POULTRY. 
245 
DOMESTIC POULTRY. 
“ How grateful 'tis to wake 
While raves the midnight storm, and hear the sound 
Of busy grinders at the well-filled rack ; 
Or flapping wing or crow of chanticleer, 
Long ere the lingering morn ; or bouncing flails 
That tell the dawn is near I Pleasant the path 
By sunny garden wall, when all the fields 
Are chill and comfortless ; or barn-yard snug, 
W here flocking birds, of various plume and chirp 
Discordant, cluster on the leaning stack 
From whence the thresher draws the rustling sheaves." 
VIEW OF THE IMPORTANCE OF TO SUBJECT,— Poultry-keeping is 
an amusement in which every body may indulge. The space needed is 
not great, the cost of food for a few head insignificant, and the luxury 
of fresh eggs or home-fatted chickens or ducks not to be despised. In 
a large collection of poultry may be read the geography and progress 
of the commerce of the world. The peacock represents India; the 
golden pheasant and a tribe of ducks, China; the turkey, pride of the 
yard and the table, America ; the- black swan, rival of the snowy mon- 
arch of the lakes, reminds us of Australian discoveries ; while Canada 
and Egypt have each their goose. The large fat white ducks — models 
of what a duck should be — are English, while the shining green black 
ones come from Buenos Ayres. And when we turn to the fowl 
varieties, Spain and Hamburg, Poland and Cochin China, Friesland 
and Bantam, Java and Negroland, beside Surry, Sussex, Kent, Suffolk, 
and Lancashire, have each a cock to crow for them. 
VARIETIES (IF THE DOMESTIC FOWL.— 1. The Malay Fowl, from 
its size and strength, is admirably adapted for crossing with the Dorking 
and other native breeds. 2. The Java Fowl, nearly resembling, and 
in the opinion of some, identical with, the Malay. 3. The Cochin 
China breed, equal in most respects, and more prolific than the Malay. 
4. The Spanish Fowl, perhaps the best breed known for laying. 5. 
The Polish Fowl, a noble and very beautiful bird, and an excellent 
layer. 6. The Spangled Varieties, including the whole class of Gold 
and Silver Spangled, known in different countries as Spangled Ham- 
burgs, Every-day Dutch, Bolton Bays, Bolton Greys, Chittyprats, 
Creoles, Corals, etc. 7. The Speckled and White Dorking, the most 
delicate of all the varieties for the table. 8. The Sussex Fowl, most 
probably a variety of the Dorking. 9. The Game Fowl, graceful of 
form and plumage, with undying courage, and excellent for crossing with 
common varieties. 10. The Pheasant Fowl, erroneously said to 
originate in a cross with the Cock Pheasant. 1 1. The Bantams, more 
remarkable for their beauty than any other quality. 
The Millay Fowl, called also the Chittagong. — This is a large and heavy 
fowl ; it is a close and hard-feathered bird, from which circumstance it 
