118 TSU COMPLETE POULTRY BOOK. 



HAMBITRGS. 



The Hambnrgs, notwithstanaing tneir Dutch name, are chiefly of Engliett 

 origin ; but, like many other breeds of fowls, the several lines of their ancestry 

 are so entangled that it is impossible to give a clear history of their first ap- 

 pearance. 



As now known the Hamburgs comprise six varieties ; namely, the Gold and 

 SUver Pencilled, the Gold and Silver Spangled, the "Black and the White. The 

 Spangled varieties are also each built upon two distinct sub-varieties, whose 

 peculiarities have not yet been entirely obliterated by their amalgamatioii. 



The common characteristics of all the Hambnrgs are small size, great 

 activity, great egg-producing capacity, rose combs and great beauty of 

 plumage^ 



SHoer Pencilled Hamibwrgs. — The SUver Pencilled Hamburg cooks have silvery 

 head, beak, ear-lobes, neck-hackle, back, saddle-feathers, breast, body and 

 thighs ; the wings apparently white, when closed, but showing narrow stripes of 

 black next the shafts or on the edges, when examined; the tail black and full, 

 the sickle feathers having a narrow edging of white, as also the feathers of the 

 tail-coverts. The hen has a silvery white head, beak, ear-lobes, and neok- 

 hackle ; the rest of her plumage being silvery-white, but each feather distinctly 

 and evenly pencilled across with greenish-black bars; on the body it is de- 

 sirable that these bars should form, as near as possible, parallel lines across the 

 bird. The shanks of both cock and hen are blue or slaty blue. This breed has 

 also been called the Creoles, from the mixture of white and black in the plumage ; 

 the Bolton Grays, from having been extensively cultivated around Bolton, in 

 Lancashire; the Corals, from the resemblance of the numerous red points of their 

 combs to red coral ; the PeneiUed Ihttch, the Dutch every-day or everlasting loA/en, 

 from their origin and productiveness, and the ChUteprat, probably meaning 

 diminutive hens. « (See illustration, page 113.) 



In the GoldmrPeneiUed Hambnrgs the white of the Silver-penciUed variety is 

 replaced by a reddish-bay color in the cock and golden-bav in the hen, except 

 on the beak, which is dark colored, and the ear-lobes,- -which are white. 



The Pencilled Hamburgs appear to be of Dutch origin, having been import«d 

 from Holland under the names of "Pencilled Dutch" and "Dutch Everlasting 

 Layers." For a statement of their merits Mr. Tegetmeier quotes as foUows 

 from Mr. Hewitt : -^ _ 



"The Hamburgs are exeeUentlayers, provided they have free liberty on an 

 unrestricted grass run; they are most impatient of confinement, particularly 

 the Pencilled varieties, and very susceptible of disease wherever over-popnla- 

 tion and limited space are unfortunately combined. They shift for themselves 

 better than any excepting the Game, and are not, therefore, expensive as to 

 keeping; indeed, I believe (in comparison to the food consumed) none produce 

 so large an amount of eggs, taking the whole year from end to end, whether we 

 estimateby weight in the aggregate, or by numbers; their chief production, 



thevJ ' 'i' "°^ vf. T^^" "°"*'^'- ^^ ^''^ °* Hamburgs is superior, and 

 they are always, as chickens, in fit con dition for the spit, if only tolerably weU 



