ORIGIN OF FAVEROLLES. 



467 



medium size, smooth and pure white. The 

 back should slope somewhat towards the tail, 

 and the keel be long and straight. The plumage 

 is close, of a glossy green-black, the legs dark 

 slate to almost black. In breeding, the combs, 

 absence or almost absence of crest, and good 

 ear-lobes chiefly need attention, the plumage 

 and general shape being usually very uniform. 

 This fowl lays large white eggs, which are 

 produced pretty freely and tolerably early 

 under favourable circumstances. On dry, suit- 

 able soils La Fleche chickens fledge rapidly, 

 and, with good and nourishing food and free- 

 dom from damp, are quite hardy. 



One of the most popular French breeds at 

 present — the Faverolles * — is of later creation. 

 Although the outcome of rather complicated 



crossing, it quickly took strong 

 Faverolles. hold upon English breeders, owing 



to its superb table qualities com- 

 bined with hardiness and quick growth, and 

 was not long in securing the support of a 

 Club and a place in the Standard. The follow- 

 ing article upon the points, qualities, and 

 breeding of the Faverolles was contributed by 

 the late Mr. J. P. W. Marx, Nottingham, well 

 known as having taken a leading part in 

 popularising and standardising the fowl. 



" Faverolles have for some time been common 

 in the northern part of France, where they were 

 regarded as simply useful fowls. They are the 

 result of crosses to produce good layers, par- 

 ticularly in winter, whose chickens are strong, 

 hardy, and quick-growing, with thin, white skin 

 and fine bone, abundantly covered with meat, 

 and lending themselves readily, if need be, 

 to artificial fattening. Brahmas or Cochins, 

 Dorkings, and Houdans were used to pro- 

 duce Faverolles ; and as the different varieties 

 of those breeds were used indiscriminately, the 

 Faverolles are met with of various colours, yet 

 with well-defined characteristics of habit, shape, 

 and quality. The salmon, and the white or 

 ermine varieties, gradually became most numer- 

 ous on account of their better laying and table 

 qualities A few seem to have been kept in 

 England about 1892 or 1S93, but little was 

 heard of them till 1896; since then they have 

 become scattered all over the country. 



" Whatever the colour of the Faverolles, the 

 general characteristics are the same. In both 

 sexes the comb is single, upright, medium in 

 size, with neat serrations and free from coarse- 



* Faverolles is the name of a place, and should properly be 

 always spelt with the terminal s. Such a word as FaveroUe is 

 a barbarism ; but it seems creeping in as the English form, and 

 perhaps cannot be helped. The effort should however be 

 made, to which end we make this direct mention of the matter. 



ness. This is a difficult point, since of the breeds 

 which were selected to make up the Faverolles, 

 the Dorking alone has a single comb which 

 falls over in the hen. The peculiar combs of the 

 Brahma and Houdan are strongly hereditary, 

 and thus all kinds of combs crop up in the 

 Faverolles, and most careful selection is required 

 to get and retain the correct type. The beard 

 and muffling should be very abundant, the 

 beard thick and full rather than long and thin. 

 These, again, being only found in one of 

 the original breeds — the Houdan— are difficult 

 to breed ; indeed, the head of the Faverolles is 

 one of its most characteristic and important 

 features. The head itself is broad and short, 

 with small, thin wattles and stout, short beak. 

 The head should be free from crest, which is 

 nearly bred out ; still there remain traces, par- 

 ticularly in the cocks, in the shape of a few 

 short, upright feathers either side of the comb, 

 which would only be noticed by a breeder who 

 has had experience in eradicating crested blood. 

 The short, stout neck is thickly covered with 

 rather close-fitting hackles. The body is broad, 

 deep, and wide ; the back very broad and flat ; 

 the breast is also broad, with the keel-bone 

 deep and prominent ; the whole giving a sturdy, 

 massive look to the fowl. Greater length of 

 keel and back is seen in the hen. The wings 

 show boldly in front, yet are distinctly small. 

 The thighs are short and set wide apart, with the 

 knees quite straight. The shanks are of medium 

 length. A dumpy, short-legged fowl is not 

 wanted, and the excessive shortness of leg 

 detracted very much from an otherwise capital 

 hen which was most successfully shown in 1900. 

 The leg should be fairly stout in bone without 

 being coarse, and be slightly feathered on the 

 outside down to the end of the outer toe. The 

 leg feather should be soft in texture, with no 

 sign of the vulture-hock too frequently met with. 

 The toes are five in number, and the extra or 

 fifth toe, as in the Dorking, should be clear and 

 distinct. The tail feathers and sickles are full 

 and broad ; the sickles incline, however, to be 

 short in length, and are carried rather upright, 

 as in the Brahma ; a large tail with long sickles 

 carried low or straight is not in keeping with the 

 build of the bird. The tail of the hen is fan- 

 shaped, and carried rather high. 



"Cocks should weigh 7 lbs. to 8i lbs. ; hens, 

 6 lbs. to 7 lbs. ; cockerels, 6i lbs. to jl lbs. ; and 

 pullets, 5 lbs. to 6i lbs. These weights are not 

 excessive, and are often exceeded, though gener- 

 ally at the expense of quality. 



" The colour of the Salmon Faverolles cock 

 is quite different from that of the hen. Some 

 are a mixture of black and silvery white, like 



