There are many opinions as to what _kinds of fowls_ are the best; but it is very difficult to decide this question, as almost all the kinds have advantages and disadvantages peculiar to themselves; though those are usually preferred which have rather short and slender legs, and round, compact, fleshy bodies. White or very light-coloured fowls are considered best for the table; but they are said to be tender in constitution and not good layers. The common barn-door fowl is the original stock from which most of the varieties are derived. The Game fowl are perhaps the best for the table; but the eggs are small, and the chickens are difficult to rear, unless they can be supplied with maggots or some other kind of animal food. The Dorking fowls are preferred for the table by the caterers for the London market, on account of their large size. They have generally two hind toes instead of one. The Jago, or Cochin-China, fowls are so very large that it is said they can pick crumbs from a table as they stand on the ground, and they often weigh from eight to ten pounds. They have double combs and tufts of feathers on the head: the feathers on the body are mottled, but those of the tail are a dark glossy green. The eggs are very large and good. The Crested, or Polish, fowl is black, with a white tuft on the head. The hens are excellent layers, and the chickens are good for the table; but the hens are not good sitters, and are apt to lay away. The Spanish fowls are also black, and very large and handsome. The Malay fowls are very large, and the colour of the feathers is black, streaked with brown and yellow. They are excellent layers; and their eggs, which are very large, have so much yolk, that two of their eggs will go as far as three of those of ordinary fowls. The flesh is exceedingly juicy and fine-flavoured; but the legs of the fowls are rather too large and strong to look well on the table. I speak confidently of these fowls being good, both for the table and as layers, because our very kind friend Charles Waterton, Esq., keeps no others at Walton Hall. Bantam fowls are very small, with short legs, which are generally feathered down to the toes. They are much admired as ornamental fowls, but are of little use, either for the table or as layers, from their very small size. There are several kinds of what may be called fancy fowls; but I shall only mention one of them, and this is the Frizzled fowl, or, as it is sometimes called, the Friesland fowl, though the name appears to have no meaning, and to have been only adopted from its resemblance to frizzled. This fowl is a native of Japan, and it certainly has a very singular appearance, from its feathers being curled up and apparently all turned the wrong way. It is, however, not worth keeping, except as an object of curiosity; as the fowls are small and bad layers, and the chickens are difficult to rear, being extremely sensitive to cold and wet.