EUROPEAN BREEDS. 139 



in their prime when most fowls are too old for use; they 

 are long-lived. A hen has been known to bring up two 

 broods in a season when she was six years old. They are 

 most remarkable as foragers, being very active, industri- 

 ous workers; if they do not improve your garden, they 

 will find a good deal of their food on a farm or good run. 

 As table fowl, their praises have been often sounded. 

 They are second to none, and their cross with game pro- 

 duces a table fowl of absolutely supreme merit. 



GAME FOWLS. 



While the Asiatic, Leghorns, Hamburgs, Poland s, and 

 a host of other breeds, each have their champion advo- 

 cates, each claiming for their particular favorites all the 

 profitable good qualities, there are but few who advocate 

 the cause of the Game fowl, and really but few who fully 

 understand the superior qualities of this Royal Bird. 

 The origin and nationality of the Game fowl have always 

 been, and yet remain, a mooted question. 



The record of Game fowls is as old as the oldest writ- 

 ten history, wherein we find that the Persians, Greeks, 

 Romans, and a host of other nations, each had their na- 

 tive Game fowls. 



Games were known to the Britons, and cock-fighting 

 was carried on in England prior to Caesar's invasion, and 

 hundreds of years prior to the Christian era, cock-fight- 

 ing was an established institution with the Greeks and 

 Persians. China, Java, and the entire East Indies each 

 had their native Game fowls. 



Therefore, all theories advanced by naturalists as to the 

 origin of the Game fowl are wholly speculative. 



The Game fowl was regarded as sacred to the gods in 

 ancient times, and was used in ancient military schools 



