Brown Leghorns. 425 



It will be seen that the average of the first of these tables is 159 eggs per hen per annum, of 

 the second 153 eggs, and of the third 162 eggs; and as some of the hens would doubtless lay- 

 better than others, the performance of the best must have been very high indeed. • Indeed, we 

 must in justice place the Leghorns amongst the very best layers of any fowls we know; while it is 

 a great advantage that the breed appears to bear moderate confinement very well, not requiring 

 free range as do the Hamburghs, which are the only fowls that can be compared with them in this 

 respect ; and having also the advantage of being thoroughly hardy and easily reared. 



Of the trio of White Leghorns sent over for portraiture to us, one hen unfortunately died just 

 after receipt (appearing to have been injured in some way) ; but the other laid the very next day, 

 and continued to do so. We note this fact as showing the adaptibility to confinement, as the birds 

 had been in a small coop for some fourteen days. The remaining pair were kept some time by a 

 relative, during which time the hen fully maintained her character as a good layer. 



We should note that there is a difference of opinion among American fanciers as to the tail of 

 the White Leghorn cock. One school holds that it should be carried very high over the back, or 

 "squirrel-tailed," as we should call it, whilst others maintain that it should have the free and 

 sweeping carriage of the Spanish fowl. The tail of the cock sent to us was rather inclined to be high, 

 though not so much so as many American specimens of which portraits have been forwarded to 

 us ; but coming to us with a note to the above effect, we have exercised our own individual 

 preference in this matter, and represented him with the tail as we consider it should be carried. 

 In this decision we have the concurrence of many who keep Leghorns in England, and believe 

 that the squirrel-tail will ultimately be abandoned, if for aesthetic reasons alone. 



In breeding White Leghorns, the chief points needing attention will be, to avoid the straw 

 tinge which troubles the breeder of all white fowls, and to keep in perfection the rather long and 

 brilliant yellow leg and pure white ear-lobe which so much set oft" this attractive breed. The cock's 

 tail may be bred either way with no difficulty whatever. 



A variety still more esteemed is the Bi'ozvn Leghorn, which has come into considerable 

 notoriety of late in the United States. It appears to have been bred for some time, but little 

 known; and the description in the published editions of the "American Standard of Excellence" 

 is grossly inaccurate and incomplete, evidently owing to ignorance of the fowl. During the last 

 two seasons, however, the breed has become more and more popular, and in 1872 eggs of it were 

 advertised at the high price of ten dollars per dozen. From an article by Mr. A. M. Halsted on 

 Brown Leghorns, in the New York Poultry Bulletin of May, 1873, we make the following extracts : — 



" This beautiful variety is daily growing in favour and popularity, and bids fair, at no distant 

 day, to excel the White variety in the estimation of amateurs and breeders. 



" Rather larger than the Whites, they are also more hardy ; and being a yellow-skinned fowl, 

 are more pleasing in appearance to the epicurean tastes of our fanciers. As egg-producers they 

 are unrivalled ; pullets frequently commencing to lay at four and a half months old, and continuing 

 without cessation until well into the winter. Among New Hampshire farmers they are quite 

 popular, owing to their strong constitution and their excellent health during the long tedious 

 winters. It is only quite lately that they have created any sensation at our poultry-shows, and 

 only the past year that the numbers shown have made the work of the judges anything more than 

 a short inspection. 



" The earliest knowledge we have of them is from Mr. F. J. Kinney, of Worcester, Mass., who 

 writes : — ' The first I ever owned I bought on board a ship in Boston Harbour, in the spring of 

 1853. This was the first trio I ever saw, and I believe them to have been the first ever brought to 

 S4 



