68 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRD LIFE 



breeder was tempted to perpetuate them. "With 

 his meager knowledge he selected along the lines 

 of least resistance. 



From their earliest beginnings, however, the 

 United States and Canada, Australia and many 

 colonial possessions of Great Britain, did not take 

 so kindly to the production of fancy fowl as the 

 older countries. With them life was a struggle 

 for existence; the pioneers of a new land could 

 not afford to waste their energies on material 

 which brought no economic return. Their atten- 

 tion was riveted upon the development of the new 

 territory. Fowls as food were a necessity, orna- 

 mental birds a superfluous luxury. 



With this axiom inculcated in them from their 

 earliest colonial days, Americans have made pro- 

 duction their greatest aim. Therefore it hap- 

 pened that they were the first people to place 

 poultry-raising upon a truly scientific basis. 

 New breeds, entirely utilitarian, were established- 

 Old breeds were renovated by the addition of new 

 blood, and fresh strains evolved. From Italy 

 were brought the Leghorn fowl, and, because they 

 were excellent layers, they received popular ap- 

 proval. American breeds became famous, and 

 presently native varieties from the New World 

 were flowing across the Atlantic to Europe and 

 England. 



But the older countries, though slow to begin, 

 soon caught up with the rush of activity under 



