112 The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 



broucjlit liomc to the British mind ; every man heard or learnt that in a little back-yard he could 

 keep his fowls. It was a new thing, and it "took" amazingly ; so Cochins went up in the marlcot, 

 and shows were started, and on several occasions ;^iOO was paid for a pen of birds. Pubhc 

 curiosity was more and more aroused ; but this could not last, and much of it died away. But 

 tlic popularity of poultry nrcer did. The ground gained in this respect was never lost again ; and 

 while there is no "mania" now, it is within our personal knowledge that a Cochin cockerel was 

 sold at the close of 1871 for ^^30, and the number of people who in one way or another keep 

 poultry is greater than ever. 



Now it must be remembered that nearly all this is owing to the enthusiasm of fanciers. They 

 breed those beautiful birds which attract the general public to shows, and inoculate numbers with 

 the new desire to keep poultry too ; and they maintain those breeds w'hich are the foundation of 

 all real progress and of satisfactory results. It has been proved over and over again that in the 

 hands of farmers or mere market-breeders fowls almost invariably deteriorate. It is only people 

 who have a genuine appreciation of some peculiar breed that care to keep it up ; and if it is easy 

 now to get fowls of over a dozen pounds weight, we owe it in reality to the " fanciers." Their 

 fine enthusiasm alone could do a work which often demands a great expenditure both in time and 

 money ; and if once the breeds which are so valued lose tiie support of amateurs, they must 

 rapidly lose their good qualities or even become extinguished. The real danger of this is shown 

 b)- the fact that one or two good breeds have already been thus lost, because the "poultry mania" 

 came too late to save them. 



Why a Houdan should be ignominiously disqualified unless furnished with a muff and five 

 toes on each foot, or why a {zw black specks upon a buff Cochin should be of such amazing 

 importance, are not so self-evident ; and the necessity for these or other (equally arbitrary) 

 standards does not appear till after a little reflection. Supposing the necessity of shows and the 

 stimulus of competition among exhibitors to be granted, it is often asked. Why are not fowls 

 judged according to their laying, their hardiness, or their qualities, instead of the colour of a 

 feather or the shape of a comb } This question has been lately put with unusual point and force 

 by the Hon. J. Stanton Gould, in a long address delivered in February, 1S72, before the New York 

 State Poultry Society ; and which, from the high reputation of the speaker as a stock-breeder, lias 

 deservedly aroused great attention among American poultry-breeders. We extract the pith of 

 Mr. Gould's remarks on this head as follows : — 



" In the rules for judging Brahmas I am told that the beak 'must be well cur\-ed.' I would 

 respectfully ask why .' If I have two Brahmas, A and B — A having a well-curved beak, and B 

 having a beak which approaches more nearly to a straight line — is the curved beak any evidence 

 that A will lay on more flesh for a given amount of food, or lay i.iore eggs, or is in any other 

 respect a better hen than B .' I read further in the same standard of excellence that the Brahma 

 must have a pea-comb .... but wh)', I ask in the name of common sense, is it necessary that 

 a Brahma should have a pea-comb ? . . . . If it is true that the pea-comb is no indication of 

 the excellence of a fowl, or of its profitableness, or of its purity of blood ; and if it does not 

 minister to the aesthetic gratification of its owner, is it not simple nonsense to include it among 

 the points of excellence of the breed?" After other instances to the same effect, Mr. Gould 

 concludes this part of his subject by remarking, " I hope that you will candidly consider these 

 objections ; for I feel very sure that there can be no real adv^ance in poultry-breeding until it is 

 removed from the realms of caprice and fancy, and placed upon the sure foundations of anatomical 

 and pli)-siological science." 



The speaker then further urges that the value of size in anj- breed is much exaggerated. " It is 



