OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



farm and family flocks are cared for by women and children 

 much oftener than by men, because, even when the men are 

 interested in poultry, other work takes the farmer away from the 

 vicinity of the house, and the city man away from home, so 

 much that they cannot look after poultry as closely as is neces- 

 sary to get the best results. Many women like to have the care 

 of a small flock of fowls, because it takes them outdoors for a 



few minutes at inter- 

 vals every day, and the 

 eggs and poultry sold 

 may bring in a con- 

 siderable amount of 

 pin money. Many 

 boys, while attending 

 the grammar and high 

 schools, earn money 

 by keeping a flock 

 of fowls. Some have 

 saved enough in this 

 way to pay expenses at 

 college for a year or 

 more, or to give them 

 a start in a small busi- 

 ness. When there are 



FIG. 24. Pit Game cock. (Photograph from 

 W. F. Liedtke, Meriden, Connecticut) 



both boys and girls in a family, such outdoor work usually falls 

 to the lot of a boy. A girl can do just as well if she has the 

 opportunity and takes an interest in the work. 



Native fowls in America. To appreciate the influence of 

 improved races of fowls from various parts of the Old World 

 upon the development of poultry culture in America, we must 

 know what the fowls in this country were like when poultry 

 keepers here began to see the advantages of keeping better 

 stock, and must learn something of the history of the improved 

 races in the countries from which they came. 



