274 POULTRY BREEDING 
with them. Mention is made of domestic fowl in a 
Chinese encyclopedia, reputed to have been written at 
least 1,400 years before the Christian era. 
Summing up all the evidence Brown thinks that do- 
mestic fowls may have reached us in two ways: Through 
Asia by way of China, Siberia, Russia, and thence into 
Europe from the north, or from India to Persia and 
thence to Greece and the more western nations of Europe, 
That they had even penetrated Britain at an early date is 
proved by Caesar, who tells of the fighting cocks of the 
Britons at the time he overran and subdued that island. 
When the original breeds broke into the numerous varie- 
ties of modern fowls we do not know nor is it probable 
that we ever shall know. How it happened that the 
Chinese began to breed fowls with feathers on their legs 
and toes or how the original ancestors of the Polish fowls 
were secured, is lost in the mysteries of prehistoric days. 
It is probable that there were good reasons why some 
of the pheasants with plumage of brilliant hues were not 
chosen rather than the sober-hued jungle cock, but what 
these reasons were have been forgotten. Brown in his 
“Races of Domestic Poultry” enumerates and describes 
67 distinct breeds or races of fowls, many of these being 
further sub-divided into several varieties. Surely the 
poultry breeder of today should be at no loss to secure a 
variety exactly to his iking. Yet the making of varieties 
goes on, and even new races aré being built up from inter- 
breeding two or more of established breeds. Of the 
making of new varieties there seems to be no end, 
PROTECTION FOR POULTRY YARDS.—The best 
protection for poultryyards is a thickly-set row of ever- 
green trees, set on two sides so as to shield them from 
the prevailing cold winds. In this country these usually 
