126 Tff^ COMPLETE POULTRY BOOK. 



black plumage. Their legs are bright yellow, and perfectly free from f eather^ 

 ing on the shanks. The faces are red, the ear-lobes only being white.. The 

 comb in the cock is thin, erect and evenly serrated. In the hen it falls over like 

 that of a Spanish hen. The tail in the cock is exceedingly well-furnished with 

 side sickle-feathers, and in both sexes is carried particularly erect. ., The birds 

 are active, good foragers, and have a sprightly^ and handsome carriage.', i 



"I find them to be abundant layers of full-sized eggs; the hens. rarely, show- 

 ing any inclination to sit, but laying the whole year round, except during the 

 time of the annual moult. The chickens are very hardy. Unlike those of. the 

 Spanish, they feather quickly and mature rapidly. 



"I regard these fowls as an exceedingly useful as well as ornamental addition 

 to our stock of poultry. Whatever competitive shows may have done for other 

 breeds, they have certainly materially lessened the value of Spanish ,as useful 

 fowls. In the place .of the large, prolific, hardy breed which was formerly -known 

 under that name, we have a smaller race, very leggy, and feathering with such slow- 

 ness that chickens are often seen in prize pens that have not produced their 

 tail-feathers. In fact, the useful qualities of the race have been neglected in 

 breeding for face and ear-lobe. 



' "The- Leghorns possess many of the Spanish merits without their drawbacks, 

 and I have no doubt that they will become as great favorites in this country as 

 they are in America." (See illustration, page 127.) 



Rose-Combed White Leghorns. — Certain American breeders' are attemping to 

 substitute the rose-comb for the ordinary comb of the Leghorn fowl, claiming 

 this style of Comb to be preferable on account of superior beauty arid non-liabilify 

 to freeze. These rose-combed fowls have not yet been acknowledged in the 

 Standard. 



The Brown Leghorm.— this is to-day the most popular of the Mediterranean 

 breeds m America, and one of the most popular breed? of any kind. At the time 

 of writing the above description of the White Leghorns, Mr! Tegetmeier says 

 that the Brown Leghorns "have not been impori;ed into England," and he 

 quotes their description from the AmeHcwn Standm-d. 



With '•egardtothe origin of this breed of fowls Mr. H. H. Stoddard- editor o\ 

 •the Potatry ^orld, makes the following statement: "About 1835 (the exactdate 

 IS unknown) Mr. N. P. Ward, of New York- City, received direct from Italy a 

 fewBrown Leghorn fowls, which, in his hands, undoubtedly proved their claims 

 to superior merit; for, though he wrote nothing which has been preserved about 



iT'l'l^T T^f T'^ *°'''' *° ^'' '""°'^»' ""« °f ^^°^ ^as Mr. J. C. Thomp. 

 Ive L It;^ ?". ;. ^'■- ^''"■"P'O" -«B greatly interested in the breed, and 

 sfmL t Tl . f" "-"velous precocity and early fecundity, which was 

 simUar to the characteristics of the fowls now bred. The pullets matured and 



ZrZt^^ZTt ^'^ 1.^°^' •"°'^*''^' -^' though w'e^lvenSsUc 



etSrvt;te:;Lnhe7uT,er '^ little doubt that the cockerels showed a. 



"At a subsequent period Mr. Thompson, who seems to have been a most en. 



mpSed ItdSbite J 1^'""^ '"'' *^* """^ '''' -me markings as those first . 

 imported and exhibited the same precocity. In a letter published after breed- 



