456 The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 



" They are the size of our English Poland fowls. Their plumage is white and flowing ; they 

 have a full-sized, compact Poland tuft on the head, are muffed, have a good flowing tail, short well- 

 feathered legs, and five toes upon each foot. The comb is merely two little points, and the wattles 

 very small. We have never seen fowls more fully decorated— ^«// tail, abundant furnishing, in 

 hackle almost touching the ground, boots, vulture-hocks, beards, whiskers, and full round Poland 

 crests. Their colour is pure white ; and they are so very beautiful that it is to be hoped amateurs 

 will procure fresh importations before they disappear from among existing kinds." 



Many attempts have been made to procure a fresh stock of Sultans, but with the exception of 

 another imported hen procured by Mr. F. Zurhorst, and which proved of the greatest use in 

 recruiting the strain, none have been successful. This difficulty in obtaining fresh blood makes it 

 very desirable that there should be more breeders of this beautiful variety, since it is a well- 

 ascertained fact that by rearing many birds in different localities, even from the same stock, the 

 evils of in-breeding can be avoided, different soil and feeding appearing to " change the blood " 

 sufficiently for practical purposes. Mr. Loft, from whose birds our plate is drawn, considers them 

 rather a delicate breed ; but most other breeders only attribute this delicacy to chickenhood, and 

 state that when matured they are tolerably hardy. All agree that they eat verj' little, and are good 

 layers, while it must be allowed that no more fascinating fowls exist. They have the quaint little 

 ways and habits of Bantams, with their brisk yet tame disposition, and appear to take to "petting" 

 with a quiet confidence even greater than that of Polish fowls, which in several respects they 

 much resemble. 



In breeding Sultans a chief point is to select /tell crests, that feature being particularly close 

 and round in this breed. The hocked and feathered legs must also be looked after ; and so should 

 the fifth toe, and the muffling, which have of late been somewhat uncertain, owing in our opinion 

 to a cross with the White Polish. Even the prize birds shown in the plate, it will be seen, have 

 little muffling, and are destitute of the fifth toe. The average weight now is about four to five 

 pounds for the cocks, and three and a half pounds for the hens ; and so long as other points are 

 not sacrificed, it is very desirable to increase this by good breeding, feeding, and the use of 

 phosphates in the manner we have already recommended. By such means we feel sure con- 

 siderable gain might be made both in size and hardihood. 



The cock's spurs are peculiarly liable to grow very long when the bird gets old, and so much 

 curved that the point enters the leg and causes much pain. This should be watched against, and if 

 necessary the spur -shortened sufficiently to prevent such consequences. The operation, of course, 

 .gives no pain whatever. We have not seen this in any other breed, except on one occasion, when 

 we met with a very old White Cochin cock suffering from this cause. 



Being desirous of omitting no known breed of poultry from this work, we applied to Mr. Hewitt 

 for names of any others he might have met \vith in the course of his long and vast experience as a 

 judge; but find we have exhausted the list so far as known at present, with the exception of 

 " a pair of singular fowls which Mr. J. Bissell, of Birmingham, claimed when judging at Bristol 

 some eighteen years back. They were," says Mr. Hewitt, " a good deal like Partridge-coloured 

 Cochins, wonderfully fluffed on the hips, and really well-cushioned, but yet had tails as full as 

 Hamburghs. The legs, very heavily feathered, were certainly not two inches from the sole of the 

 foot to the knee when standing. They were quite distinct from Dumpies, though they looked as 

 though sitting down when quite close to you on their walk. These were good ; but as for the 

 so-called ' Hornets,' ' Vandals,' and such other trumped-up things as come out like rockets and fall 

 like the sticks, they are only first crosses or positive mongrels." 



