DOMESTIC POULTB.T. 



maxked. The hens of both shoiJd have the body clearly pen- 

 cilled across with several bars of black, and the hackle in both 

 sexes should be perfectly free from dark marks. The cocks do 

 not exhibit the pendllings, but are white or brown in the 

 golden or silver birds respectively. Their form is compact, and 

 tiieir attitudes graceful and sprightly. In addition to their 

 common appellative, they are also known in different parts of 

 the country, as chitteprats, Creoles, or corals, Bolton bays and 

 grays, and, in some parts of Yorkshire, by the wrong name 

 of Corsican fowls. They are imported in large numbers from 

 HoUand, but those bred in this country are greatly superior 

 in size. 



Of the SpECKiiED, or Spangled Hambttbg, which is a favourite 

 breed with many persons, there are two kinds — the golden- 

 speckled and the silver-speckled. The general colour of the 

 former is golden, or orange-yellow, each feather having a glossy 

 dark brown or black tip, particularly remarkable on the hackles 

 of the cock and the wing-coverts, and also on the darker feathers 

 of the breast. The female is yellow, or orange-brown, the 

 feathers in like manner being margined with black. The sUver- 

 gpeckled variety is distinguished by the ground colour of the 

 plumage being of a silver-white, with perhaps a tinge of straw- 

 yellow, every feather being margined with glossy black. Both 

 of these varieties are extremely beautiful, the hens laying 

 freely. First-rate birds command a high price. 



A third variety is the Black Hambtjkg, the plumage of 

 which is a beautiful black with metallic lustre. It possesses 

 the twofold advantage of being a noble-looking bird and an 

 exceeding good layer. On the whole the Hamburg is a capital 

 fowl, and one which is deservedly highly valued. To the young 

 poultry -keeper, I especially recommend this bird ; it has a good 

 robust constitution, and the purchaser is pretty sure to get his 

 full equivalent of fowl for the price paid. It is true it is an 

 expensive bird, but the purchase once made, it will cost little 

 more, except for food, and the number of eggs it lays will repay 

 the whole. 



One ^f the greatest favourites of the fowl-keepers, especially 

 those who have an eye to profit rather than to amusement, is the 

 Poland Fowl. The golden and silver Polands are the handsomest 

 varieties of this bird. The plumage of the first is gold and brown, 

 and the other black and white. The common black Poland is a 

 less interesting-looking bird, but is quite as useful. Of this kind 

 the most esteemed are those which are without a comb, and 



