40 POULTRY BREEDING 
American prejudice against a black fowl worked harm 
to them, but now they are regaining some of their old 
prestige, especially since a prominent breeder sold sev- 
cral specimens at the largest price, with one exception, 
ever received for a lot of fowls in this country. Single 
Comb Black Minorca cocks weigh 9 and hens 7% pounds. 
The Rose Comb Black Minorca weighs a pound less, as 
they are smaller than the original variety, which seems 
to point to the presence of a Black Hamburg cross in this 
variety. 
Minoreas come in solid black and solid white. The 
white variety has never received much attention in this 
country, probably because of the White Leghorn taking 
its place as a layer, the Leghorn having the advantage of 
yellow skin and legs, while that of the White Minorca 
is white, Americans preferring yellow-skinned fowls. A 
description of Black Minorcas will answer for both Black 
and \White, as the sole difference is in color. The Minorca 
has a very large comb, deeply serrated, upstanding in the 
case of the cock and drooping flat against the side of the 
face in the case of the hen. They have rather long necks, 
stand high on long legs, and have very long, sloping 
backs. Their earlobes are large and pure white. The 
Black A\linorca has a dark skin, not black but rather 
grayish, and dark slate shanks. The \Vhite Minorca has 
white skin and pearly white shanks. 
Black Spanish Fowls.—This is one of our oldest pvre- 
bred races of fowls. Columella, who wrote in the first 
century, mentions a breed of fowls, kept in Spain, which 
had white earlobes and thought more of laying eggs than 
of sitting. The Black Spanish fowl resembles the Minorca 
very much, having the same stately carriage, the same 
large comb and the saime iridescent, greenish black 
