Cr&VEC(EURS, a ] , 



have a proportionate number of mates. Hardly an egg will prove unprolific, and the chickens 

 generally hatch some hours before their time. Scarcely any, perhaps, give so little trouble rearing. 

 The breed bears confinement well, unless the fowls contract the vice o'i feather-eating, which all the 

 French breeds are rather apt to do when penned up. We are much inclined to think this to be 

 owing in part to the crest, which we have already seen in the case of Polish offers strong tempta- 

 tions at certain seasons, or even when wet. 



As a farmer's fowl the Houdan can hardly be surpassed, provided Brahmas or some other 

 breed can be kept separate for hatching; as the fecundity will rapidly fill the egg-basket, while 

 the juicy flesh is not only all that can be wished, but the pinky and five-toed legs make the fowl 

 very saleable. To keep up these valuable qualities, however, it will be necessary to pay attention, 

 as we have already so many times remarked, to selecting eggs for sitting from fine vigorous birds 

 which are good layers, as well as to the points desired by exhibitors. For want of such precau- 

 tions, some strains of Houdans have already deteriorated ; and as the Houdan can never be a 

 first-class fowl merely from the fancier's point of view, to lose these practical advantages is really 

 to lose all that makes the fowl worth having. 



We have already hinted at various Houdan crosses. Those with Brahmas or Cochins make 

 capital fowls both as layers and for the table, maturing remarkably early. Some breeders have 

 crossed Houdans with Dorkings to gain size, and we feel pretty certain that a Crystal Palace prize 

 bird we once saw was so bred. The size, however, is usually gained at the expense of prolificacy, 

 and the birds thus produced have a heavy and coarse appearance, which is entirely foreign to the 

 Houdan when pure. 



Our portraits represent some of the finest and best birds we have seen ; but we should have 

 liked the cock better had he not been quite so dark. 



CREVECCEURS.— This breed has been the longest known in England of all the French 

 varieties, having been described by Messrs. Wingfield and Johnson twenty years ago. In confor- 

 mation it is not so very diff"erent to the Houdan, but the comb consists of two horns rather than 

 leaves, the crest and beard are fuller, and the whole make heavier ; in fact, the general appearance 

 somewhat resembles a combination of the Polish with the full development of the Cochin. The head 

 of the Cr^vecoeur as bred in France is shown in Fig. 91 ; English breeders have bred the crest some- 

 what fuller and more compact, but the general aspect of the head and the comb remains the same. 



The following notes on Crevecoeurs are by Mr. W. Blinkhorn, who was, till a year or two ago, 

 a very successful breeder of this variety. 



" Crevecceurs have been described as black or black and white variegated. This variegation, 

 sometimes white and sometimes golden, is most noticeable in the crest, and after that in the 

 hackles and saddles, but I have never seen it in other parts of the birds. I scarcely remember a 

 bird that did not show it more or less the second year, and as they grow older it increases. I have 

 seen good combs of both varieties— two-horned and antlered — and think both are common to the 

 breed ; but the former are more general and I think preferable. 



"They are decidedly late in beginning to lay ; their eggs are large, but I have not found them 

 by any means frequent layers. As to their sitting properties I should pronounce them to be 

 decidedly non-sitters. I have had . a large number through my hands, but had only one that 

 showed the slightest inclination to sit. 



" My experience with Crevecoeurs has been somewhat unsatisfactory. My poultry-o-round is 

 situated in the moist climate of south-west Lancashire, and it is on clay. It may therefore be 

 particularly ill-suited for this breed of fowls, though Game fowl, Hamburghs, and Brahmas do well 



