OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



either of one of the breeds named or a grade of the same type. 

 After the general-purpose type, the laying type, which includes 

 the Italian, Spanish, German, and Dutch races, is the most 

 popular, but in this type popularity is limited in most places to 

 the Leghorns and to a few breeds which, though classed as 

 distinct breeds, are essentially the same. The Ancona is really 

 a Leghorn, and the Andalusian, although it comes from Spain, 



is, like other races in 

 that land, distinctly of 

 the same type as the 

 fowls of Italy. 



With the growth of 

 a general-purpose class, 

 interest in the Asiatic 

 fowls rapidly declined. 

 They are now kept prin- 

 cipally by fanciers and by 

 market poultry growers 

 who produce extra large 

 fowls for the table. 



Deformed and dwarf 

 races. Although some 

 of the races of fowls 

 that have been consid- 

 ered have odd characters 

 which, when greatly ex- 

 aggerated, are detrimental and bring the race to decay, such 

 characters as large combs, crests, feathered legs, and the pecul- 

 iar development of the face in the Black Spanish fowl, when 

 moderately developed, do not seriously affect the usefulness of 

 fowls possessing them. With a little extra care they usually 

 do as well as fowls of corresponding plain types. Poultry 

 keepers who admire such decorations and keep only a few birds 

 do not find the extra care that they require burdensome, and 



FIG. 54. Single-Combed Buff Orpington cock 



(Photograph from Miss Henrietta E. Hooker, 



South Iladley, Massachusetts) 



