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CHAPTER XXVII. 



AMERICAN BREEDS OF POULTRY. 



In the days when the controversy as to the origin of Brahmas was still " hot and strong," a noted 

 English amateur penned the fervent wish, " If Brother Jonathan made these fowls, I wish he would 

 make us something else." We have in an earlier chapter shown reasons for believing that B. J. 

 did not make the Brahma fowl; but "something else" he has made undoubtedly, there being 

 several very distinct American varieties well worthy the attention of English poultry-keepers. 

 These we have now to attempt to describe. 



There our difficulty commences, for the names of American "breeds" are legion. Land is 

 plentiful and corn is cheap, and accordingly the American runs and breeds his fowls on a 

 magnificent scale which is enough to make an English fancier's heart burst with envy, 

 and himself to abandon the "rotten old country" in disgust. Where the one rears his few 

 dozens of chickens the other rears his hundreds ; and these chickens are mostly brought up 

 with a noble contempt for fences and other unjustifiable restrictions upon the liberty of the 

 subject, which befits even the feathered denizens of such a vast, free, and enlightened country^ 

 The consequence of such a state of things, before the extension of the "fancy" caused attention 

 to be paid to scientific breeding, was innumerable crosses, and not a few of these seem at 

 one time or other to have settled into more or less fixed types. Thus the curious investigator into 

 American poultry-keeping meets with fowls rejoicing under such names as Danvers Whites, Bucks 

 County Fowls, Jersey Blues, the Ostrich Fowl, the " Big Breed" (whatever this last was we have 

 been utterly unable to discover), and other names of like nature. Most of these have now died 

 out, and some no doubt were mere first crosses, which could not possibly be preserved ; though 

 others, such as the Jersey Blue, which was at one time much esteemed, evidently possessed certain 

 well-marked and permanent characters. But as time went on, some few breeds have not only 

 preserved their points and reputation, but even perceptibly gained ground ; and there are at least 

 three American varieties known and bred at the present day which are valuable acquisitions to the 

 poultry-yard. One of these at all events — the Plymouth Rock — was admittedly made by a cross ; 

 and the fact gives another occasion for expression of the regret that so little has been done in 

 this direction by the skilled breeders of Britain, seeing that without any special care such results 

 have been attained in both the Eastern and Western Continents. 



The importations that have taken place, even of the most marked and fixed American varieties, 

 have by no means bred so true to feather and points as English fanciers are accustomed to expect. 

 The cause of this, we believe, is to be found in the large resources to which we have just alluded. 

 Where a man breeds hundreds of chickens, he has in the first place to set eggs from many hens, 

 which cannot be selected of equal quality to a very few. Out of such a large supply, however, it 

 is very hard if he cannot select a few good pens ; and hence there is not the necessity for that 

 extreme care in breeding which is forced upon an English amateur, who can perhaps only afford 

 room for a score of chickens in all, and to make his heavy expenses pay must produce out of that 



