THE POULTRY BOOK. 
105 
"betwixt the fore part of the nostrils, and extending in an arched form over the hack 
of the head, free from excrescences or side sprigs, and not of too great a thickness at 
the outside edges. That of the hen is described as being glossy, bright red, large, 
single, serrated, drooping over one side of the face, and free from side sprigs or 
duplications. 
The face of the cock, writes Mr. Teebay in the “ Standard,” must he pure opaque 
white, long and deep, the greater breadth of surface the better, providing it is 
smooth, free from wrinkles, and tlie sight not obstructed ; rising w^ell over the eye 
towards the comb in an arched form, extending towards the hack of the head, and 
also to the base of the beak, covering the cheeks and joining the ear-lobes and 
w^attles. The ear-lobes pure opaque white, very large and pendant, rather thin, 
smooth, w'ell expanded, and free from folds or wrinkles, extending well on each side 
of the neck, hanging down very low, not pointed, but regularly rounded in the lower 
part, and meeting in front, behind the w^attles. 
In the hen the face must be of the same character, white, smooth, free from 
wrinkles, with great breadth of surface ; it should rise well over the eye in an arched 
form, extend to the back of the head, forwards to the beak, cover the entire cheek 
and join the ear-lobe, which must be large, wdiite, pendant, as smooth as possible, 
and w^ell rounded on the lower edge. 
The eye in both sexes should he large and full, and the sight totally unobstructed 
by the growth of the white skin of the face, an evil to which the heaviest faced 
birds are very prone as they advance in age. 
The points that are regarded as disqualifications in a Spanish cock as an exhi- 
bition bird are — the comb falling over to one side, or twisted in front over the 
nostrils ; the face so developed as to obstruct the sight, or possessing a decided 
red mark above the eye ; the presence of any other colour in the plumage except 
black, or metallic green-black; and the legs being of any other colour except 
dark leaden blue, or blue. 
The chief disqualifications in the hen are — the presence of a double comb, or of 
the small and erect comb known as the prick comb ; a decided red mark over the 
eye ; plumage of any other colour except black, or metallic black ; and legs of any 
other colour except dark leaden blue, or blue ; — and in both sexes trimming or 
plucldng in any part wdiatever. 
The distinction between two very distinct strains of Spanish has been long 
recognized by the older metropolitan amateurs, but has been rarely, if ever, described 
in books. We have been favoured with the following notes on this subject, by one 
of the most experienced London breeders, Mr. C. H. Brown, who, in describing 
the birds imported from Holland, states — “ The Dutch birds are small and short- 
legged, although purer in face than the old English strain ; they are, in fact, so 
different in size, shape, comb, and general characteristics, that I almost consider 
them a different kind. Crossed with our breed, they have tended very greatly to the 
improvement in the face. In those birds termed by fanciers ‘ paper-faced ’ birds, 
the face is quite smooth : they are generally the smallest specimens, and are 
