White-crested Black Polish. 403 



WHITE-CRESTED BLACK POLISH.— This is one of the prettiest varieties of poultry 

 we know, the contrast in colour between the crest and rest of the plumage being at once so striking 

 and harmonious, the shape so compact and neat, and the disposition so naturally tame and 

 confiding, as indeed is that of the whole Polish family. Mr. Hewitt was formerly one of the most 

 successful breeders and exhibitors of this variety, and has kindly furnished the following notes upon 

 its qualities, breeding, and management : — 



" Among the great variety of breeds of domesticated poultry, none perhaps are so universally 

 admired as the Black Polands. The striking contrast of the white crest, and, in highly-bred 

 specimens, the beautiful iridescent character of the general plumage, never fails to attract the 

 attention and to elicit the admiration of even such individuals as do not make poultry-culture a 

 matter of either amusement or profit. These fowls certainly were one of my most favourite breeds 

 for a number of years, and few persons who have given them a fair trial report of them otherwise 

 than most favourably. It must, however, be constantly borne in mind, that to be fully successful 

 Black Polands must enjoy a very dry run, for if kept on a wet cold subsoil, where the rain lies long 

 on the surface, they soon become unhealthy, and are perhaps more difficult to cure when disease 

 has once overtaken them than any other breed of fowls with which I am acquainted. A gravelly, 

 sandy, or chalky soil therefore suits them admirably. Though not large, they are a good-flavoured 

 plump fowl on the table ; and as to the production of eggs, few, if any, excel them. That hens 

 of this description vary greatly as to their productiveness I at once admit ; but no doubt this 

 irregularity might be readily equalised, if eggs from the best-laying hens were selected for the 

 production of future brood-stock, rather than the plan, now all but universal, of hatching the eggs 

 of the largest-crested hens, altogether irrespective of their laying properties. The greatest number 

 of eggs I myself ever knew laid by a single fowl in one season occurred in a hen of this breed ; 

 when, however, they lay so uninterruptedly they are prone to become so weakened (being non- 

 sitters, and having consequently no rest) that consumption ensues, which in such a case rarely 

 admits of remedy. I may add, the eggs are of a very palatable quality. 



" As one of the most important traits characteristic of this unique variety is a fully-developed 

 globular crest, without any irregularity, perhaps it may be well to name what long experience 

 proved to me, viz., that a cock possessing this feature, even if mated to a hen with a comparatively 

 poor crest, produces chickens with better top-knots than can be obtained where the hen is all that 

 could be desired, but the brood-cock comparatively inferior in crest. Of course where both parents 

 are ample in crest a favourable result is still more certainly ensured, as this kind of fowls usually 

 breed with great regularity when the parent birds are well chosen ; but the selection of the cock is 

 decidedly the most important feature. 



" In no other breed of fowls is trimming more universally practised than in Black Polands ; 

 in fact, in the largest entries, it is a rarity to find even a single pen in which the crests have not 

 been assiduously prepared for exhibition. A foolish notion exists in the minds of some amateurs 

 that the crests of Black Polands should be ivholly white ; certain it is no instance ever yet occurred 

 of its being naturally so, though to the superficial visitor at some of our poultry-shows they appear 

 plentiful as blackberries, trimming more or less having been resorted to by the exhibitors, incurring 

 in many cases immediate disqualification (or their pens being simply passed over), when if such 

 deception had not been attempted prize-taking would as certainly have resulted. It is a matter 

 worthy of remark that, although in case of the violent removal of any portion of the fo^-feathers 

 which are black (particularly so if at the time immature), the renewed plumage will frequently be 

 white ; on the contrary, strange as it may seem, however often the black feathers that may be in 

 the crests are plucked out, even if taken designedly at half-growth again and again, such crest- 



