16 



THE CAMPINES 



gun about 1865 by a Mr. Van Horn. He was station 

 master of St. Lierre at Turnhout, Belgium, and made a 

 hobby of Campines, for thirty years breeding and im- 

 proving them. He gave the peasants eggs and often his 

 best cocks and even his pullets, thus improving their 

 stock from a breeder's viewpoint. 



The Campine takes its name from the sandy zone 

 of La Campine in which it is bred. Its sister breed, the 

 Braekel, is grown on the rich and fertile, loamy soil of 

 southern Belgium, Louis Vander Snickt, whose boy- 

 hood home was at Grammont, was the champion of the 

 Braekel. Toward -the end of the sixties he became a 

 great fancier, and with the influx of show stock from 

 England, on which considerable money was to be made, 

 he sent his Braekels into the country to isolated farms, 

 where they were kept pure. Having become director of 

 the Zoological Gardens of Ghent, from 1871-74, he or- 

 dered their eggs for distribution. 



From 1876-81 there were exhibited some superb 

 Braekel hens, "well-shaped, well-barred, and at the same 

 time very strong and large.'' At that time, however, no 

 distinction was made in the show room between the 

 Braekel and the Campine, and they were put down as 

 large and small specimens of one and the same breed. 



After a lull of a few seasons the Belgian fancy was 

 re-awakened by poultry lovers in Antwerp, who formed 

 the society, "Avicultura." The first exposition took place 

 at Bardo in May, 1884. Situated in the north and on the 



Fig. 1- 



-A farm yard Braekel hen imported from Belgium 

 to Wales by the Rev. E. Lewis Jones. 



border of the sandy plains of La Campine, Antwerp fan- 

 ciers had the Campine close under their range, of obser- 

 vation, and the classification of their new show was 

 opened with separate classes for Golden and Silver Cam- 

 pines, which were followed with classes for Golden ana 

 Silver Braekels. 



The last of August, 1884, the first International Poul- 

 try show was held. Leopold II, king of the Belgians, 

 had said to the administration of the city of Ostend: "'1 

 wish Belgium to become the kitchengarden of London." 

 To increase the interest in the poultry of the "kitchen- 



garden," the authorities at Ostend entrusted to Louis 

 Vander Snickt the organization of a great international 

 poultry show. In opening the classes, he did not miss 

 the opportunity to make places for both Braekels and 

 Campines. Thus is fixed the time when a distinction 

 was made between the Campine and Braekel families 

 by both the friends of the Braekel and by the Campin- 



Fig. 2 — Back feather from the third prize Silver . 

 Campine cockerel, shown by Capt. Max de Bathe, of 

 Reading, England, at the Madison Square Garden, New 

 York, Show of January, 1913. 



ists of Antwerp and the north. In subsequent years, 

 with the two breeds competing for superiority, rivalry 

 flourished, and at Antwerp the Braekel was stricken 

 out of the classification. 



Color Agitation 



At the beginning of the fowl's progress in the show 

 room, the color pattern of the Campine-Braekel was not 

 well established, nor the barring definite and clear cut. 

 Fig. 1 illustrates a Braekel he"^, such as may be seen 

 today in the farm yards of the peasants in the Alost 

 district of old Flanders. Such must have been the color 

 of the females when they were first exhibited. In that 

 early time the points for the Belgian breeds had not 

 been specified and certain persons insisted that the 

 Braekel female was a flower-colored bird and should 

 not be barred, but selective breeding for bars prevailed 

 in the yards of the fanciers. 



The chief color agitation, however, has been about 

 the plumage of the Campine males, and on this question 

 there has been a great deal of controversy and no little 

 excitement. At the start the Belgian judges preferred 

 cocks almost white with black tails. Later, the barred 

 breast and body came into fashion, while the hackle and 

 saddle were still described as white "without blemish." 

 This is the Belgian type of Campine and Braekel males 

 today. 



Already at Antwerp, in 1888, a cock of the present 

 English type was shown, but he was not received with 

 enthusiasm. "Why change the livery of the Campine?" 

 wrote one of the critics of this bird. "Let us keep our 

 old white Campine cock like his brothers, the Friesland 

 and the Silver Penciled Hamburg." However, this plum- 

 age pattern, which in effect did not differ from that of 

 the hen, was fostered by a few and bred in a Rose 

 Comb Silver Campine variety. When in Europe some 

 years later, Dr. H. P. Clarke, of Indianapolis, was at- 

 tracted to these R. C. Campines, and his comments on 

 them in "The 3ook of the Hamburgs" are as follows: 

 "The hen feathering would not appeal to some tastes 

 perhaps. I have talked with French and Belgian breed- 

 ers who did not favor it. But to me it seems a positive 

 attraction as well as an advantage. Both sexes being 

 practically alike, there are no 'double mating' problems. 

 The breeder knows exactly what to count on and so can 

 secure more definite results and higher excellence gen- 



