8 



THE AMERICAN BREEDS OF POULTRY 



There was an important route to the west along which the fowls 

 of India were carried. Darwin believed that the first domesticated 

 specimens reached Europe about six centuries B. C. The Greeks 

 referred to the fowl as a Persian bird. This indicates the line of 

 distribution. Persia laid to the west of India, and the line of impor- 

 tation was from India, through Persia to Greece, Italy and southern 

 Europe, thence from the shores of the Mediterranean to France, the 

 Netherlands and Britain. 



Mosaic of a cock unearthed from the ruins of Pompeii, Italy, that ancient city 

 which was destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius, A. D. 79. The 

 type of fowl to be found in Italy in the first century is thus preserved by the small 

 pieces of colored stones that were fitted together in that long ago time. This 

 valuable piece of inlaid stone worlk was in the collection of the late C. W. Post, 

 and the illustration is furnished by the courtesy of the Postum Cereal Company. 



Edward Brown, who possesses a critical knowledge of poultry 

 breeds, and who has been privileged to study the native stocks of all 

 the principal European countries, stated at the second Reading 

 (England) conference of poultry instructors and investigators that 



