CHAPTER IV 



DOMESTIC FOWL 



1. The Game-Cock. 2. Early Domestication. 3. Breeds of Fowl 

 4. Poultry Farming. 5. Egg Production. 6. The Turkey. 

 7. The Domestic Goose. 8. The Domestic Duck. 9. The 

 Guinea-Fowl. 10. What is coming? 



The Game-Cock 



About the year 479 b. c. Themistocles led a 

 Greek army in a crucial battle against the Per- 

 sians. History relates that just as the opposing 

 ranks were about to close in the final struggle 

 Themistocles cried a halt to his phalanx and com- 

 manded his men to watch a cock-fight then taking 

 place on a small plain between the two armies. 

 The struggle between the two birds was pro- 

 longed. They fought gamely and to the finish. 

 Then, only after one of the gallant combatants 

 lay bleeding on the ground, with its conqueror, 

 exhausted but pluckily ready for a renewal of 

 the strife, swajdng drunkenly before it, did the 

 general lead his phalanx to the charge. 



Whether the anecdote is authentic or not, it 

 is amusing to imagine the effect of a similar cock- 



59 



