LL55ON5 IN POULTRY KLLPING SECOND 5LR1LS. 



LESSON VIII. 



Kinds, Breeds, and Varieties of Fowls. 



BY "FOWLS" in this lesson \vemean birds of the species "galliis domesticus," which 

 for want of any other specific English term, are often called "chickens," though 

 " chicken" applies properly only to their young. Perhaps in time, common usage will 

 limit the use of the word "fowl" as we limit it here. There seems to be a tendency 

 that way. Most poultrymen so use the word, but the explanation of this use of the term is 

 sometimes necessary for readers not familiar with th:it usage. 



We may classify fowls as: Common or mongrel, cross bred, grade, pure bred, or thorough- 

 bred, and " Standard " bred. 



Mongrel fowls are fowls of no special breeding, generally a mixture containing the blood of 

 many varieties of pure bred fowls, though in some sections there are still to be found flocks 

 in which the blood of the old common stock is still strong. A flock of mongrels generally 

 presents nunjprous very distinct types of fowls. 



Cross breatovfh are the result of a union of two pure breeds. The term is usually limited 

 to the produce of a first cross. 



Grade fowls are produced by a systematic series of crosses, beginning with a thoroughbred 

 male and females of mongrel stock, and mating each year a male of the same pure breed with 

 females from the mating of the previous year. By this process, in the course of a few years, 

 the stock becomes practically thoroughbred. Sometimes pure bred females are used in the 

 first instance. 



The terms pure bred and thoroughbred are synonymous, and the term /Standard bred is 

 also generally synonymous with the others. 



As a matter of fact there are few, if any, stocks of fowls that are absolutely pure in blood ; 

 that is, entirely free from any mixture or trace of the blood of fowls not of their kind ; but 

 most of our pure or thoroughbred races are sufficiently well bred to make the production of 

 specimens plainly showing obsolete ancestral characters extremely rare. A Standard bred 

 fowl is a fowl bred to conform to the requirements of the "American Standard of Perfection," 

 as promulgated by the American Poultry Association. 



To be admitted to the "Standard," a breed or variety must be able to reproduce its type 

 in a large proportion of its progeny. There are also other qualifications to be considered, as 

 whether the breed presents new and distinct features; but as the judgment of the association is 

 sometimes erratic, it happens occasionally that some fowls that are entitled to recognition are 

 excluded, and also that unworthy varieties and breeds are admitted. Hence we find some 

 pure breeds not" standard bred," because they are not "in the Standard;" and some breeds 

 in the Standard that breed very indifferently. We also find breeds in the Standard in which 

 poultrymen are little interested, while we may frequently find very great interest taken in 

 breeds outside of the Standard. 



