72 
THE POULTRY BOOK. 
dark pencilling, so clos^y as almost to cover the ground colour ; the pencilling 
reaching well up the front of the breast. 
The dark or pencilled birds have steadily progressed in public favour since the 
date of their first introduction ; their gigantic size, great weight, hardihood, and 
prolificacy, and the ease with which they can be kept in confined ranges, all tend 
to render them esteemed by the public at large ; whilst the nobleness of their 
appearance and the truthfulness to which they breed to feather, cause them to he 
highly valued as the favourites of a vast number of the most enthusiastic of our 
poultry fanciers. 
Eespecting the value of Brahmas as profitable fowls, Mr. Teehay has 
favoured us with the following communication : — “ There is no variety so suitable 
for a wet, cold situation as this; they even appear to enjoy being out in a 
drizzling rain, searching for insect food round the edge of any small piece of 
water they meet with ; if they have an unlimited range they are great ramblers, 
remaining out later at night than any other variety that may be in the same 
run ; they are good layers, especially during the cold winter months ; they, how- 
ever, do not want to sit so often as the Cochins, and are far more easily cured of 
their hroodiness. When allowed to hatch, they cannot be surpassed as mothers, no 
fowls being more careful not to step on their chickens, brooding them better, or 
searching more diligently for insects for their food. 
‘‘ Brahmas are good table-fowls, the pullets being remarkably full of white meat 
on the breast, and they lay on flesh very quickly when put up to fatten. The 
chickens grow with great rapidity, and are very easily reared. I have weighed 
a cockerel at seven months and two weeks old that weighed lOlbs. 4 oz., and 
have seen several cocks under two years old that weighed 151hs. each. At 
four or five years old these large cocks become so heavy that they are generally 
to be seen resting on their hocks or lying sideways on the ground, although at 
the same time in the best possible health; if in this state they are supplied 
liberally with soft food, tliey will gain weight very fast and make enormous 
birds. The average weight of the pullets at five months old is about 71bs. I 
may remark that weight is not a good criterion as to the size of Brahmas, for 
if taken from an open run and confined in a very small place and liberally fed, 
they lay on flesh so fast that they will occasionally add from one-fourth to one- 
third of their weight in three weeks, depending on the state of the fowl when put 
up. There is no variety of domestic fowls that breed more true to colour than the 
two kinds of Brahmas, if they are kept distinct, hut should there he the slightest 
intermixture of the two varieties, in the birds that are bred from, few of the 
pullets will he fit for exhibition, and there will be hut seldom two alike in 
colour or markings in the same brood. 
The pencilled birds that have the slightest mixture of the blood of the light 
variety will breed pullets light on the breast, with sandy coloured patches on the 
shoulders ; and even should they occasionally produce a pullet well pencilled during 
