THE POULTRY BOOK. 
107 
changes of weather, and frequently droop away in a day or two, especially about 
the time of shooting their first tail-feathers : hence one great difficulty of rearing 
them. They require (in the northern and midland counties of the United Kingdom 
more especially) very high feeding whilst young, complete exclusion from all damp, 
and much general attention, if even tolerable success is hoped for and the stock is of 
high descent. The old fowls are much afflicted by being frostbitten in the combs 
and feet if the winter happens to be severe. The serrations on the edge of the 
combs are sometimes altogether destroyed from this cause alone, and the fowls 
spoiled for exhibition. Heavy weather tries their constitutions severely, and soon 
stops their productiveness. They are also long in recovering from their annual 
moulting. 
Still, of all fowls, they appear the most truly aristocratic, and on a good v/alk 
always look a most respectable addition to the live stock ; they very much like to 
steal their nests in out-of-the-way places ; but it is most unusual for them to sit 
afterwards, although isolated cases have taken place of their so doing, and both 
hatching successfully and proving good mothers ; still, it is decidedly the excep- 
tion to their natural propensities. 
“ When plucked for the table, though very good in point of the colour of the 
skin, they always appear high in the bone, the bridge of the breast being very deep 
(more particularly in the cockerels) ; hence they seem to the eye to carry much less 
flesh than they really possess. For this reason they do not stand high in favour 
with poulterers, who have to resell them ready for the spit. The flavour of the 
Spanish fowls is good, but not of extreme excellence ; the economical value chiefly 
arises from their great production of eggs, although this is mostly confined to the 
summer months only.” 
M]-. Crook, of Forest Hill, well known as an ardent admirer and successful 
exhibitor of this beautiful variety, has furnished us with the following very 
practical remarks on the breed : — 
“ Amongst all the different varieties of fowls there is not one more characteristic 
than the true Black Spanish ; the remarkable contrasts of colour in their plumage, 
face, and wattles, together with their perfect symmetry and stateliness of carriage, 
make this variety generally regarded as the aristocracy of the poultry yard. 
There is, however, one point in the modern breed in which they have greatly 
degenerated from their former standard, namely, in their size. 
‘‘ The Spanish of thirty years ago were considered as the giants of the poultry yard, 
the cock at two years old frequently weighing from nine to ten pounds, and standing 
nearly as high as the tallest Malay fowl. In our present prize pens we have birds 
of very different weight, some of them being extremely small, and looking more 
like Spanish Bantams, whose proper place would be in the ‘New or any other 
Variety’ class; this deterioration has, no doubt, arisen from too close breeding in 
and in, and from the increase in size and purity of the face and ear-lobe being the 
main objects of the breeder, the bird being much more frequently regarded as a 
