CHAPTER XVI.

HAMBURGS.

This breed is medium-sized, and should have a brilliant red, finely-serrated rose-comb, terminating in a spike at the back, taper blue legs, ample tail, exact markings, a well-developed white deaf-ear, and a quick, spirited bearing. They are classed in three varieties, the Pencilled, Spangled, and Black varieties, with the sub-varieties of Gold and Silver in the two former.

The Pencilled Hamburg is of two ground colours, gold and silver, that is, of a brown yellow or white, and very minutely marked. The hens of both colours should have the body clearly pencilled across with several bars of black. The hackle in both sexes should be free from dark marks. In the Golden-pencilled variety the cock should be of one uniform red all over his body without any pencilling whatever, and his tail copper colour; but many first-class birds have pure black tails and the sickle feathers should be shaded with a rich bronze or copper. In the Silver-pencilled variety the cock is often nearly white, with yellowish wing-coverts, and a brown or chestnut patch on the flight feathers of his wing. The tail should be black and the sickle feathers tinged with a reddish white.

The Speckled or Spangled Hamburg, also called Pheasant Fowl, from the false idea that the pheasant was one of its parents, is of two kinds, the Golden-speckled and Silver-speckled, according to their ground colour, the marking taking the form of a spot upon each feather. They have very full double and firmly fixed combs, the point at the end turning upwards, a dark rim round the eyes, blue legs, and mixed hackle. They were also called Moss Fowls, and Mooneys, the latter probably because the end of every feather should have a black rim on the yellow or white ground. In the Golden-spangled some judges prefer cocks with a pure black breast, but others desire them spangled.

"One chief cause of discussion," says Miss Watts, "relating to the Hamburg, regarded the markings on the cocks. The Yorkshire breed, which had been a favourite in that county for many years, produced henny cocks--_i.e._ cocks with plumage resembling that of a hen. The feathers of the hackle were not narrow and elongated like those of cocks generally, but were short and rounded like those of the hen; the saddle-feathers were the same, and the tail, instead of being graced with fine flowing sickle feathers, was merely square like that of a hen. The Lancashire Mooneys, on the contrary, produce cocks with as fine flowing plumage as need grace any chanticleer in the land, and tails with sickle-feathers twenty-two inches long, fine flowing saddle-feathers, and abundant hackle. The hen-tail cocks had the markings, as well as the form, of the hen; the long feathers of the others cannot, from their form, have these markings. On this question party-spirit ran high: York and Lancaster, Cavalier and Roundhead, were small discussions compared with it; but the hen-cocks were beaten, and we now seldom hear of them. A mixture of the two breeds has been tried; but by it valuable qualities and purity of race have been sacrificed."

The Black Hamburg is of a beautiful black with a metallic lustre, and is a noble-looking bird, the cocks often weighing seven pounds. There is little doubt that it was produced by crossing with the Spanish, which blood shows itself in the white face, which is often half apparent, and in the darker legs. But it is well established as a distinct variety, and good birds breed true to colour and points. The cocks' combs are larger, and the hens' legs shorter, than the other varieties.

Bolton Bays and Greys, Chitteprats, Turkish, and Creoles or Corals, Pencilled Dutch fowls, and Dutch every-day layers, are but incorrect names for the Hamburgs, with which they are identical.

The Hamburgs do not attain to their full beauty until three years old. "As a general rule," says Mr. Baily, "no true bred Hamburg fowl has top-knot, single comb, white legs, any approach to feather on the legs, white tail, or spotted hackle." The white ear-lobe being so characteristic a feature in all the Hamburgs, becomes most important in judging their merits. Weight is not considered, but still the Pencilled cock should not weigh less than four and a half pounds, nor the hen than three and a half; and the Spangled cock five pounds and the hen four.

The Hamburgs are most prolific layers naturally, without over-stimulating feeding, surpassing all others in the number of their eggs, and deserve their popular name of "everlasting layers." Their eggs are white, and do not weigh more than 1-1/2 ounce to 1-3/4 ounce each; and the hens are known to average 240 eggs yearly. Not being large eaters, they are very profitable fowls to keep. The eggs of the Golden-spangled are the largest, and it is the hardiest variety, but the Pencilled lay more. The Black variety produces large eggs, and lays a greater number than any known breed.

They very seldom show any desire to sit except when they have a free woodland range, for even if free it must be wild to induce any desire to perpetuate the species, and they never sit if confined to a yard. The chickens should not be hatched earlier than May, but in the South of England they will do very well if hatched by a Cochin-China hen at the beginning of March. They are small birds for table, but of excellent quality.

Hamburgs do not bear confinement well, and will not thrive without a good run; a grass field is the best. Being small and light, even a ten-feet fence will not keep them within a small run. They may indeed be kept in a shed, but the number must be very few in proportion to its size, and they must be kept dry and scrupulously clean. They are excellent guards in the country, for if disturbed in their roosting-place they will make a great noise. The breed has improved in this country, and British bred fowls are much stronger than the imported birds.