POULTRY. 
251 
are round, plump, and short in the body ; wide on the breast, with 
abundance of white juicy flesh. The hens are generally good layers, 
and their eggs, though smaller than the egg of the Spanish and Polish 
breeds, are of good size and well flavored. These birds have been long 
prized, and it is now many years since their superiority over our ordi- 
nary domestic varieties was originally discovered and appreciated ; they 
were first noticed, and the variety adopted, by the Cumberland breed- 
ers, whence they were soon brought into Lancashire and Westmoreland, 
and gradually spread over all England. Whether, however, from inju- 
dicious treatment, or imperfect feeding, or change of climate, or from 
whatever cause, it is certain that, when met with far from their native 
place, they appear greatly to have degenerated from their original 
superiority of character. In this, and all other varieties of fowl, fresh 
blood should be introduced from time to time, or the breed degenerates. 
The best breed of the gallinaceous fowls is the produce of the Dork- 
ing (Surry) cock and the common dunghill fowl. This cross is larger 
and plumper, and more hardy than the pure Dorking, without losing 
delicacy of flavor or whiteness of flesh. 
The characteristics of the pure Dorking are, that it is white-feathered, 
short-legged, and an excellent layer. The peculiarity of this established 
variety, which has frequently five claws perfectly articulated (with some- 
times a sixth springing laterally from the fifth, hut always imperfect), is 
well known. The crossing with the Sussex fowl has however greatly 
diminished the monstrosity in the Surry pcntadactylus variety. But 
though the true Dorking, which is white, is much esteemed, that color 
is rare, and prized for the ornament of the poultry-yard ; speckled colors 
arc most generally seen with the higgler. 
The Sussex. — This is but an improved variety of Dorking, similar in 
shape and general character, usually of a brown color, but possessing 
the advantage of wanting the fifth toe ; we say advantage, for the 
Dorking fowl frequently becomes diseased in the feet, the cocks espe- 
cially, in consequence of breaking the supplementary toe in fighting. 
The Game Fowl. — The game fowl is one of the most gracefully-formed 
and most beautifully colored of our domestic breeds of poultry ; in its 
form and aspect, and in the extraordinary courage which characterizes 
its natural disposition, it exhibits all that either the naturalist or the 
sportsman recognizes as the beau ideal of high blood, embodying, in 
short, all the most indubitable characteristics of gallinaceous aristoc- 
racy. 
We do not possess any very satisfactory record of the original coun- 
try of the game fowl ; but we are disposed to cede that honor to India, 
the natives of which country have always been remarkable for their 
l5ve of cock-fighting ; aud wc also know that there still exists in India 
an original variety of game cock, very similar to our own, but inferior 
in point of size. As to the date or occasion of their first introduction 
into the British islands, we know nothing certain ; but it is probable 
that we owe it to the invasion of Julius Ciesar, the Romans having been 
very fond of the sport of cock-fighting. 
It is not only for its pugnacious qualities that the game fowl is to be 
noticed ; it yields to no breed, nay, perhaps is superior to most, in the 
