The pure White Dorking may truly be considered as fancy stock, as well as useful, because they will breed true to their points; but the grey Sussex, Surrey or Coloured Dorking, often sport. To the breeders and admirers of the so-called 'Coloured Dorkings' I would say, continue to improve the fowl of your choice, but let him be known by his right title; do not support him on another's fame, nor yet deny that the rose-comb or fifth toe is essential to a Dorking, because your favourites are not constant to those points. The absence of the fifth claw to the Dorking would be a great defect, but to the Sussex fowl (erroneously called a 'Coloured Dorking') it is my opinion it would be an improvement, provided the leg did not get longer with the loss." The fifth toe should not be excessively large, or too far above the ordinary toe. The White Dorking must have the plumage uniformly white, though in the older birds the hackle and saddle may attain a light golden tint. The rose-comb is preferable, and the beak and legs should be light and clear. The Coloured Dorking is now bred to great size and beauty. It is a large, plump, compact, square-made bird, with short white legs, and should have a well-developed fifth toe. The plumage is very varied, and may have a wide range, and might almost be termed immaterial, provided a coarse mealy appearance be avoided, and the pen is well matched. This latitude in respect of plumage is so generally admitted that the assertion "you cannot breed Dorkings true to colour," has almost acquired the authority of a proverb. They may be shown with either rose or single combs, but all the birds in a pen must match. The Dorking is the perfection of a table bird, combining delicately-flavoured white flesh, which is produced in greatest quantity in the choicest parts--the breast, merry-thought, and wings--equal distribution of fat, and symmetrical shape. Mr. Baily prefers the Speckled or Grey to the White, as "they are larger, hardier, and fatten more readily, and although it may appear anomalous, it is not less true that white-feathered poultry has a tendency to yellowness in the flesh and fat." Size is an important point in Dorkings. Coloured prize birds weigh from seven to fourteen pounds, and eight months' chickens six or seven pounds. The White Dorking is smaller. They are not good layers, except when very young, and are bad winter layers. The eggs are large, averaging 2-3/4 ounces, pure white, very much rounded, and nearly equal in size at each end. The hen is an excellent sitter and mother. The chickens are very delicate, requiring more care when young than most breeds, and none show a greater mortality, no more than two-thirds of a brood usually surviving the fourth week of their life. They should not be hatched before March, and must be kept on gravel soil, hard clay, or other equally dry ground, and never on brick, stone, or wooden flooring.