180 
THE POULTRY BOOK. 
not very important in Polish; from four to five and a half pounds is a good average 
.Vv eight. 
‘‘ The carriage of the cock is hold and erect to an extreme degree ; the breast is 
thrown well forward, the head and tail carried well up; the wings rather low, so as 
to show the bars and the lacing; the general form of the body is round and plump, 
the keel of the breastbone well covered with flesh ; body short ; the neck moderate 
in length and gracefully arched. In the hens the form of the body is round and 
compact ; the head and tail carried well up. 
The plumage of the cock is ample and flowing, and should be well and evenly 
marked ; the feathers of the crest, neck, and saddle long, but abundant and strong 
in the shaft ; the fluff on the abdomen should be very short ; the ground colour of 
the plumage must be of the purest clear white, and markings of intense metallic 
black. In the hen the plumage is rather close and compact on the back ; the fluff 
short, but ample. Clearness of ground colour, and intensity of black in the mark- 
ings, are very important. 
“The neck-hackle in the cock is very abundant; formed of long and strong 
feathers, which are white at the base, edged and tipped with black, the hackle 
should come w^ell forward to the front of the neck, and on to the shoulders — the 
more free from a straw or yellow tinge the better. In the hen the haclde is full, 
but rather short, making the neck appear thick; each feather should be well marked 
with a dark black spangle. 
“ The saddle of the cock should flow well round the tail and rump, and hang 
well down ; that portion behind the thighs is frequently white, but in perfect birds 
all the saddle-feathers are beautifully tipped with black. In the hen the saddle 
feathers are rather long towards the tail, each one being boldly spangled. 
“ The cock’s tail should be long, ample, and flowing ; with well arched centre 
sickle-feathers, abundantly furnished with beautifully marked tail covert-feathers. 
No variety of domesticated poultry has a finer or handsomer tail, when fully deve- 
loped. The sickle-feathers should be purely white, each being tipped with a large 
black spot. The tail in the hen is somewhat large ; each feather should have a 
clear white ground, ending in a large lustrous black spangle. This is a great 
desideratum. 
“ The breast, in both sexes, should be well and evenly spangled from the throat 
to the thighs, with moon-shaped black markings on the purest white ground. The 
breasts of the cocks have generally a tendency to be too dark, and are sometimes 
quite black in the upper part. 
“ The shoulder of the cock should be a little lighter than the general average 
of colour — this, to my mind, is a great improvement ; but it should be lightly 
spangled or spotted. That of the hen, though well spangled, is somewhat liable 
to get short of colouring after the second year. 
“ The feathers forming the wing coverts or bars in both sexes must, to constitute 
good birds, be well and boldly spangled, so as to constitute two transverse bars, 
united by delicate lacing; this is an important and necessary condition, and 
