4 6 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



FIG. 31. Silver-Spangled Hamburg cock l 



Italian fowls. Strictly speaking, the Italian fowls in Italy are 



not an improved race. The fowl which is known in this country 



as the Leghorn fowl (because 

 the first specimens brought 

 here came from the port of 

 Leghorn) is the common 

 fowl of Italy and has changed 

 very little since it was in- 

 troduced into that country 

 thousands of years ago. It 

 is found there in all colors, 

 and mostly with a single 

 comb. The Italian type is 

 of particular interest, not 

 only because of its influence 

 in modern times, but be- 

 cause from it were probably 



derived most of the other European races. Italian fowls were 



first brought to this country 



about 1835, but did not at- 

 tract popular attention until 



twenty-five or thirty years 



later. 



English races of fowls. 



It is supposed that fowls 



were introduced into Britain 



from Italy shortly after the 



Roman conquest. The type 



was probably very like that 



Of ordinary Leghorn fowls FJG 32 Silver-Spangled Hamburg hen 1 



of our own time, but with 



smaller combs. From such stock the English developed two 



very different races, the Pit Game and the Dorking. Game fowls 



1 Photograph from Dr. J. S. Wolfe, Bloomfield, New Jersey. 



