x PREFACE. 



symmetry ; shorter leg, clean head and neck, fuller and closer feathers, etc. ; 

 still much remains to be accomplished. For information how this further 

 improvement is to be achieved for authority deciding what are the defects 

 to be avoided, and the excellences to be arrived at for sound practical di- 

 rections in management for accurate particulars of the good and bad char- 

 acteristics of varieties, and for information on other points, all naturally turn 

 to works published relative to poultry. Now we all know that no one has 

 sought such aid without, in a measure, being disappointed. To remedy this 

 defect, as near as possible, is the object of this work. 



In preparing this volume, no expense has been spared in the embellish- 

 ments, as the best artists have been employed. Some of the spirited and 

 lifelike portraits on wood were drawn by Mr. K. Van Zandt, of Albany, from 

 living specimens in possession of the author. I hope, therefore, to merit the 

 approbation of the public, and trust the work, in this new form and dress, 

 will be favorably received, and found to combine the utmost economy and 

 utility, united at the same time with elegance and the facility of obtaining 

 the desired end. In no other work, I believe, can be found so many portraits 

 of fowls, and other embellishments. In short, my object and aim in this 

 volume has been to furnish a full, authentic, and reliable work, adapted to 

 meet the demand growing out of the interest recently manifested on the 

 subject. And in the hope that it will serve to diffuse more widely reliable 

 information in respect to the very important subject on which it treats, 

 prove a welcome and valuable acquisition to the libraries of practical men, 

 be found amusing and instructive to the young, and successful with the old 

 and judicious, I make my bow, and intrust it to the public. 



C. N. BEMENT. 



