the collection as "the skull of a variety of the Common Fowl {Galhis donicsticus), having a 

 spherical bony cyst above the orbits. Whether this peculiarity of the skull should properly 

 constitute a variety is uncertain, being apparently the result of disease alone ; the latter opinion is 

 supported by the authority of Pallas." The question is thus here left open as to the nature of 

 the peculiarities referred to, and their true character seems to have been first pointed out by 

 the "Poultry Book" published in 1853 by Messrs. Wingfield and Johnson, where the facts are 

 stated (pp. 165-6), on the authority of the late Dr. Horner, one of the most scientific fanciers 

 who ever lived, in clear and accurate terms. "The chickens of this family," it is there said, "are no 

 sooner hatched than peculiarities may be noticed by which they may be at once distinguished 

 from those of any other fowls, viz., the elevated roof of the nostrils, the round and prominent 

 appearance of the head, and, in the bearded varieties, the peculiar thick-looking neck . . . 

 Much misconception has existed as to the nature and structure of this round appearance on the 



* " De Anomalis," &c Gottingen, 1813. 



SO 



