CHAWEft X. 



The English Breeds. 



DOKKINGS. 



Columella, who wrote upon agricultural topics from 10 to 40 A. D., described 

 a fowl which bore many of the characteristics of the Dorking, as being tbfi 

 common fowl of the Eomans of that .day. From this fact, and from the further 

 resuon that the Dorking ranks among the oldest of the English breeds of fowls, 

 it is qnite genarally supposed that it was introduced by Ceesar. 



The probability is that the breed has be'en greatly modified and improyed in 

 more recent times, however, and that it may properly be considered a composite 

 breed, perfected during a long series of years, by breeders whose aim has been 

 to produce a first-class table fowl by breeding from any bird whose size or form 

 promised an improvement on the original stock. 



As now known the Dorkings are divided into several sub-varieties, the princi- 

 pal of which are the Gray, or Colored ; the Silver-Gray, and the "White. Of 

 these the Oray Dorkings are the largest, the coc^s weighing ten to twelve or 

 even fourteen pounds ; the hens eight and a half pounds or over. "The body 

 in both sexes should be large, deep and plump, and in the cock the breast should 

 be so prominent as to form a right angle with the lower line of the body, when 

 viewed from the side ; the back and breast should be very broad ; the legs 

 should be white and free from feathers, and spurred only on the inside— ^not, as 

 is sometimes the case, on the outside ; the feet must be five-toed, and the extra 

 toe should be well separated from -the others, and turned upward. The head 

 should be proportionate to the size of the bird ; the wattles well developed. 

 Th? comb in the Dorkings varies considerably; it may be either single or rose. 

 Single-combed cocks should have the comb erect and free from side sprigs ; but 

 there is a great tendency in many good birds to have the combs lopping over to 

 one side. In the rose-combed birds the comb should be square in front, and 

 ending in a raised peak behind, without any depression in the centre. The 

 appearance of the Dorking cock is greatly improved by his possessing a large , 

 well formed tail, which should not droop, but be carried well over the back. 

 In the classes for Colored Dorkings at the poultry shows the exact marking as to 

 color is not regarded as a matter of moment, provided always the birds match 

 in the pen. But of late years the breed known as Silver-Grays have come into 

 high estimation, as they conjoin many of the good qualities of the colored 

 breed with the beauty of plumage possessed by those birds that are regarded 

 more especially as ornamental poultry. In this latter variety the color of the 

 plumage is very important, as a single white feather in the breast or tail of the 



cock is held as a disqualiBcation in the show-pen. It is necessary, therefore, to 



[103] 



