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THE POULTRY ROOK. 
A very prevailing fault in White Bantam cocks is an inclination to assume a 
yellowish tinge, or even a very slight saffron hue, across the shoulders and saddle, 
as they arrive at maturity, a defect which is fatal to the success of the pen at any 
exhibition, if competing with fowls without this drawback. It is also a fault that 
it is most difficult to eradicate, as it is apt to prove hereditary. For this reason 
the greatest care should be taken to avoid a male bird possessing this blemish, 
when selecting brood stock. Yellow or blue legs are also most objectionable in 
White Bantams ; their legs should be clear white, without any stain whatever. 
Black Bantams, on the contrary, must have black legs. In both varieties the 
combs are rosy, and should be small, neat, and firmly seated to the head. Among 
Black Bantams it is by no means uncommon to find a cock of two or three years 
old assume a ruddy hue on the longest of the neck-hackles, and even occasionally 
to moult brassy-winged, or even red-shouldered. It is needless to say these fowls 
are then perfectly useless as showbirds ; nor would I depend on any such bird for 
stock. I have seen this failing occur in a Black Bantam cock that had been 
hitherto considered as one of the best of his race ; for three years he was perfectly 
black, and afterwards showed annually an increasing amount of the faulty 
colouring complained of. Perfectly white ear-lobes, by the striking contrast they 
afford to the colour of the plumage, greatly increase the beauty of a pen of this 
variety.” 
GAME BANTAMS. 
There is, perhaps, no variety of ornamental fowl that has sprung so rapidly into 
favour as this exceedingly beautiful and diminutive breed. A few years ago they 
were almost unheard of ; but now the offer of a five-pound silver cup will secure an 
entry of forty or fifty birds ; and a show hardly occurs in which there is not a class 
for them. 
With regard to their origin, there is no doubt that they have been produced in 
two modes, — firstly, by the continued in-and-in breeding of the ordinary Game 
fowls, by which size has been lost, whilst the other characteristics have been in 
great part maintained : thus, Mr. Monsey, of Norwich, a well-known and very 
successful breeder and exhibitor of both Game and Bantams, has reared them very 
carefully, by closely inter-breeding the same strain of Game fowls for several years, 
and continually selecting the smallest specimens. On the other hand, by crossing 
a small Game cock with a Bantam hen, the requisite size has been obtained, 
although at a loss of some of the beauty of the breed. There is little doubt that 
both these courses have had their share in the production of most of the specimens 
now seen at our shows. 
So much for the origin ; nov/ for the characteristics of the breed. These 
require very little detail. Game Bantams, both cocks and hens, should be 
exact and perfect diminutives of the ordinary Game fowl, not only in feather, 
which is easily obtained, but also in comb, eye, beak, form, carriage, and even 
courage ; and just in proportion as they depart from this standard do they become 
