It would seem from this that not only were they the favorite fowls, but that they then possessed in a great measure their present characteristics. If the spangled birds were then known they surely could not have fallen under the observation of this writer, who would have been sure to have noted them from their striking appearance.
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Be that as it may, Black Hamburgs are known to have been bred in Lancashire long before the poultry-showing era, and were called by the peasants Black Pheasants. They had the rose comb, but it was much larger than in our present birds, and not nearly so well formed. They also had the white ear-lobe, despite the claims of many breeders that this desirable point came from a cross with the Spanish. There is no doubt that many Blacks have Spanish blood in them, and some prominent English breeders openly acknowledge its existence in their strains. But we have birds to-day that have never known a particle of Spanish blood in their composition, which possess superior qualities over those with the Spanish cross, and which have the white ear-lobe in all its beauty and perfection.
In a recent letter Mr. Beldon says: “The Black Hamburgs I remember perfectly well when I first began the poultry fancy some twenty-seven years ago, but they were not commonly bred at that time. They were a large bird, with rather coarse combs. Since then the Spanish cross has been used to produce them; in fact, I have known them to be bred from a Black Spanish and Spangled Hamburg, and by careful selection brought to much perfection, with better black plumage, bright red faces and pure white ear-lobes.”
Black Pheasants did not formerly possess the exquisite symmetry which is so marked in our present birds, being coarse and short-legged, while the most attention was paid to that resplendent greenish sheen which forms their chief attraction and renders them to-day the most beautiful of black fowls.
There have been many and clever expedients devised to show that the Black Hamburgs came from crossing. Mr. Seebay says: “I have been told by reliable persons that Black Pheasants have been shown for prizes, such as copper kettles, etc., more than a hundred years before my time. The true Silver-Spangled is almost black in one stage of its chicken plumage, and as I have known them produce chickens almost black, and as the shape of the Spangles and Blacks is exactly the same, I had always thought one sprung from the other.” This theory is the most plausible one we know of, and is also endorsed by Mr. Sergeantson. The most absurd assertion is that they are the result of a cross between the Golden-Spangled Hamburgs and the Spanish, which is easily refuted by our positive knowledge of their great age. There is no doubt but that some Black Hamburgs (so-called) have been made from this cross, as Mr. Beldon says; but the unfortunate breeder who gets any of these fowls into his yards, will soon discover from a plentiful sprinkling of single combs in his chicks and a general want of fixed characteristics, that he has been imposed upon. It is not of great importance to know exactly how they did originate, as from a practical point of view it is enough to know that they are now a firmly established breed of great beauty and undoubted excellence.