Scotch Dumpies, Go Laighs, Bakies, or Creepers, are almost extinct; but they are profitable fowls, and ought to be more common, as they are very hardy, productive layers of fine large eggs, and their flesh is white and of excellent quality. They should have large, heavy bodies; short, white, clean legs, not above an inch and a half or two inches in length. The plumage is a mixture of black or brown, and white. They are good layers of fine large eggs. They cannot be surpassed as sitters and mothers, and are much valued by gamekeepers for hatching the eggs of pheasants. The cocks should weigh six or seven and the hen five or six pounds.
The Silky fowl is so called from its plumage, which is snowy white, being all discomposed and loose, and of a silky appearance, resembling spun glass. The comb and wattles are purple; the bones and the periosteum, or membrane covering the bones, black, and the skin blue or purple; but the flesh, however, is white and tender, and superior to that of most breeds. It is a good layer of small, round, and excellent eggs. The cock generally weighs less than three, and the hen less than two, pounds. It comes from Japan and China, and generally thrives in our climate. The chickens are easily reared if not hatched before April nor later than June. They are capital foster mothers for partridges, and other small and tender game.
The Rumpkin, or Rumpless fowl, a Persian breed, not only lacks the tail-feathers but the tail itself. It is hardy, of moderate size, and varies in colour, but is generally black or brown, and from the absence of tail appears rounder than other fowls. The hens are good layers, but the eggs are often unfertile. They are good sitters and mothers, and the flesh is of fair quality.
The Friesland, so named from confounding the term "frizzled" with Friesland, is remarkable from having all the feathers, except those of the wings and tail, frizzled, or curled up the wrong way. It is small, very delicate, and a shower drenches it to the skin.
Barn-door fowl are a mongrel race, compounded by chance, usually of the Game, Dorking, and Polish breeds.