She possessed a head of coal black hair, tied in a single braid that extended below her waist, dark eyes, and a smile that lit up the room.
Thus various parts of criminals, such as the thigh bone of a hanged man, moss grown on a human skull, &c., were used, and even the celebrated Dr Culpeper in the 17th century recommended " the ashes of the head of a coal black cat as a specific for such as have a skin growing over their sight."
The varied plumage of the cock - his bright red breast and his grey back, set off by his coal-black head and quills - is naturally attractive; while the facility with which he is tamed, with his engaging disposition in confinement, makes him a popular cage-bird, - to say nothing of the fact (which in the opinion of so many adds to his charms) of his readily learning to "pipe" a tune, or some bars of one.
It resembles the Small White, except that the skin is coal-black in colour, and the coat of hair is not usually profuse.
In colour the majority are dark chocolate, others are coal-black (a tint much admired by the natives themselves) or dark yellow-brown.
