QUALITIES OF FAVEROLLES. 



469 



providing that they are given as much liberty 

 as possible, for after the first week they are 

 keen foragers on their own account without 

 being wild, and prefer food of their own find- 

 ing if it can be obtained. They are always in 

 good flesh, and consequently are very suitable 

 to rear for supplying peiits foussins ; this 

 object was kept prominently in mind at their 

 inception. The framers of the Standard also 

 appear to have drawn it up from a meat- 

 producing point of view ; perhaps rightly so, 

 for the breed has found much favour with the 

 fatters, some of whom declare it to be the 

 nearest approach to the old Sussex breed they 

 have met with for some time. The chickens 

 are white when hatched, and their nest feathers 

 are also white ; with each subsequent growth 

 more colour appears, but only in the final 

 change do the cockerels acquire a solid black 

 breast, so the weeding-out process must not be 

 too hastily conducted. They grow and mature 

 very quickly until the final change into adult 

 plumage, when, like Brahmas and Dorkings, 

 the feathers come rather slowly. 



" The claims of the Faverolles as a table 

 fowl seem to have obscured its excellent laying 

 qualities. Helped by its early maturing 

 quality, however, the Faverolles is also a good 

 winter and spring layer, not easily checked by 

 climatic changes. The eggs vary in colour 

 from white to deep brown ; most usually they 

 are a pale brown. Pullets' eggs are deficient in 

 size, but those from mature birds are above the 

 average. The hens are slow to come on broody, 

 though exemplary sitters and mothers, and if 

 checked from broodiness soon recommence 

 laying. 



" i'he breed when sufficiently established 

 should make the cocks suitable for crossing ; 

 the hens have been freely and successfully used 

 with Dorking and Indian Game cocks to pro- 

 duce table poultry. The early and continued 

 laying of the Faverolles hens, and the hardy 

 nature and rapid growth of their chickens, 

 make them superior to the Dorking for mating 

 with the Indian Game cocks." 



Although this breed has passed what may 

 be called a nascent or forming stage, it is not 

 uninteresting here to recall the remarks of Mr. 

 Lewis Wright with especial reference to the 

 Standard. Commenting on this, he said: "In 

 regard even to the value of the points, in such 

 a fowl as this 20 points for muffling and 25 for 

 colour seem to us injudiciously high compared 

 with 20 for s\'mmetry. But more especially we 

 are afraid that the colour laid down for the 

 two sexes of Salmon Faverolles will be found 

 incompatible, unless males and females are to 



be bred from different strains. The mainly 

 black and white of the cocks is not a com- 

 patible colour with the wheaten brown (free 

 from black) of the hens. The latter colour is 

 nearly the same as the pale-breasted wheaten 

 Sussex hens, and the match for this is a Black- 

 red cock : on the other other hand, such a colour 

 in cocks requires a tail in the hens edged with 

 black on the top. Rather more red in the 

 cock's top-colour and wings, and some black 

 in the top edge of the hen's tail, would make 

 all compatible. 



Although in the Poultry Club Standards 

 no cognisance is taken of any variety of the 

 Faverolles but the Salmon, this popular French 

 breed may now be seen in other colours, since 

 blacks, bufts, blues and whites have been on 

 exhibition during the past few years. The 

 white is the latest addition to the list, and will 

 apparently become much esteemed as a useful 

 and charming variety in the very near future. 



A number of other races of poultry are 

 known in different parts of France, and are 

 worthy of mention here. For the following 

 notes on these we are indebted to Mr. Edward 

 Brown, F.L.S., Secretary of the National 

 Poultry Organisation Society. It will be seen 

 that one breed mentioned is expressly ascribed 

 to the Langshan ; the Barbezieux has been 

 pronounced by many fanciers who have seen 

 it in France to be evidently a Minorca cross ; 

 and we have seen fowls produced by crossing a 

 Light Brahma cock with Houdan hens which 

 precisely resembled in all but their variable 

 combs both the description of the Bourbourg 

 fowl and the only specimen of the fowl itself 

 which we have ever seen. 



" Amongst the varieties of French poultry, 

 the La Bresse fowl occupies the premier posi- 

 tion in respect to its table qualities, if the 

 prices obtained for the best specimens may be 

 taken as evidence. The district 

 La Bresse where these fowls are bred com- 

 Fowls. prises part of the Department of 



Ain and Seine-et-Loire, that is, to 

 the south of the old province of Burgundy, 

 and in that district the poultry industry is a 

 very important branch of agriculture. For a 

 long period of time Bresse poulardes and 

 capons have had a great reputation for the 

 quality and delicacy of their flesh. It is stated 

 that so far back as the years 1 81 5 to 18 18, 

 when the city of Bourg was occupied by the 

 Allied Armies, the quality of the poultry was 

 so appreciated that the fame of these birds was 

 carried into other countries. 



" In shape the La Bresse fowls are distinctly 



