496 



POULTRY CULTURE 



reduction of vitality. The develop- 

 ment of a meat-type fowl that will 

 grow quickly, fatten readily, and still 

 produce, at the season when eggs are 

 most difficult to secure, an abundance 

 of eggs that will hatch a high per- 

 centage of vigorous chickens, is the 

 most difficult line of work with poul- 

 try. A flying bird has enormous 

 development of the breast, that is, 

 of the muscles which move the 

 wings ; the proportion of meat else- 

 where is very small. Terrestrial 

 birds in the natural state have the 

 muscles of the wings and legs more 

 equally developed, but in every case 

 the relative development of muscles 



of the anterior and posterior sets of limbs, with their adaptations to different 



methods of locomotion, depends 



upon the habits of the bird and the 



amount of use of each. When birds 



are domesticated and the flying habit 



discouraged, the inevitable result is 



a reduction of the muscles of the 



FIG. 486. A "cochiny" Light Brahma 

 hen, not a utility type 



FIG. 487. Long-bodied Barred Plym- 

 outh Rock pullet l 



FIG. 488. Barred Plymouth Rock cock, 1 

 good utility type 



1 Owned by Grove Hill Poultry Yards, Waltham, Massachusetts. Photograph 

 by Schilling. 



