THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



to get into long grass when it rains, otherwise 

 the mortality is heavy, as they go right into 

 the mi3dle of it to search for food and get 

 wet to the skin, and wet is the worst enemy of 

 all young life. They are very precocious. I 

 have seen cockerels four to five weeks old at- 

 tempting to crow. From the fifth week on- 

 wards they present a matured appearance, and 

 those unacquainted with them think they are 

 bantams, so grown up they look. The pullets 

 also mature quickly and begin to lay from four 

 to four and a half months old. 



The breed is hardy, but it requires to be 

 well-housed in a well-ventilated house. It 

 does not flourish when the sleeping accommo- 

 dation is not sufficient. Those that have flour- 

 ished best with me have roosted in the apple 

 trees. 



In type I prefer to see a wedge-shaped bird 

 with a well-rounded breast, the bird presenting 

 a gay and fine appearance and devoid of j.11 

 coarseness. The tail should be well furnished, 

 the two long sickle feathers standing out at 

 an angle of forty-five degrees from the body. 

 There should also be a full supply of saddle 

 hackle. 



Exhibition. — There is no difficulty in exhi- 

 bitingthem, as they are always in condition and 

 rarely want washing. Three days in the pen 

 is sufficient to get them trained for show. 

 Cockerels and pullets can be bred from the 

 same pen. The first cockerel and first pullet 

 at both Dairy and Palace, 1 908, were brother 

 and sister. The birds do not look so striking 

 in the show pen as they do on a green run or 

 even in the hand. 



The difficulty in breeding exhibition speci- 

 mens is to combine in one and the same bird (a) 

 good neck hackle, (b) good breast, and (c) good 

 markings on the upper part of the body. It 

 is easy to get any two, but very difficult to get 

 all three. 



K great advance has been made in the last 

 four years, but there are still a great many 

 difficulties to overcome, and the Campine offers 

 a fair field to those who love breeding. In a 

 finished breed the novice stands no chance 

 against the experienced breeder, but with the 

 breed in its present state luck may come in and 

 help the novice and put him on equal terms 

 with the most expert breeders ; this I have seen 

 happen many a time. 



Mating. — Advice on mating must always re- 

 main a difficult matter as long as there is m.ore 

 than one way of obtaining the same result. 

 I can only just give a few hints as to how to 

 proceed. First select the male ; it is the easiest 

 (if not the only) way to determine first on the 



head of the pen. See he has the right head 

 points. Foremost see he is pure in colour, 

 black being black and white white, with as 

 much green lustre as possible. Let there be no 

 glaring fault, as red eye, for instance. Find 

 out his weak points, and see the hens are strong 

 in these points. Get well developed hens and 

 get them as regularly marked as possible, and 

 get those that are most free from mossiness and 

 have the best barred tips to their feathers. 

 Working on these lines, the novice will not go 

 far wrong, and in a few years should be able 

 to pick out his breeders instinctively. 



The following is the Poultry Club Standard 

 for Campines : — 



GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 



Head. — Skull : Moderately long ana aeep. and 

 incUned to width. Beak : Rather short. Eyes : 

 Prominent. Comb .■ Single, of medium size, up- 

 right, evenly serrated, free from excrescences, the 

 back carried well out but clear of the neck. Face : 

 Smooth. Ear-lobes : Of medium size, inclined to al- 

 mond shape, and free from wrinkles. Wattles : Fairly 

 long in proportion to the comb, and of fine texture. 



Neck. — Of medium length, and well furnished 

 with hackle. 



Body. — Broad, narrowing to the tail, close and 

 compact, rather long back, full and round breast, 

 large and neatly tucked wings. 



Tail. — Of good length, carried well out from the 

 bodv, and with broad and plentiful sickles and 

 secondaries. 



Legs and Feet. — Legs : Of medium length, and 

 shanks free of feathers. Toes : Four on each foot, 

 slender and well spread. 



Carriage. — Alert and graceful. 



Weight.— 7 lb. 



HEN 



With the exception of the Comb, which falls over 

 one side of the face, the general characteristics are 

 similar to those of the cock, allowing for the natural 

 sexual differences. 



Weight.— 5 lb. 



COLOUR 



Beak : Horn. Eyes : Iris, dark brown ; pupil, 

 black. Comb, Face, and Wattles : Bright red. Ear- 

 lobes : White. Legs and Feet : Leaden blue ; toe- 

 nails, horn. 



THE SILVER 



Plumage. — Head and Neck-hackle .■ Pure white. 

 Remainder of Plumage : Ground colour pure white, 

 and barring pure black with rich beetle-green sheen, 

 every feather being barred in a transverse direction 

 with the end white, the bars clear and with well 

 defined edges, running across the feather so as to 

 form, as near as possible, rings around the body, 

 and three times the width of the ground (white) 

 colour. On the breast and under-parts of the body 

 the barrings should be straight or shghtly curved, 

 but on the back, the shoulders, the saddle hackle, 

 and the tail of a V-shapcd pattern. The cock 



