A GUIDE FOR KEEPERS OF POULTRY 23 
called the native fowl, although of course it descended 
from the same original stock from which all our other 
fowls trace their descent. It has been in this country 
certainly from the time of the Revolutionary War, or 
longer. It is a hardy prolific breed, but it has never 
received the attention it deserves, and is probably the 
rarest of the American breeds. 
Rhode Island Reds are generally considered a new 
breed, and so they are so far as recognition by the Amer- 
ican Poultry Association is concerned ; but they are really 
an old breed, only they were not recognized as a distinct 
breed until a few years ago. For many years the farmers 
of the Little Compton district of Rhode Island had been 
selecting red fowls under the impression that they were 
hardier than those of any other color. In the first place 
the sea captains whose homes were along the south shore 
of Rhode Island had brought from other countries fowls 
that they picked up in the ports to which they sailed. 
These fowls came from the Mediterranean ports and from 
Chinese and Malayan ports. The Mediterranean fowls 
were called Red Leghorns, being the foundation from 
which we get the Brown Leghorns of today. From the 
Malay Peninsula came the large Malay fowls, a pea comb 
breed of great size and vigor. From China came the old 
Red Shanghai fowl. The mixing of these breeds went on 
for many years, and the red fowls of Little Compton were 
developed from crossing them without regard to anything 
but the production of red fowls, which could endure the 
rather severe winter climate of that part of the country. 
They were of many shades of red and had single, rose and 
pea combs. The writer has seen in that district flocks 
of fowls with all styles of combs and of many diverse 
shapes, running together on the farms. Some were buff, 
