354 



POULTRY CULTURE 



assumed), under the climatic conditions found there, by people 

 paying little attention to either meat qualities, fighting qualities, 

 or color markings. The most striking peculiarity of these fowls 

 was a large, fleshy single comb, not always present in all individuals 

 of any of the breeds, but often highly developed in specimens of 

 them all. 



From Turkey westward through southern Russia, Germany, 

 Holland, Belgium, and France, fowls of the same general body 

 type and simple furnishings were common, but among them there 

 appeared, in large numbers in some localities, and in occasional 

 flocks almost everywhere, two other conspicuous types, a rose- 

 combed type and a crested type, in both of which were developed 

 more elaborate color patterns than were found among the fowls 

 along the Mediterranean. The sharp differentiation of color pat- 

 terns and the high development of other features are the work of 

 the modern fancier, but though we have little accurate knowledge 

 of the earlier history of the breeds which he took in their crude 

 form and developed, what we have indicates that the separation of 

 types began very early in the westward movement of the human 

 race, and that interest in the manipulation of form and color in 

 poultry must have been from earliest times, as to-day, more in- 

 tense in the Teutonic than in other branches of the race. Breeds 

 of this type were early developed in France and England, modified 

 especially for meat production but still unmistakably like the com- 

 mon type. In almost every country of Europe there are breeds 

 of this same body type but unlike in such characters as comb, 

 crest, color, etc. Most of these are hardly known outside of the 

 countries or districts where they are found, and there is little au- 

 thentic information about their origin and history. In discussing 

 the laying breeds the familiar ones will be considered first, quite 

 fully and in the order of their apparent relation to the primitive 

 type. The unfamiliar ones will be treated very briefly, to show the 

 extent and variety of the class. 



The Mediterranean division of the laying type. The Mediter- 

 ranean group has now two principal subdivisions, the Italian and 

 the Spanish. Just how far characteristic differences between Italian 

 and Spanish types are due to selection and modification in modern 

 times is uncertain, but it seems probable that differences in color 



