[1]Photographs (Figs. 4-8) from Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture.
[1]Photographs (Figs. 4-8) from Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture.
[1]Photographs (Figs. 4-8) from Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture.
Fig. 9.Chick ready to break shell
Development of the embryo in a bird's egg.The condition required to produce a live bird from a fertile egg is the continuous application of a temperature of about 102 or 103 degrees Fahrenheit from the time the heat is first applied until the embryo is fully developed and ready to emerge from the shell. In nature the heat is applied by contact with the bodies of the parent birds. Development of life will start in an egg at about 10 degrees below the temperature required to maintain it, but at this temperature the germ soon dies. The temperature in incubation may occasionally go higher than 103 degrees or may be as low as 70 degrees for a short time without injury to the germ. Some germs will stand greater extremes of temperature than others, just as some living creatures will.
The first stages of the development of life in the egg of a bird may be observed by holding the eggs before a strong light in a darkened room. White-shelled eggs are the best for thispurpose. In about thirty-six hours from the beginning of incubation it will be found that the germ has turned red, and little red veins radiate from it somewhat like the legs of a spider. For several days the egg is quite translucent and the yolk shows plainly. As the germ grows, the contents of the egg become clouded and dense, and the air space at the large end of the egg is clearly defined, the density being greatest near it. From the time that the egg becomes dense, observations of development must be made by breaking one or more eggs daily or every few days, according to the number available for observation.
Fig. 10.Egg before exclusion and partially excluded chick
Fig. 11.Light Brahma (day old)
The embryo grows until it fills the egg. The mere application of heat to the egg has gradually transformed that little germ and the yellow and white of egg into bones, flesh, skin (and, in some cases, down), and all the organs of a living creature. When the embryo has filled the shell, it lies curled up, usually with the head at the large end of the egg and the beak almost touching the shell, at about one third of the distance from the large to the small end of the egg. At the point of the beak of the young bird on the curved tip of the upper mandible is a small horny scale. Without this scale it would be hard for the embryo to break the shell because itcannot, as it lies, strike it a direct blow with the point of its beak. This scale is a remarkable character. Its only use is to help the bird out of the shell. A few days after exclusion it disappears.
If you take a hen's egg about the eighteenth or the nineteenth day of incubation and hold it closely in your hand, you may be able to feel the chick move. If your hand is a little bit cold, the chick is much more likely to squirm in the egg and may utter a peep. If, with the egg in a warm hand, you hold it to your ear, you will about this time hear an occasional tap, tap, caused by the chicken striking its beak against the shell. The tapping is kept up more or less steadily until the shell cracks where the point of the beak strikes it and a little piece is broken out. The chick usually rests awhile now,—perhaps for some hours,—then resumes the attack on the shell. It turns in the shell, breaking out little pieces as it turns, until there is a crack nearly all the way around, when, by pushing with its head and feet, it forces the shell apart and sprawls out of it.
The process is the same for all birds, except that those that take longest to develop in the shell take a longer rest after first breaking it. The young of aërial birds, which are naked when hatched, are ugly little things. Young poultry, too, are almost repulsive with their sprawling forms and the wet down plastered to the skin, but in a few hours they grow strong, the down dries and becomes fluffy, the bright little eyes seem to take in everything, and they are the most attractive of all baby animals.
The three general classes of domestic birds include few species but many varieties, and, outside of the distinct varieties, an indefinite number of individual types. Where varieties are as numerous as in the fowl, which has about three hundred, and the pigeon, which has a much greater number, the differences between them are often very slight. Sometimes the form of a single small character is the only distinguishing feature. But, if this is a fixed character, the variety is distinct. Where there are so many varieties it is hard to make short, appropriate descriptive names for all, if considered simply as varieties. For such diversity there must be a more extended classification. Such a classification, growing gradually with the increase in the number of varieties, will not be consistent throughout. Hence to understand clearly the relations of the artificial divisions of species in domestication we must know what a species is and how these divisions arise.
Definition of species.Species are the natural divisions of living things. Each plant and animal species retains its distinctive character through long ages because the individuals composing it can produce perfect offspring only (if asexual) of themselves, or (if bisexual) with others of their species.
The self-isolation of species is well illustrated when similar plants grow together, as grasses in the same field and practically on the same spot; yet year after year all the old kinds are found and no new ones such as might come from a mixture of two kinds, if they would mix. In the higher animals, where the parent forms are of different sexes, they choose mates of theirown kind, and so each species remains distinct; but if in a species there are many different types, such as we find in domestic fowls, the members of the species, when free to do so, mate as readily with types quite different from their own as with individuals exactly like them, and produce offspring of intermediate types with all the essential characters of the species. In domestication individuals of distinct yet similar species are sometimes mated and produce offspring called hybrids, but these are sterile. The mule, which is a hybrid between the ass and the mare, is the most familiar animal of this kind. Hybrid, or mule, cage birds are produced by crossing the canary with several allied species. Among other domestic birds hybrids are almost unknown.
Origin of species.Until near the close of the last century it was commonly believed that each species had been created in perfect form and that species were unchangeable; but long before that time some keen students of the natural sciences and close observers of the changes that take place in plants and animals in domestication had discovered that species were not perfectly stable and were changing slowly. Geologists established the fact that the earth, instead of being only a few thousand years old, had existed for countless centuries. Among fossil remains of creatures unlike any now known they had found also other forms which appeared to be prototypes of existing species. The idea that the forms of life now on the earth had come from earlier and somewhat different forms had occurred to several scientists more than a hundred years ago, but it was not until about 1860 that a satisfactory explanation of progressive development of forms of life was given to the world. This mode of creation is called evolution.
The theory of evolution is that partly through their own inherent tendency to vary and partly through the influence of external things which affect them, all organisms change slowly; that things of the same kind, separated and living under differentconditions, may in time so change that they become separate species; and that this process may be repeated indefinitely, the number of species constantly increasing and becoming more diversified and more highly developed.
Such a theory would not be entitled to serious consideration unless it was known that the earth was millions of years old, because we know that races of fowls separated for over three thousand years (and perhaps twice as long) and developed into quite different varieties will breed together as readily as those of the same variety. But when it is certain that the earth is so old that there has been ample time for changes in living forms that would require periods of time beyond our comprehension, some of the relations of varieties and species of birds have an important bearing on the theory of evolution.
As in the case of fowls just noted, we find that domestic ducks of the same species, after a separation of several thousand years, breed freely together. But our domestic ducks are not, like the fowls, all of the same species, and if individuals of different species are paired they produce only a few weak hybrids. Our domestic geese are probably descended from two wild varieties, but races that were not brought together for thousands of years after they were domesticated are perfectly fertile together, while when mated with the American Wild Goose, which is not domesticated but will breed in captivity, they produce only hybrids. The general resemblance between geese and ducks is very striking, yet they will not breed together at all.
A comparison of these facts indicates that while three thousand, or even five or six thousand, years of separation may not be enough to break down the natural affinity of varieties of the same species, separation and difference of development will eventually make of varieties distinct species, a union of which will produce only hybrids, while a longer separation and further increase of differences makes the break between the species absolute and they will not breed together at all.
Natural varieties.A species having developed as a variety of an earlier species will continue to develop as one variety or as several varieties, according to conditions. If a part of a species becomes so separated from the rest that intercourse ceases, each division of the species may become a well-defined variety.
Varieties in domestication.How a species when domesticated breaks up into varieties is well illustrated by the case of the fowl. The original wild species has long disappeared, but there is good reason to suppose that in size and color it was something between a Brown Pit Game and a Brown Leghorn. The birds were smaller than most fowls seen in this country to-day. The prevailing color was a dull brown, because that color best conceals a small land bird from its enemies. Fowls that were domesticated and given good care and an abundance of food would usually grow larger than the wild stock. Thus if any person, or the people generally in any community, systematically gave their fowls good care, a variety of unusual size would be developed.
Different colors would also appear in the flocks of fowls, because the birds of unusual colors would be protected and preserved, instead of being destroyed as they usually are in the wild state. Other peculiarities, too, such as large combs, crests, and feathered legs, would be developed in some lands and neglected in others. This is how it happened that after thousands of years in domestication the races of fowls in different parts of the world were quite different in size and form, but alike in being of many colors.
From a species in this condition modern poultry breeders have made hundreds of distinct varieties. The easiest method of making a variety in domestication is to select specimens for breeding as near the desired type as possible, and to breed only from a few individuals in each generation which come nearest to the ideal type. In this way a variety that breeds quite true to the type may be established in from three or four to eight orten years, according to the number of characters to be established as distinctive of the variety. Varieties are also made by crossing unlike individuals. This process is longer than the other, and sometimes requires a series of crosses to produce specimens approximating the ideal sought. After such specimens have been obtained the method is the same as in the first case. A variety is commonly considered to be well established when the greater part of the specimens produced are easily identified as of that variety. But no domestic variety is ever established in the sense that a species is. All are artificial, produced by compulsory separation and preserved only as long as it is continued.
Classification of domestic varieties of birds.Domestic varieties of all kinds of live stock were at first mostly shape-varieties; that is, the individuals of a variety were alike in shape but of various colors. This is the case still with some varieties. These shape-varieties are mostly the common types of certain countries or districts. Thus the Leghorn fowl is the common fowl of Italy, and the Houdan is a type common in a small district in France. Such shape-varieties are calledbreeds. When other types were made by crossing such breeds they also were called breeds.
When people first began to be interested in the improvement of live stock, the popular idea of a breed was that it was a domestic species, and there are still many people who hold this view. This popular misconception of the nature of a breed is responsible for much of the inconsistency and confusion in the ordinary classifications of domestic varieties. To it also is due the use of the term "variety" to apply especially to color-varieties, which are the principal divisions of breeds.
In the classification of domestic birds avarietyis properly a color-variety of a breed. Thus in the Plymouth Rock breed there are six color-varieties—barred, white, buff, partridge, silver-penciled, and ermine (called Columbian); and in Fantail Pigeonsthere are six color-varieties—white, blue, black, red, yellow, and silver. Birds of the same breed (shape) and the same variety (color) may differ in some other character, as the form of the comb or the presence or absence of feathers in certain places. In accordance with such differences varieties are divided intosubvarieties. Thus, in Leghorn Fowls the brown, white, and buff varieties have single-combed and rose-combed subvarieties.
In any breed, variety, or subvariety certain families are sometimes distinguished for general or special excellence of form or color. Such a family is called astrain.
Systematic mixtures of breeds and varieties.Although so many distinct varieties have been developed from common domestic stocks, the improved races do not always displace the mongrels. When the old mongrels disappear their place is often taken by a new mongrel stock produced by mixtures of the distinct breeds with each other and with the old mongrel race. The greater part of such stock is so mixed that its relation to any established breed could not be determined or expressed, but systematic mixtures are sometimes made, and to describe these the following terms are used:Crossbred—having parents of different, distinct breeds, varieties, or subvarieties. A Leghorn male mated with a Cochin female produces offspring each of which is in blood one half Leghorn and one half Cochin.Grade—having more than half of the blood of a breed.
If the offspring of a cross such as is described in the preceding paragraph are mated with birds of one of the parent breeds, the offspring of this mating will have three fourths of the blood of that breed. If these in turn are mated to birds of the same pure breed, the offspring will have seven eighths of the blood of that breed. Animals bred in this way are calledgradesuntil the process has been carried so far that they are practically pure-bred. Mongrel stock is often graded up in this way. As a rule stock that is seven eighths pure is not distinguishable from average pure stock of the same breed.
Pure-bred, thoroughbred, and standard-bred.Apure-bredanimal is, strictly speaking, one having the blood only of the variety to which it belongs. From what has been said of the making of breeds and varieties it is plain that absolute purity of blood is not a universal attribute of well-bred domestic birds. Athoroughbredanimal is one that is thoroughly bred for some purpose or to some type. Astandard-bredanimal is one that is bred especially to conform to requirements agreed upon by breeders and exhibitors.
A great deal of misapprehension and confusion in the use of these terms has been caused by the attitude of those who maintain that the term "thoroughbred," having been used as a name for highly bred running horses, cannot properly apply to any other kind of live stock, and that "pure-bred" should apply to all thoroughly bred races. The noun "Thoroughbred" is the name of a breed of horses. The adjective "thoroughbred" is common property. Writers on aviculture who wish to be accurate prefer it in many instances to "pure-bred" because absolute purity of blood is rare and is not of the importance in breeding that novices usually suppose. Not only are many new varieties made by crossing, but in long-established breeds outcrosses are regularly made to restore or intensify characters.
To illustrate the use of the three terms in application to a single breed: A stock of Light Brahmas might be kept pure for half a century, yet at the end of that period might have changed its type entirely. It might be so deteriorated that it was worth less than common mongrels; yet it is pure-bred stock. Another stock of the same variety might be bred for table qualities, egg-production, and the same principal color-characteristics of the variety, but without attention to the fine points of fancy breeding. Such a stock is thoroughbred but not standard-bred.
Fig. 12.Pet fowls—White Wyandottes and Game Bantams. (Photograph from Dr. J. C. Paige, Amherst, Massachusetts)
The most useful of all birds is the common fowl, seen on almost every farm and in the back yards of many city and village homes. The fowl takes to the conditions of domestic life better than any other land bird. It is more cleanly in its habits, more productive, more intelligent, and more interesting than the duck, which ranks next in usefulness. Fowls supply nearly all the eggs and the greater part of the poultry meat that we use. Their feathers are of less value than those of ducks, geese, and turkeys. In the days when feather beds were common they were made usually of the body feathers of fowls. Now the feathers of fowls are used mostly for the cheaper grades of pillows and cushions, and in the making of feather boas and like articles. The wing and tail feathers have beenmuch used for decorating ladies' hats, and since the use of small wild birds in millinery decorations has been prohibited, the hackle feathers of cocks are quite extensively used in trimming hats.
Fig. 13.Single-combed Rhode Island Red male[2]
Fig. 14.Rose-combed Rhode Island Red female[2]
[2]Photograph from Lester Tompkins, Concord, Massachusetts.
[2]Photograph from Lester Tompkins, Concord, Massachusetts.
[2]Photograph from Lester Tompkins, Concord, Massachusetts.
Description.Ordinary fowls are rather small land birds. The males at maturity weigh from four to five pounds each, and the females about a pound less. They are plump, rugged, and very active. If treated well they are bold, and with a little attention can easily be made very tame. If neglected and abused, they become shy and wild. The most striking peculiarities of the fowl are the fleshy comb and wattles which ornament the head, and the full tail which is usually carried well up and spread perpendicularly. The head appendages vary much in size and form. They are sometimes very small, but never entirely wanting. The carriage of the tail also varies, but except in a few breeds bred especially for low tails it is noticeably high as compared with that of other poultry. Fowlsare readily distinguished from other birds by the voice. The male crows, the female cackles. These are their most common calls, but there are other notes—some common to both sexes, some peculiar to one—which are the same in all races of fowls. An abrupt, harsh croak warns the flock that one of their number has discerned a hawk or noticed something suspicious in the air. A slowly repeated cluck keeps the young brood advised of the location of their mother. If she finds a choice morsel of food, a rapid clicking sound calls them about her. When she settles down to brood them she calls them with a peculiar crooning note. The male also cackles when alarmed, and when he finds food calls his mates in the same way that the female calls her young under the same circumstances. Other poultry and sometimes even cats and dogs learn this call and respond to it. If the food discovered is something that a stronger animal wants, the bird making the call may lose it because of his eagerness to share the treasure with the members of his family.
In adult fowls the male and female are readily distinguished by differences in appearance as well as by the voice. The comb and wattles of the male are larger, and after he has completed his growth are always of the same size and a bright red in color. In the female the comb is much smaller than that of a male of the same family, and both size and color vary periodically, the comb and wattles being larger and the whole head brighter in color when the female is laying. The tail of the male is also much larger than that of the female and has long plumelike coverts. The feathers of his back and neck are long, narrow, and flowing, and in many varieties are much brighter in color than the corresponding feathers on the female. The male has a short, sharp spur on the inside of each leg, a little above the hind toe. Occasionally a female has spurs, but they are usually very small. With so many differences between male and female the sex of an adult fowl is apparent at a glance. In the young of breeds which have large combs the males begin togrow combs when quite small, and so the sex may be known when they are only a few weeks old. In other breeds the sex may not be distinguished with certainty until the birds are several months old, or, in some cases, until they are nearly full-grown.
Fig. 15.White Polish male (crowing) and female. (Photograph from Leontine Lincoln Jr., Fall River, Massachusetts)
The adult male fowl is called acock, and also, in popular phrase, arooster. The adult female fowl is called ahen. The word "hen" is the feminine form ofhana, the Anglo-Saxon name for the cock. It is likely that the name "cock," which it is plain was taken from the first syllable of the crow of the bird, was gradually substituted forhanabecause it is shorter.Hanameans "the singer." A young fowl is called achickenuntil thesex can be distinguished. After that poultry fanciers call the young male acockereland the young female apullet. The word "pullet" is also used by others, but the popular names for a cockerel arecrowerandyoung rooster. The word "cockerel," as is seen at a glance, is the diminutive of "cock." The word "pullet," sometimes spelledpoulet, is a diminutive from the Frenchpoule, "a hen."
Origin of the fowl.Of the origin of the fowl we have no direct knowledge. It was fully domesticated long before the beginnings of history. There is no true wild race of fowls known. For a long time it was commonly held that theGallus Bankiva, found in the jungles of India, was the ancestor of all the races of the domestic fowl, but this view was not accepted by some of the most careful investigators, and the most recent inquiries into the subject indicate that the so-calledGallus Bankivais not a native wild species but a feral race, that is, a race developed in the wild from individuals escaped from domestication.
Appearance of the original wild species.The likeness of the fowls shown in ancient drawings to the ordinary unimproved stock in many parts of the world to-day shows that—except as by special breeding men have developed distinct races—fowls have not changed since the most remote times of which records exist. From the constancy of this type through this long period it is reasonably inferred that no marked change in the size and shape of the fowl had occurred in domestication in prehistoric times, and therefore that the original wild fowl very closely resembled fowls which may be seen wherever the influence of improved races has not changed the ordinary type. The particular point in which the wild species differed from a flock of ordinary domestic fowls was color. Domestic fowls, unless carefully bred for one color type, are usually of many colors. In the wild species, as a rule, only one color would be found, and that would be brown, which is the prevailing color among small land birds.
Distribution of fowls in ancient times.From drawings and descriptions on ancient tablets and from figures on old coins it appears that the fowl was familiar to the Babylonians seven thousand years ago, and that it was introduced into Egypt about 4600b.c.Chinese tradition gives 1400b.c.as the approximate date of the introduction of poultry into China from the West. At the time of the founding of Rome the fowl was well known throughout Northern Africa, and in the Mediterranean countries of Europe as far west as Italy and Sicily. It was also known in Japan at this time. Whether it was known in India is uncertain; if not, it was brought there soon after. It is supposed that immediately following their conquests in Central and Western Europe the Romans introduced their poultry into those regions. Thus, at about the beginning of the Christian Era, the fowl was known to all the civilized peoples of the Old World and had been introduced to the less civilized races of Europe.
Fig. 16.Light Brahma cockerel
Development of principal races of fowls.There is no evidence that any of the ancient civilized peoples made any effort to improve the fowl, nor have any improved races been produced in the lands where those civilizations flourished. Outside of this area many different types were gradually developed to suit the needsor the tastes of people in different countries and localities. Thus in the course of centuries were produced from the same original wild stock fowls as unlike as the massive Brahma, with feathered legs and feet, and the diminutive Game Bantam; the Leghorn, with its large comb, and the Polish, with only the rudiments of a comb and in its place a great ball of feathers; the Spanish, with monstrous development of the skin of the face, and the Silky, with dark skin and hairlike plumage. Except in a few limited districts these special types did not displace the ordinary type for many centuries. Until modern times they were hardly known outside of the districts or the countries where they originated. Of the details of their origin nothing is known. They were not of the highly specialized and finished types such as are bred by fanciers now. Their distinctive features had been established, but in comparatively crude form. The refining and perfecting of all these types has been the work of fanciers in Holland, Belgium, England, and America in modern times. These fanciers have also developed new races of more serviceable types.
Fig. 17.Light Brahma hen
Fig. 18.Red Pile Game Bantam cock
Fig. 19.Red Pile Game Bantam hen
How fowls were kept in old times.Less than a century ago it was quite a common practice among the cottagers of England and Scotland to keep their fowls in their cottages at night. Sometimes a loft, to which the birds had access by a ladder outside, was fitted up for them. Sometimes perches for the fowls were put in the living room of the cottage. Such practices seem to us wrong from a sanitary standpoint, but it is only within very recent times that people have given careful attention to sanitation, and in old times, when petty thieving was more common than it is now, there was a decided advantage in having such small domestic animals as poultry and pigs where they could not be disturbed without the owner's knowing it. The practice of keeping fowls in the owner's dwelling seems to have been confined to the poorer people, who had no large domestic animals for which they must provide suitable outbuildings. On large farms special houses were sometimes provided for poultry, but they were probably oftener housed with other animals, for few people thought it worth while to give them special attention.
Fig. 20.White-Faced Black Spanish cockerel. (Photograph from R. A. Rowan, Los Angeles, California)
Throughout all times and in all lands the common domestic birds have usually been the special charge of the women and children of a household. In some countries long-established custom makes the poultry the personal property of the wife. A traveler in Nubia about seventy years ago states that there the henhouse, as well as the hens, belonged to the wife, and if a man divorced his wife, as the custom permitted, she took all away with her.
Fig. 21.Silver-Spangled Polish cock and hen. (Photograph from Leontine Lincoln Jr., Fall River, Massachusetts)
The flocks of fowls were usually small in old times. It was only in areas adjacent to large cities that a surplus of poultry or eggs could be disposed of profitably, and as the fowls were almost always allowed the run of the dooryard, the barnyard,and the outbuildings, the number that could be tolerated, even on a large farm, was limited. As a rule the fowls were expected to get their living as they could, but in this they were not so much worse off than other live stock, or than their owners. But, while this was the ordinary state of the family flock of fowls, there were frequent exceptions. The housewife who is thrifty always manages affairs about the house better than the majority of her neighbors, and in older poultry literature there are occasional statements of the methods of those who were most successful with their fowls, which we may well suppose were methods that had been used for centuries.
Fig. 22.Black Langshan cock. (Photograph from Urban Farms, Buffalo, New York)
Modern conditions and methods.About a hundred years ago people in England and America began to give more attention to poultry keeping, and to study how to make poultry (especially fowls) more profitable. This interest in poultry arose partly because of the increasing interest in agricultural matters and partly because eggs and poultry were becoming more important articles of food. Those who studied the situation found that there were two ways of making poultry more profitable. One way, which was open to all, was to give the birds better care; the other was to replace the ordinary fowls with fowls of an improved breed. So those who were much interestedbegan to follow the practices of the most successful poultry keepers that they knew, and to introduce new breeds, and gradually great changes were made in the methods of producing poultry and in the types of fowls that were kept in places where the interest in poultry was marked.
Nearly all farmers now keep quite large flocks of fowls. Many farmers make the most of their living from poultry, and in some places nearly every farm is devoted primarily to the production of eggs and of poultry for the table. Fowls receive most attention, although, as we shall see, some of the largest and most profitable farms are engaged in producing ducks. In the suburbs of cities and in villages all over the land many people keep more fowls now than the average farmer did in old times. These city poultry keepers often give a great deal of time to their fowls and still either lose money on them or make very small wages for the time given to this work, because they try to keep too many in a small space, or to keep more than they have time to care for properly.
Fig. 23.Black Langshan hen. (Photograph from Urban Farms, Buffalo, New York)
The breeding of fancy fowls is also an important pursuit. Those who engage in this line on a large scale locate on farms, but many of the smaller breeders live in towns, and the greater number of the amateur fanciers who breed fine fowls for pleasure are city people.
On large poultry farms the work is usually done by men. There are many small plants operated by women. The ordinaryfarm and family flocks are cared for by women and children much oftener than by men, because, even when the men are interested in poultry, other work takes the farmer away from the vicinity of the house, and the city man away from home, so much that they cannot look after poultry as closely as is necessary to get the best results. Many women like to have the care of a small flock of fowls, because it takes them outdoors for a few minutes at intervals every day, and the eggs and poultry sold may bring in a considerable amount of pin money. Many boys, while attending the grammar and high schools, earn money by keeping a flock of fowls. Some have saved enough in this way to pay expenses at college for a year or more, or to give them a start in a small business. When there are both boys and girls in a family, such outdoor work usually falls to the lot of a boy. A girl can do just as well if she has the opportunity and takes an interest in the work.
Fig. 24.Pit Game cock. (Photograph from W. F. Liedtke, Meriden, Connecticut)
Native fowls in America.To appreciate the influence of improved races of fowls from various parts of the Old World upon the development of poultry culture in America, we must know what the fowls in this country were like when poultry keepers here began to see the advantages of keeping better stock, and must learn something of the history of the improved races in the countries from which they came.
Fig. 25.Dominique cockerel. (Photograph from W. H. Davenport, Coleraine, Massachusetts)
When we speak of native fowls in America we mean fowls derived from the stocks brought here by the early settlers. The fowl was not known in the Western Hemisphere until it was brought here by Europeans. Britain, France, Spain, Holland, and Sweden all sent colonists to America, and from each of these countries came, no doubt, some of the ordinary fowls of that country. Perhaps improved varieties came from some of these lands in early colonial times, but the only breeds that retained their identity sufficiently to have distinctive names were the Game Fowls, which came mostly from England, and the Dominiques (bluish-gray barred fowls which probably came from Holland or from the north of France, where fowls of this type were common).
Fig. 26.Dominique hen. (Photograph from Skerritt and Son, Utica, New York)
The Game Fowls, being prized for the sport of cockfighting, were often bred with great care, but the Dominique fowls (also called cuckoo fowls and hawk-colored fowls) were mixed with other stock, and the name was commonly given to any fowl ofthat color, until after the improvement of fowls began. Then some people collected flocks of fowls of this color and bred them for uniformity in other characters. Well-bred fowls, however, were comparatively rare. Most of the stock all through the country was of the little mongrel type until about the middle of the last century. Then that type began to disappear from New England, New York, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania. It remained longer in the Northern states west of the Allegheny Mountains and a generation ago was still the most common type in the upper Mississippi Valley. It is now unknown outside of the Southern states, and within ten or twenty years it will disappear entirely.
Fig. 27.Silver-Gray Dorking cock
Fig. 28.Silver-Gray Dorking hen
Old European races of fowls.With the exception of the Leghorn, most of the distinct breeds of European origin were brought from England, and the types introduced were not the types as developed in the placeswhere the breeds (other than English breeds) originated, but those types as modified by English fanciers. In America, again, most of these breeds have been slightly changed to conform to the ideas of American fanciers. So, while the breed characters are still the same as in the original stocks, the pupil looking at birds of these breeds to-day must not suppose that it was just such birds that came to this country from seventy to a hundred years ago, or that, if he went to the countries where those races originated, he would find birds just like those he had seen at home. Except in the case of the distinctly English breeds, such as the Dorking and the Cornish Indian Game, which are bred to greater perfection in their native land than elsewhere, he would find most of the European races not so highly developed in the countries where they originated as in England and America, where fanciers are more numerous.
Fig. 29.Single-Comb Brown Leghorn cockerel. (Photograph from Grove Hill Poultry Yards, Waltham, Massachusetts)
Fig. 30.Rose-Comb Buff Leghorn hen. (Photograph from H. J. Fisk, Falconer, New York)
Italian fowls.Strictly speaking, the Italian fowls in Italy are not an improved race. The fowl which is known in this country as the Leghorn fowl (because the first specimens brought here came from the port of Leghorn) is the common fowl of Italy and has changed very little since it was introduced into that country thousands of years ago. It is found there in all colors, and mostly with a single comb. The Italian type is of particular interest, not only because of its influence in modern times, but because from it were probably derived most of the other European races. Italian fowls were first brought to this country about 1835, but did not attract popular attention until twenty-five or thirty years later.
Fig. 31.Silver-Spangled Hamburg cock[3]
Fig. 32.Silver-Spangled Hamburg hen[3]
[3]Photograph from Dr. J. S. Wolfe, Bloomfield, New Jersey.
[3]Photograph from Dr. J. S. Wolfe, Bloomfield, New Jersey.
[3]Photograph from Dr. J. S. Wolfe, Bloomfield, New Jersey.
English races of fowls.It is supposed that fowls were introduced into Britain from Italy shortly after the Roman conquest. The type was probably very like that of ordinary Leghorn fowls of our own time, but with smaller combs. From such stock the English developed two very different races, the Pit Game and the Dorking. Game fowlswere bred in all parts of the kingdom, but the Dorkings were a local breed developed by the people in the vicinity of the town of Dorking, where from very early times the growing of poultry for the London market was an important local industry. Each in its way, these two breeds represent the highest skill in breeding. In the Old English Game Fowl, symmetry, strength, endurance, and courage were combined to perfection. The Dorking is the finest type of table fowl that has ever been produced.
Fig. 33.White-Crested Black Polish cock[4]
Fig. 34.White-Crested Black Polish hen[4]
[4]Photograph from Charles L. Seely, Afton, New York.
[4]Photograph from Charles L. Seely, Afton, New York.
[4]Photograph from Charles L. Seely, Afton, New York.
German and Dutch races.The breeds now known as Hamburgs and Polish are of peculiar interest to a student of the evolution of races of fowls, because they present some characters not readily derived from the primitive type of the fowl. The feather markings of some varieties of both these breeds are unlike those of other races, and are markings which would not be likely to become established unless the fowls were bred systematically for that purpose. So, too, with the large crest of thePolish fowl: to carry it the structure of the head must be changed. Such changes require systematic breeding for a long period. Dutch and German artists of the sixteenth century painted many farmyard scenes showing fowls of both these types, frequently in flocks with common fowls and with some that appear to be a mixture. To any one versed in the breeding of poultry this indicates that these peculiar types had been made by very skillful breeders long before. The most reasonable supposition is that these breeders were monks in the monasteries of Central Europe. Throughout the Middle Ages the monks of Europe, more than any other class of men, worked for improvement in agriculture as well as for the advancement of learning.
Fig. 35.Houdan cock. (Photograph from the Houdan Yards, Sewickley, Pennsylvania)
Fig. 36.White Minorca hen. (Photograph from Tioga Poultry Farm, Apalachin, New York)
French races.The Houdan is the only French breed well known in America. It is of the Polish type, but heavier, andthe plumage is mottled irregularly, not distinctly marked as in the party-colored varieties of Polish. The breed takes its name from the town of Houdan, the center of a district in which this is the common type of fowl.
Spanish races.The fowls of Spanish origin well known outside of Spain are the White-faced Black Spanish, the Black Minorca, and the Blue Andalusian. The fowls of Spain at the present time are mostly of the Italian type, with black (or in some districts blue) the predominant color. The Black Spanish seems to have been known in Holland and England for two hundred years or more. In Spain the white face is but moderately developed. The monstrous exaggeration of this character began in Holland and was carried to the extreme by British fanciers who admired it.
Fig. 37.Black Minorca cock. (Photograph from Arthur Trethaway, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)
The Black Minorca is supposed to have been brought to England direct from Spain about a century ago. There it was bred to much greater size, with the comb often so large that it was a burden to the fowl. Blue Andalusians, at first called Blue Spanish and Blue Minorcas, were first known in England about 1850.
Asiatic races of fowls.The evolution of races of fowls in the Orient gave some general results strikingly different from those in Europe. As far as is known, after the introduction of fowlsinto China and India some thousand years ago the stock which went to those countries and that which descended from it was completely isolated from the fowls of Western Asia, Africa, and Europe until the eighteenth century. When commerce between Europe, India, and the East Indies began, the Europeans found in these countries fowls of a much more rugged type than those of Europe. Some of these fowls were much larger than any that the visitors had seen. The Aseel of India was a small but very strong, stocky type of Game. Among the Malayans the common fowl was a large, coarse type of Game. The hens of these breeds laid eggs of a reddish-brown color, while hens of all the races of Europe laid white eggs. Birds of both these types were taken to England early in the last century, and perhaps in small numbers before that time.
Fig. 38.Buff Cochin hen[5]
Fig. 39.Buff Cochin cock[5]