Breeding Laced Bantams . 
4 77 
unusual whiteness in the ear-lobe is accompanied by a sad falling-off in the lacing ; and, therefore, 
if attainable only at so great a cost, it must not be insisted on. Twenty years more of experience 
has only confirmed this, and even made the ear-lobes redder than ever; since, when Mr. Hewitt 
wrote, bluish ears were perhaps the rule rather than the exception, whereas now those of many 
prize birds are perfectly red. This does not arise from any necessary connection between white 
ears and bad lacing, but from the extreme barrenness of Sebright stock making the number 
reared so very small that in the vast majority of cases, when the few well-laced birds have been 
selected, there are among them no good lobes to 1 choose from ; and hence, as lacing mtist be had, 
the ear-lobe has to be sacrificed. • *' * 
The Sebright cock must be perfectly hen-tailed, and indeed hen-feathered in every respect, 
his neck and saddle-feathers precisely resembling those of the hen, and being laced, not on any 
account striped, with black. His carriage is the extreme of self-importance, strutting as he does 
on tip-toe, with the head thrown back and tail cocked up, so as often to meet together, the wings 
being carried low, so that the points in some birds almost touch the ground. The legs are dark 
leaden blue, and perfectly clean. 
Another very peculiar characteristic of highly-bred Sebright Bantams appears to have been 
hitherto overlooked by all writers on poultry. We are indebted for it, as for so many other valuable 
contributions to this work, to Mr. Hewitt ; and it is worth especial notice, as a most singular 
additional instance of what Mr. Darwin has called “ analagous variation,” or the tendency to 
develop similar characteristics among species widely distinct — in this case so wide apart as poultry 
and pigeons. 
“ In the Sebright Bantams exhibited by myself and others at all our earliest Birmingham 
shows,” says Mr. Hewitt, “ a very pleasing peculiarity existed, that is seen but rarely among those 
of the present day. When under alarm, closely-bred Sebrights possess a characteristic never seen 
in other poultry. The head is thrown far back, and the tail being at the same moment greatly 
raised, they all but touch each other. The wings drop suddenly, so far as to show distinctly every 
marking below the saddle-feather, which markings are never found perfect, except in decidedly 
good birds of this description. The greatest peculiarity is, however, yet to be stated. When so 
startled, not only do they thus assume much of the shape, for the time being, of the fan-tail pigeon, 
but also the singular tremulous motion of the neck and head , so characteristic in that variety of 
pigeon, becomes perfectly developed in the Sebright, and aids greatly to expose the all-important 
feature of well-laced neck-hackle, for which laced Bantams are so highly prized.” 
The great difficulty in breeding Sebright Bantams is their extreme sterility, to which we have 
already alluded. This has not only often threatened the actual extinction of the breed (for it has 
more than once happened that not one chick has hatched out of several hundreds of eggs set), but 
makes it very difficult, as just remarked, to attain a high standard, since there are not adequate 
numbers from which to make that selection of stock which is the very foundation of the breeder’s 
art. Hence many strains have “ run out” of lacing, as it is called; that is, the lacing has in 
successive generations faded away, till nothing was left but buff-coloured birds with a few 
indistinct markings here and there. The cause of such sterility has been differently stated, 
though the differences are found more apparent than real, and on further examination come 
practically to one point. Thus, Mr. Hewitt attributes it to the hen-tailed character, and states 
that he has found even so much departure from this as the elongation by half an inch of the upper 
feathers of the cock’s tail improve matters much. That this can scarcely be the ultimate cause 
however, is almost proved by an exception he himself mentions, that of a cock perfect in tail 
which was as prolific as any ; moreover, we have before seen that hen-feathering in other breeds 
