178 
THE POULTRY BOOK. 
well-formed and extremely large is a great desideratum. I repeatedly proved that 
a first-rate crested cock, though mated to a hen with a somewhat indifferent top- 
knot, produced far better chickens than where the selection was reversed ; I would 
therefore strongly enjoin the greatest care in the well-advised selection of the male. 
In reference to hatching, the eggs must be incubated by some other hen. In 
the choice of this foster-mother, I would state that large hens are very objec- 
tionable, as Black Polish chickens seem even more susceptible of injury than those 
of other descriptions. Cochin hens are very apt to leave their chickens before 
they are five or six weeks old ; and as this happens to be a period of peculiar 
fatality to broods of young Polish, they should not be employed as their foster- 
mothers. No hens will, it is certain, prove more vigilant, successful, and enduring 
mothers than game hens. As young Polish are apt to droop away suddenly, I will 
relate the treatment I found most beneficial. I gave them full feed of crushed 
hemp-seed, chopped cheese, and maggots from stale flesh — the latter well scoured 
for some days in bran or sand, to cleanse them from impurities : it proved a very 
easy remedy and successful mode of treatment.” 
The circumstance that White-crested Black Polish require a dry sandy run, and 
warm sheltered situation, is proved by the fact that several of our most successful 
exhibitors reside on the dry sandy soil of the New Forest. 
From the White-crested Black Polish, as from the Black Spanish and all other 
black-plumaged fowls, are occasionally produced perfectly white birds, with light 
eyes and the other features which have obtained for such productions the name of 
‘‘Albinos.” They are both slight in frame and delicate in constitution; and we 
cannot recommend the attempt to breed from them, their produce being of a most 
unsatisfactory description, both as regards form and colour. They are, it should 
be remembered, perfectly distinct from the Bearded White Polish. 
