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CHAPTER XXXII 



OTHER CONTINENTAL BREEDS 



BESIDES the breeds generally recognised as 

 French, and described in the last chapter, 

 there are several known in other parts of 

 Europe which are distinct enough to be worth 

 description. We are only able to give details of 

 those originating in Belgium, Holland, and 

 Southern Russia, of which the Belgian breeds 

 are longest and best known in this country. 

 One of these, the Campine or Brackel fowl— 

 for there can be no doubt that both form essen- 

 tially one breed — has only lately attracted con- 

 siderable attention, and acquired considerable 

 popularity ; it will be convenient therefore to 

 describe it and other Belgian or Dutch breeds 

 first, and afterwards the most distinctive 

 Russian fowls. 



The fowls known as Campines are un- 

 doubtedly of great antiquity ; and it is in fact 

 quite evident, now we have them over here, that 

 they exactly answer to the G. 

 Campines. turcica or Turkish fowl of old 



Aldrovandus, which has been 

 already alluded to in treating of Pencilled 

 Hamburghs, and which is pictured as a single- 

 combed breed, with pencilling like a Ham- 

 burgh's, and the cock's body pencilled like the 

 hen's. Further, there are found both single and 

 Tose-combed Campines in Belgium, though 

 single combs are adopted in England to keep 

 the breed as distinct as possible ; and we have 

 said already that single combs still appear in 

 Hamburghs, and that old representations of 

 these also depict pencilled cocks as well as 

 hens. All the evidence is convergent, and 

 points to the breed here mentioned as being 

 the original of the old Chittiprat or Everyday 

 Layer, before the latter had been refined in 

 head and pencilling, at the expense of some 

 loss in size, hardihood, and prolificacy. It is 

 as a hardy fowl and prolific layer that the old 

 breed has been re-introduced into this country. 



The following notes upon Campines were 

 contributed to our last edition by Mr. Thomas 

 B. Bracken, Slyne Road, Lancaster, one of the 

 earliest exhibitors of the breed in this country. 



" I myself remember my parents keeping the 



old Chittiprat, and although I cannot remember 

 the points, I recognise a similarity to the present 

 day Campines. Isly poultry runs adjom the 

 great North Road, at a point where a rise in 

 the ground makes it convenient for pedestrians 

 who are no longer young, or who carrj- too 

 much adipose tissue, to take a view of the sur- 

 rounding scenery ; and in the summer time I 

 hear very many expressions of admiration for 

 my birds, the older generation calling them 

 Chittiprats, Bolton Greys, etc. etc. Frequently 

 I am asked what breed they are ; I reply 

 Campines (pronounced Kampeens), and it is 

 very amusing to hear the result : Campions and 

 Champions being the most familiar repetition, 

 Campies with the long i, occasionally but very 

 rarely indeed is it correctly repeated. 



" I was led to take up Campines by reading 

 an account of a tour through Belgium in .June, 

 1897, by Mr. Edward Brown and Mr. A. F. 

 Hunter (of Farm Poultry, Boston, U.S.A.), in 

 which the wonderful laying qualities of the 

 breed were referred to. Shortly afterwards I 

 imported eggs and birds from the late M. 

 Moons de Coen, Calmpthout, Antwerp, who 

 was, I believe, the leading Belgian breeder of 

 this variety. 



" The Campine, as is now generally known, 

 is a Belgian breed, and derives its name from a 

 large district in Belgium, extending from Ant- 

 werp to Hasselt in Limbourg. The breed is 

 undoubtedly a very old one ; indeed, the people 

 of the Campine district go so far as to say that 

 when Julius Cassar left their country, he took 

 back to Rome a number of these fowls, which 

 the Roman epicures pronounced ' food for the 

 gods.' Be this as it may, when chickens six to 

 seven weeks old, Campines are as plump as 

 partridges, and remarkably good eating. The 

 Belgians have, however, bred them chiefly with 

 a view to quantity and size of eggs, and not for 

 feather. The result is a remarkable layer of 

 good-sized white eggs. I regret I have not 

 been able to keep an exact record of quantity, 

 but a friend of mine in the hilly district of 

 north-west Westmorland wrote me in April, 

 igoo, as follows: 'I have four pullets hatched 



