134 



TBE COMPLETE POULTRY BOOK. 



::if ;t;7^erJt^l aWs be a few .maU ones in front of it, but the fewer 



''''^::S::^'^ZTX^lX^oyro^^'^^ wMte or white-tipped feathers through 

 the plu^a^e The appearance of^mall spoU of whiteon the tips of a few of the 

 eather^^fr garded only as a defect; but if these spots are an ,nch or more m 

 fength theydUqualify the bird from competition in the show-pen. (See lUustra- 



^Thi! tenlSney towards white in the plumage has been encouraged in different 

 directions until three different varieties have been produced m addition to the 

 one just described; namely, the Silver Spangled, Golden Spangled, and Wh.te 

 Polish Of these it would seem that the last named should- have been the-first 

 sport from the original stock, from the tendency of black fowls to produce 

 albinos. In the attempt to fix a breed having the characteristics of these 

 albinos it would seem natural that fowls would be produced in which the white 

 plumage- would be spangled with black. This, however, is merely conjecture, 

 as we have no history of the origin of these sub-varieties. 

 ' The Silver SpamgUd PoUsh, or simply Silver Polish, as they are now frequently 

 called are distinguished from the White-Crested Black by having entirely white 

 plumage, except that each feather is tipped with black, either, in the form of 



a spangle or lacing. . ^, , 



The Golden SpamgUd PoUah, or Golden PoUsh, differ from the above in that 

 the white of the Silver Polish feathers is replaced with a golden-bay color in the 

 Golden Polish. 



The Wh/Ue Polish differ from the White-Crested Black in having a clear white 

 plumage throughout. This plumage may become tinged with yellow in old birds. 

 Bearded PoUah. — Each of the three varieties last named is duplicated by a 

 strain whic-h-possesses a tuft of feathers similar to those of the crest, which forms 

 a "beard," and which almost completely hides the small and imperfectly devel- 

 oped wattles. 



These "Bearded Polish" fowls have lately become very popular, some fanciers 

 insisting that they are sn]ierior in size and vigor to the non-bearded varieties. 



The term laoed wonid better characterize the plumage of the parti-colored 

 Polish breeds than spangled, hence the latter term has been dropped from their 

 nomenclature by the Americam Stamdwrd, although either spangled or laced plum- 

 age is admissible. In weights the laced or spangled breeds are slightly heavier 

 than the black. 



Blue or gray fowls are occasionally produced from the White Polish; cuckoo 

 colored birds are an occasional variation of the spangled breeds; a,niBuff,ot 

 Chamois Polish have been developed in France from the Golden Polish, but 

 none of these variations have yet been permanently fixed. With reference to 

 these changes of color Mr. Tegetmeier says : 



" It is a singular circumstance, that when a variation of color takes place in 

 the plumage of birds, the change from black to wjiite appears to be much more 

 jasily effected than from any other color to white. Thus, when Black-Bed and 

 White Game fowls are crossed, Piles are produced, in which the black disappears, 



