226 MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
about the gentle Rhode Island Red. As a rule the small variety 
are the better layers. 
ScotcH DuMPIES 
So called because of its extreme shortness of leg—about two 
inches or so. As the native of a rigorous climate it is very hardy, 
but could lay more eggs with advantage to itsowner. Scotch Greys 
are another Scottish type of fowl, a good egg-layer and a good 
table bird. 
SILKIES 
A freakish-looking fowl] that was originally a native of India 
and China. The name is obviously the outcome of its soft silky 
plumage. It is a very small bird, and either white or black ; the 
comb wattle and skin of the body are bluish-purple, ear-lobes a 
paler shade of blue, and the legs blue-black. It is a picturesque 
bird and lays small tinted eggs. The Silky is used more as a pet 
than as a commercial fowl. 
SPANISH 
The original Spanish fowl, once so popular, has given way more 
or less to its more robust cousin, the Minorca. It is supposed that 
excessive inbreeding destroyed the vitality of the Spanish. 
SUSSEX 
A purely English fowl in several varieties, Light, Red, Brown 
and Speckled. The Sussex is a product of the fattener chiefly, for 
few fowls give him better results. Of late years it has been en- 
couraged as an egg-layer, and there are great possibilities in this 
direction, especially with the Light Sussex. The Sussex is probably 
the best breed for early table chicken production. They make 
excellent sitters and mothers. 
Tue WYANDOTTE 
Perhaps the only fowl that has held its own with a Leghorn as 
a prolific layer is the White Wyandotte. Unfortunately there 
