2 TWENTY LESSONS ON POULTRY KEEPING 



birds, very clninsy aiid not at all attractive in ai^pearance. 

 For many centiiries tliey were bred in China. To-day their 

 descendants, anumg which are the larne fowls known as the 

 Tjrahina, Cochin and Langslian, are scattered all over the 

 world. 



Kow all the poultry that have their origin in any one 

 region are said to belong to a certain class, which usually 

 bears the name of that region. Accordingly, we say that the 

 Brahma, Cochin, Langslian and other ty])es developed in 

 Asia belong to the Asiatic cla.sf;. 



But not all of the men who left India for other parts of 

 the world went into China. Some wandered to the north- 

 east, and settled. in the countries around the ^Mediterranean 

 Sea. AVith them they took some Jungle fowls — small, ac- 

 tive, nervous birds, which, after jnany hundreds of years, 

 developed into the class of fowls we know as the Mediter- 

 ranean class. These fowls are noted for laying great num- 

 bers of large, white eggs. ^Vmong them are the Leghorn, 

 Minorca and Spanish fowls. 



Thus there came into being the two principal classes of 

 chickens — the large Asiatic type, best fitted for meat pro- 

 ducing, and the small, active, Mediterranean type, espe- 

 cially adapted for egg producing. 



AVheii men first crossed the Atlantic Ocean and settled 

 in America, they brought with them both Asiatic and ]\redi- 

 terraneaii fowls. In order t(i insure a supjily of both meat 



