Sulmtaler Sulmtaler The Sulmtaler is an Austrian breed of domestic chicken. It originates in the Sulmtal, the valley of the Sulm river, in southern Styria, in the south-east of Austria, and takes its name from that valley. Like the Altsteirer, the Sulmtaler derives from the country chickens raised in Styria, particularly in the Kainachtal, the Lassnitztal, the Sulmtal and the Saggautal. In the second half of the nineteenth century these were subjected to massive cross-breeding with imported Cochin, Dorking and Houdan stock to create heavy meat birds for fattening. In about 1900 some breeders brought together the small remaining stock of
Red-rumped swallow Red-rumped swallow The red-rumped swallow ("Cecropis daurica") is a small passerine bird in the swallow family. It breeds in open hilly country of temperate southern Europe and Asia from Portugal and Spain to Japan, India, Sri Lanka and tropical Africa. The Indian and African birds are resident, but European and other Asian birds are migratory. They winter in Africa or India and are vagrants to Christmas Island and northern Australia. Red-rumped swallows are somewhat similar in habits and appearance to the other aerial insectivores, such as the related swallows and the unrelated swifts (order Apodiformes). They have blue upperparts and