THE BANTAM FOWI.. 



21 



me. Following this, I crossed the product of both hens. The 

 Bantam hen chicks are those from Mr. Adams' hen, and vice 

 versa. For five seasons has this work gone on. The best 

 has been selected each year, and all that could be done to 

 improve size, shape and color has heen done; and even with 

 all this, I can only say that I have them better than ever 

 before, but not as good as I should like to have. 



Both males and females are within the weight limit. 

 Some of the males have clean black breasts; all of them 

 have good combs and color. The females have color and 

 markings almost equal to the large Dark Brahmas. But the 

 Brahma shape is not so good as could be wished for; but 

 when we compare what we now have with what we had to 

 begin with five years ago, the improvement is quite gratify- 

 ing. There was too much hock and Cochin shape to start 

 with, which was hard to contend with, and later importa- 

 tions from England did not help this any, as their standard 

 description would indicate. 



I have found that following advice I gave five years ago 

 about breeding I have improved them wonder- 

 fully, and I feel fully repaid for all the effort 

 put forth in their behalf. So far no double 

 matings have been made. All males and femlales 

 have come from the one line of mating; but 

 as soon as the stock in hand is equal to it I 

 shall begin to build up one line to produce males 

 and another for females, for in this way only 

 shall we be able to have the clear black breasts 

 In the males and the clear color for the females. 



Brahma Bantams are increasing in popu- 

 larity with iharked rapidity, and in consequence 

 many of our leading shows have suffered consid- 

 erahly with some of the classes, for other vari- 

 eties than Games, as one of our leading papers 

 has already stated. 



We have to thank the late Mr. W. F. Bnt- j 

 wisle, of Wakefield, for their first introduction, ~ 

 which I believe was in the year 1885. Other 

 strains have m'ade their appearance, but I be- 

 lieve that he wag the first to exhibit this vari- 

 ety. In manufacturing them, other breeds 

 were introduced and it will be under- 

 stood that this was a necessity. One could 

 not expect to get a cross direct from 

 a large Brahma and, say, a Pekin Bantam, 

 these birds introduced were the Grey Aseel 

 Booted Bantam. The latter I consider was 



matured. The others from the same lot were much larger, 

 coarse in bone and some nearly double in weight. I am not 

 going to tell you what breed of hen I mated with him, but 

 I managed to get eighteen chickens from the pair. The first 

 season I had not a single gray one amongst them, but there 

 were two pullets excellent in shape, good foot fealthers and 

 excellent Brahma heads and combs. In color they were 

 something like very bad colored Light Brahmas with a fair 

 amount of brown in them. I mated these two with the six 

 and one-half pound cock, and the next season every chick 

 hatched was a gdod gray color, but only three showed much 

 sign of penciling. H6wever, with careful selection, always 

 choosing the pullets with the finest bone, I managed to get 

 one fit for exhibition in 1889. I was very proud of her. She 

 weighed thirty-two ounces when in full feather. I won a 

 first prize with her in a mixed class the first time I exhibited 

 her. I then had several successful seasons with this variety, 

 and in 1893 I bred what I believe to be (and it was also the 

 opinion of many of our best judges) the most perfect Dark 



LIGHT AND DARK BRAHMA BANTAMS. 



By Courtesy of Feathered World. 



Among 



and the 



a mistake 



and one thait gives Brahma Bantam breeders considerable 

 trouble to this day. Any breeder of the Booted Bantams will 

 have noticed the great prepotency of this variety, with his 

 legs close together, vulture hocked, and worse still, a space 

 without feathers on the shanks just under the hock. I draw 

 attention to this fact for the guidance of our new fanciers, 

 as traces of this Booted Bantam hlood appear in almost 

 every hatch, although the parents may not show any signs 

 of these defects. It is also a curious thing that those defects 

 are mudi more strongly marked in the cockerels than in the 

 pullets. 



ENGLISH DARK BRAHMA BANTAMS. 



I did not commence to manufacture my strain of Dark 

 Brahmas until 1884. The cockerel that I commenced with 

 was one of a well known large strain. He was hatched late 

 in the season and jeared on foods heavy in flesh formers, 

 but deficient in bone forming material. He was quite a great 

 success and weighed six and one-half pounds when fully 



Brahma Bantam ever exhibited, "Pownall Pride." An ex- 

 cellent portrait of this bird appears in "Bntwisle's Ban- 

 tams," drawn by our popular poultry artist, Mr. Ludlow. I 

 still have this little bird and she is in the best possilale 

 health and weighs under twenty ounces. Although a fat old 

 hen she won 1st Crystal Palace and cup Fairfield in 1893, and 

 a large number of prizes the following two seasons at our 

 leading shows. 



The great difficulty in breeding Dark Brahma Bantams 

 is to get hard feather, so many of the chickens coming soft 

 and satiny, and such quality of feathers seldom carries much 

 penciling. I say seldom, as I have had one or two speci- 

 mens with this satiny surface that carried remarkable pen- 

 ciling, but it is the exception and not the rule, and such 

 birds are not to be relied upon in the breeding pens. In 

 breeding Brahma Bantams it is necessary to mate up sepa- 

 rate pens for cockerels and pullets, and you can not expect 

 first-class pullets, however good in penciling your hens are, 

 irom a cock perfect in his breast and fluH, nor will you get 

 good cockerels from a perfect colored cock and heavily laced 

 hens. The mating is the same required in the larger varie- 

 ties, with the exception that the neck and legs should be 

 shorter in proportion than those accepted in the larger vari- 

 ety. This Is most important, as it gives the Bantam "make- 



