176 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



Game affords anothei illustration of this. 

 What Mr. Tegetmeier alleges about the trans- 

 formation of the old Game fowl into a stilty 



and useless breed, is unfortunately 

 Preservation too correct ; v'e have for years 

 of Breeds attempted to enforce lessons of this 

 by Fanciers, kind, and have no debate with any 



well-founded attempts on these lines. 

 But when he wrote, in 1S92, advising the use of 

 Old English Game instead, as a cross for the 

 table, he was obliged to say that these must be 

 sought in cock-fighting districts, and that a cross 

 was hardly ever seen. That is not so now. The 

 " fanciers " since then have reverted to a new 

 love of the old type ; they have taken it up and 

 exhibited it, and bred it largely. The conse- 

 quence is that, as we write to-day, the breed 

 can be obtained easily from many sources, and 

 is accordingly extensively used now as a cross, 

 which it was not before. So again, Mr. Teget- 

 meier recommends Indian Game for crossing. 

 That breed has been preserved, and even made, 

 by breeders for e.xhibition, and it is from them 

 it is now obtained. He gives a figure of a hen 

 " of good form," but which he declares, upon the 

 authority of the late Mr. Nichols, would now 

 be objected to by " fanciers " as being " too 

 prominent in the breast and not sufificiently 

 feathered in the neck." It is only needful to 

 state that the figure is one of an cxiiibition hen, 

 as drawn b)' Mr. Ludlow, and of the very same 

 type as in our plate to-day. 



It is unnecessary to set out in full detail the 

 similar mixture of truth and error which attends 

 the same writer's remarks upon other breeds. 

 It is but too true that the Brahma has been 

 spoilt ; not, indeed, by breeding to a standard, 

 but by breeding to the wrong standard of the 

 Cochin. It is true that the Spanish fowl is now 

 practically useless, but this has not come about 

 by breeding for white face. The Spanish stood 

 that for many years, and so long as the Bristol 

 breeders held together, and Lane, and Parsley, 

 and Rou6, and Jones, and Hyde were able to 

 exchange blood, as they constantly did, it did not 

 seem to lose its laying powers much, though 

 delicate from confinement, and though the 

 faces were then better than any seen lately. But 

 at last one invented the comb-cage, which 

 encouraged still larger combs than before. 

 With that came sterility (and, of course, want 

 of vigour in hatched eggs as well), the cause of 

 which was not then understood ; and finally, 

 when the Bristol phalanx and their stock were 

 all dispersed, single breeders of less experience, 

 and with no change of blood handy, rapidly lost 

 ground. Again, the large comb of the Redcap 

 is mentioned as " useless waste," due to fanciers; 



whereas the fact is that the Redcap has never 

 " taken " as a show fowl at all, and its comb is 

 generally believed, by those who keep it for its 

 useful qualities, to be associated with its enor- 

 mous laying powers. It is affirmed that " the 

 size and good qualities of the Houdan have 

 been greatly lessened." In real fact, it is 

 doubtful if the breed ever really took kindly 

 to this climate ; but those still kept are mostly 

 good layers, and at all events are, beyond 

 dispute, far larger than when imported. The 

 Wyandotte is pronounced "valueless," whereas 

 it is a most admirable layer, and when well 

 fed a good market fowl. But it is needless to 

 go farther in this direction, the more so as we 

 have admitted that if there be considerable 

 error, there is also in details too much truth. 

 It is more needful to see the fundamental 

 error ; to see why, instead of seeking practical 

 remedies, so many fly off into vague and whole- 

 sale condemnation which can bear no fruit. 



This was well brought out in Mr. Cresswell's 

 paper, already twice referred to. Mr. Teget- 

 meier throughout assumes that in the early days 

 of shows the fowls of the country 

 Tlie Charges were in all useful respects better 

 Based on a than now, and that without shows 

 Grave Error, g^^d the fanciers they would have 

 remained so. All that is known 

 points the other way. A vast mass of evidence 

 goes to prove that poultry are far more abundant 

 and of higher average quality than they were 

 fifty years ago ; and there is every ground to 

 fear that v/ithout the zeal of the fanciers the 

 breeds themselves would have been utterly lost 

 in mongrelism. None but fanciers (and, in the 

 case of Game fowls, cock-fighters) have ever 

 kept them up. As Mr. Cresswell ably pointed 

 out, locomotion has broken down old limits; 

 and the old pride of districts in their own special 

 products has given place to cosmopolitanism ; 

 and all the rage amongst farmers and feeders 

 lately has been for crosses, and " new " breeds 

 made by crossing. Everyone acquainted with 

 country and cottage life knows how true this is ; 

 and owing to such and analogous causes, the 

 varieties not preserved by fanciers have nearly 

 or quite disappeared. It has been so with the 

 Cuckoo Dorking just mentioned ; it was so with 

 the Old English Game, until the " fanciers " 

 took up the breed again ; it has been so with 

 the old grey-speckled and with the red Dork- 

 ings. There has been nothing in the world to 

 prevent farmers and market breeders from 

 breeding and keeping up, in their own way, 

 these and other varieties alleged to be so much 

 better ; nay, if there really is the necessary 

 antagonism here alleged between them and the 



