298 The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 



obnoxious part has been pretty nearly banished, and care should be taken to keep it so. I also 

 like them with good full beards ; and find as a very general rule that if birds with good full crests 

 and beards are bred from, the progeny are the same. 



"Regarding feather, the more darkly-marked birds should be chosen for the stock-pen, as 

 there is always a tendency to breed a little lighter, and if lightly-marked ones are bred from, the 

 progeny is generally too light to be of any good. The style of marking should be that described 

 above, and should be very heavy and deep in character, but sharp and cleanly cut. It is not at all 

 necessary to breed from two sets, as good birds of both sexes can be bred from one pen ; in fact, I 

 would say again, that I look upon the plan of breeding from two sets — one for cockerels and 

 another for pi'llets — to be altogether wrong in any breed. Care must, of course, be taken to choose 

 birds free from any deformities, such as crooked beaks, or round or crooked backs, &c. Polands 

 are particularly liable to these blemishes, and readily perpetuate them, probably from weakness of 

 constitution or in-breeding. Fine, healthy, moderately perfect birds on both sides will almost 

 always breed well. I prefer to breed a young cock with hens in this as all other varieties. 



" April is a good month to hatch Polands, as they have then all the fine weather before them. 

 At that time, if on dry soil, they are as easy to rear as most chickens, with proper care. They are 

 no use hatched late, as they never then grow their proper exhibition feathers. I may observe that 

 the difference in the feathering of a healthy strong chicken and a weak one is something wonderful. 

 It is, therefore, necessary to keep the chickens in vigorous health throughout to obtain the full 

 development of the crest, for a badly-kept chicken of the very best blood will never grow a good 

 crest. In fact, they will often keep on their chicken-crest for a great length of time after their other 

 plumage has been changed, so that it is most essential to keep them well up to the mark from 

 hatching, and above all things to keep them dry, as above stated. 



" The chicks look very pretty when hatched, and so far z,s the size of the crest goes, their 

 quality can at once be pretty accurately known, for the size of the little projecting fluffy poll differs 

 very much, as the crests will do in the full-grown birds ; that is, if the crest is properly grown and 

 not stunted, as mentioned above. The beard also is well developed, or otherwise. In the Golden 

 the colour when hatched is a smudgy black-and-brown mixture ; in the Silvers a smudgy grey ; and 

 the darkest chicks generally make the best-laced fowls. In the first feather the marking is very 

 indistinct and patchy, and it is only in the second feathering that the quality of the plumage can 

 be ascertained ; the marking then becomes distinct, and the crest also shows a lacing ol black and 

 white or black and brown, as the case may be. 



" All Polish are pretty good layers, and as a rule do not sit." 



Figs. 89, 90, representing feathers of Silver-spangled Polish, and which are carefully drawn 

 from specimens supplied from Mr. Beldon, will serve all necessary purposes for both varieties. The 

 accuracy of marking in really fine specimens is extraordinary, and far superior in effect to the old- 

 fashioned spangling. That a really spangled breed — that is, a breed spangled rather than laced — 

 did at one time exist, is certain, but diligent search for many years has not rewarded us by bringing 

 to light a single specimen. Even the old descriptions quoted in various works state that these 

 spangled birds were laced on the wings ; and hence it appears highly probable that the superior 

 beauty of this marking led to its being increasingly cultivated by fanciers, until the spots or 

 spangles had entirely disappeared, except at the ends of the sickles. None but laced Polish are 

 ever shown at the present day, and only the moons at the ends of the cock's sickles now remain 

 to show the original type of the variety. The spangling in these old Polands was never perfectly 

 round like that of the Lancashire Mooneys, but more resembled the crescentic character of the 

 marking in the Yorkshire Pheasant fowls. 



