Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-08-01
BLACK sJNATRA FOWLS.

different envirenment, when brought
together have something of the effect
of a union of unrelated fowls. EE-
vironment seems TO have a modifying
power upon their blood. and to Obviate
some of the ibis of iinbreeding. The
Black Sumatra is suffering somewhat
from the effects that are common to
rare breeds. Its size is hardly what
its admirers could wish it to
be, and hardly, it seems to me.
what it WIS ten years ago. It
is now a small fowl, and yet with
in ten years / have seen birds of
this breed that were of a good size,
and. owing to their plumage, looked
really large. 1t is also possible that It's
constitution would not be injured by
an outcross with a large, vigorous,
short-legged Black Game. breeding out,
of course, the antagonistic characters
tics which such cross might intro
duce. The beauty of the fowl war
rants determined effort on the part
of its admirers to make it all that it Is
capable of becoming. The plumage Is
a solid black, as lustrous as any color
can tie, shining and shimmering in the
sunlight. The tail of the cock is tcng,
full siclsles and abundant coverts al
most sweeping the ground. The comb
is triple, not as perfect as the pea
comb. and might be improved by care
full selection. The legs are rather
short and, as they ought to be, black
in cellar. The outlines of the fowl are
graceful in the extreme. One pecul-
iarity. Of this breed, which is possessed
lob I DO ,nf
recai.leet as being possessed by other
fowls, is the number of spurs the cock
has In nearly all of our domestic
fowls a. single spur upon each shank
serrest the, cock as a weapon of ofense
and defense. but nature has provided
more literally for the Sumatra, the
cock frequently having two spursup
eachileg. and sometimes three. Some
have but one on each leg. and the ,ex-
ira number is of no practical CT e0rna-
mental value for domesticated fowl
Many rhave,argued from this fact and
from the peculiarly long and some
what horizontally carried tail thEt the
Sumatra is descended from the pleas
ant, but while pheasants and domestic
fowls do sometimes produce hybrid off
sprxng, be lieve there is no recorded
Instance where such offspring has been
fertile. Every one has proved to be
sterile, incapable Of breeding with
either parent race, and of course
would be incapable of breeding with
another hybrid of like parentage- .Hy-
bridsare sometimes fertile When bred
with>either parent. but when bred Inter
Sc are almost invariably sterile. Sothere
is ne.good treason for supposing that
the .SumaAra is of pheasant origin.
The SumaAra is a plump fowl and
though small must make a toothsome
bit of poultry. 1t has the reputation
of being AN excellent layer of fair
sized white eggs. But it is not kept SO
much for its practical as for its orna-
mental qualities. It illustrates very
we'll the difficulty of accurately CLASH
flying fowls into practical and ou,na-
mental, for all practical fowls are more
or less.crnamental, and all ornamental
fowls are more or less practical Theme
is NO breed or variety of domestic
fowls that nhas not both utility and
beauty, and classification upon such a
principle can be made only as utility
or beauty seems to be the paramount
qualify, and sometimes these elements
seem sose<enly balanced that one is m
doubt to (which class to assign the
fowl IN 1.-The case of, the Black Su-
matrz. however. the beauty of the
fowl is SO great that it fairly over
shadows Instability, and .one does not
hesitate in classifying it as an orna-
mental fowI.-H. s. Eabceck, in Orange
Judd Farmer.