Black Minorcas. 
355 
the flavour is far inferior to Cochin or Brahma eggs, the yolk being smaller in proportion, and 
rather insipid, the chief bulk being made up of albumen or white. On the other hand, this very 
absence of flavour causes their eggs to be preferred by many invalids and other persons of delicate 
appetite. The pullets usually lay at or before six months old, and will continue through the 
winter, but the hens rarely begin till January ; after which, however, they rarely stop more than a 
day or two until the autumnal moult. The appetite being only moderate, and the birds bearing 
confinement well, and never giving trouble by any sitting propensities, when not spoilt by in- 
breeding for exhibition they make a very useful and profitable variety for urban or suburban 
poultry-keepers. Of late, owing to the cause here hinted at, the place of the Spanish as a useful 
fowl has been largely taken by the Minorca. 
Though non-sitters, instances occasionally happen, when kept at large so that hens can “ steal 
their nests,” of Spanish hens brooding steadily, and bringing off good clutches of chickens ; but we 
never knew this occur under any other circumstances. It is by no means uncommon for Spanish 
hens to remain on the nest for a day or two, with an occasional cluck, and other signs of uneasi- 
ness ; but even for the few days it lasts the sitting is usually unsteady, and the inclination soon 
passes off. The great majority never show any inclination to sit at all. 
Spanish fowls are pretty fair eating, but the flesh generally eats rather dry. They are not 
handsome on the table, the breast-bone almost always projecting sharply, so as to make the fowl 
appear thin, and the black legs being also an objection. This breed does not, in fact, lay on meat 
readily upon the breast ; and for table purposes must therefore be regarded as only a second-rate 
fowl, by no means equal to either the Dorking, the French breeds, or the Asiatic races. 
BLACK MINORCAS. — This admirable breed of fowls was known and valued for many 
years in the West of England, before attracting any attention elsewhere. It has a general outward 
resemblance to the Spanish fowl ; the most conspicuous difference being that the face is red 
instead of white ; the ear-lobe still being pure white. Hence some have thought that the Minorca 
strain may have been the original progenitor of the Spanish race, and the tendency of that race 
to revert to red in the face would lend some probability to this view, so far as the ultimate origin 
of the breed is concerned ; but there can be no reasonable doubt that the Spanish is much the 
older race of the two in this country, and was bred to a considerable degree of perfection both 
here and in the Low Countries, before the Minorca was known. The Minorca must at all 
events be regarded as one of the varieties, and apparently a distinct and original variety, of 
that great Mediterranean race whose general type, as already stated, is found all round the 
margin of the Great Sea. 
Of all these varieties, perhaps none equals the Minorca in solid and real value ; and it has 
always been a mystery to us that such a fowl should have been so long confined to the West of 
England. Our own persistent advocacy of its merits for some years had little effect ; but all of a 
sudden the breed did begin to “ move,” and its growth in popularity during recent years has been 
enormous. In 1883, several years after the movement had begun, the Crystal Palace Show contained 
but two classes and 32 entries ; in 1888 there were six classes and 140 entries. This was the Minorca 
Club’s first show at the Palace : the following year the club drew together 157 entries in the six 
classes ; and in 1892 the Palace still attracted 120 entries. This popularity is amply warranted bv 
useful and hardy qualities. Not only is the fowl a splendid layer, but its eggs are probably the 
largest laid by any breed, so that it is generally possible to pick out an exhibition dish averaging 
three ounces each. As a rule, it cannot be classed amongst the distinctly winter layers, though 
well-hatched pullets may generally be depended upon ; but the average for the year is extremely 
