UJTIVBESITY 



THE ORIGIN OF POULTRY BREEDS. 



CHAPTER I. 



HENRY HALES. 



KNOWLEDGE of the best methods of breeding and 

 rearing poultry and the origin of the various breeds, 

 as well as of the processes by which they were formed, 

 can be acquired only by deeper study than most peo- 

 ple imagine. It is not many years since earnest attention was 

 first given to this improvement or production, by careful selec- 

 tion, of the various forms and colors that distinguish the dif- 

 ferent varieties of the poultry of to-day. Still, at a very early 

 period some attention was, no doubt, given to fowls by man, 

 probably by merely keeping the most attractive-looking and 

 destroying the poorest, and in this way a few defined breeds 

 were distinguished in a crude way, as Chinese, Game and all 

 its varieties in India ; and Dorking, Hamburgs, Polish, French 

 and Spanish in Europe. It would take a long chapter to de- 

 scribe all the old types of these breeds, but from what we can 

 remember of them, or see in many old portraits, or learn from 

 ancient descriptions, the present breeds are in strong contrast 

 to their bygone prototypes. I do not mean that all the "im- 

 provements " are of practical value, for nature has her own 

 inviolable laws of compensation, and does not allow all the 

 good qualities and beauties to be centered in a single breed ; so 

 we find that each has its special merits and demerits, and the 

 more varieties we have, the more their characteristics vary. 

 In this lies the charm for the fancier ; he observes with admira- 

 tion and pride certain results from selection and careful breed- 

 ing ; but, lest he should become too conceited, nature sets a 

 limit to the possibilities of his work. 



