"The comb is transversal, double, forming two horns bending forward, united at their base, divided at their summits, sometimes even and pointed, sometimes having ramifications on the inner sides. A little double 'combling' protrudes from the upper part of the nostrils, and although hardly as large as a pea, this combling, which surmounts the sort of rising formed by the protrusion of the nostrils, contributes to the singular aspect of the head. This measured prominence of the comb seems to add to the characteristic depression of the beak, and gives the bird a likeness to a rhinoceros." The plumage is jet black, with a very rich metallic lustre; large ear-lobe of pure white; bright red face, unusually free from feathers; and bright lead-coloured legs, with hard, firm scales. They are very handsome, showy, large, and lively birds, more inclined to wander than the Creve-Coeur, and hardier when full grown; but their chickens are even more delicate in wet weather, and should not be hatched before May. They are easily reared, and grow quickly. They are excellent layers of very large white eggs, but do not lay well in winter, unless under very favourable circumstances, and resemble the Spanish in the size and number of their eggs, and the time and duration of laying. Their flesh is excellent, juicy, and resembles that of the Game fowl, and the skin white and transparent, but the legs are dark. This breed is larger and has more style than the Creve-Coeur, and is better adapted to our climate; but the fowls lack constitution, particularly the cocks, and are very liable to leg weakness and disease of the knee-joint, and when they get out of condition seldom recover. They are found in the north of France, but are not common even there. The HOUDAN has the size, deep compact body, short legs, and fifth toe of the Dorking. They are generally white, some having black spots as large as a shilling, are bearded, and should have good top-knots of black and white feathers, falling backwards like a lark's crest; and the remarkable comb is thus described by M. Jacque: "Triple, transversal in the direction of the beak, composed of two flattened spikes, of long and rectangular form, opening from right to left, like two leaves of a book; thick, fleshy, and variegated at the edges. A third spike grows between these two, having somewhat the shape of an irregular strawberry, and the size of a long nut. Another, quite detached from the others, about the size of a pea, should show between the nostrils, above the beak."