The Campine, a Beautiful and Productive Fowl 



II Considered Only on Its Exhibition Merits, the Campine Would Have Many Admirers — American Poultry 

 Dreeders Have Discovered That IIh Beantiful Plnninge Covers a Valuable Egg Producer — It is an 

 Aristocrat in the Show Itoom and a Prolit-puyer on the Farm — Proper Campine Shape and 

 Plumage — The Ideals and Stnudurd Adopted Should Improve the Proiitable Charac- 

 teristics oi This Dreed — Walch Their Constant Foraging Habits. 



Ily Frniiklnne L.. Sewell. Nile*, Mioh. 



THE plumage of fowls has always been an object 

 of admiration. Feathered forms have a peculiar 

 fascination to the eye quite beyond description. 

 When a beautiful form is dressed in feathers of rare 

 pattern anci charm of color, an object of beauty is at- 

 tained that is always a delight. 



If the Campine were considered only on its exhibi- 

 tion merits, many would admire it and fancy it as a gem 

 among aristocratic fowls. There are thousands who, 

 possessing the love of the beautiful and the symmetrical, 

 and being imbued with a bit of the spirit of a creator, 

 devote hours of doting and pleasant recreation to birds, 

 what may be at first simple admiration kindling into 

 enthusiastic interest as day after day they care for their 

 birds, watching the objects of their fancy develop to- 

 ward their ideals. 



This beautiful pattern of Campine plumage that has 

 been so nearly established as to enable fanciers to breed 

 it to a standard, must be as ancient as it is persistent. 

 It is truly a marvelous habit in nature that causes its 

 color pigment to be deposited in drifts with a degree of 

 regularity that can be more or less controlled or modi- 

 fied by intelligent breeding. 



The American poultry world has discovered that the 

 dress of the Campine covers a truly valuable egg pro- 

 ducer — call them egg "machines" if you must, though I 

 dislike to associate the word machine with a living creat- 

 ure. Faithful laying habits have gained for them in their 

 native country the title of "Every day layers." In Amer- 

 ica, with its modern regard for mechanical efficiency, it is 

 not surprising that they have been called "egg machines." 



The most surprising part of Campine history is that 

 British and Arherican fanciers were so tardy in appreciat- 

 ing the poss'bilities of the combined beauty and profit- 

 ableness possessed by the Campines. The unique form and 

 style of plumage of the Campine presents an outline dif- 

 ferent from other breeds previously recognized in our 

 American Standard of Perfection. For its small amount 

 of bone, the breast is very broad and meated to un- 

 usually full proportions. Even with its short plumage 

 the breast and body are so plump and the bird has such 

 rounded curves that its type is emphatically distin- 

 guished as an aristocrat in the show room and a 

 profit-payer on the farm. Added to this is the nervous 

 temperament that characterizes all the greatest laying 

 races and its apparently conscious pride. 



The round, full eye of the Campine bespeaks nobil- 

 ity among fowls, set as it is in a face expressive with 

 animation. On the full, rounded head rises the bright, 

 crimson comb and below the beak and throat are sus- 

 pended the quivering wattles, whose equally brilliant 

 color lends gayety and contrast to the white ear lobes 

 and silver white plumage of the throat and neck. Every 

 line of the male reveals pent-up energy and vigor and in 

 his mates the busy, thrifty temperament thait turns the 

 wheels of the "egg machinery" is evident. 



Watch their constant foraging habits. See them 

 search the leafy corners and mossy banks of the wood- 



land, or scratch among the rough weeds and grasses 

 of the field, or help to rid the pastures of the hoppers 

 and crickets, the worms and slugs, the borers and cut- 

 worms. The pest infested gardens and orchards be- 

 come more productive and the meadows greener where 

 the active little Campines range in the proper seasons. 

 You can tell a farm where the hens have helped to 

 destroy its enemies. 



Show Best When At Liberty 



Those who see fowls only in the pens at our great 

 poultry shows cannot appreciate half their beauty and 

 charm. The very limited space of the show coops com- 

 pels the birds to appear in attitudes, but few of which 

 are graceful. During the show season they are much 

 restricted in -order to fit them for judging by arbitrary 

 standards. Liberty, out where life is worth living, en- 

 courages a more vivacious spirit in these creatures that 

 were created to earn their own livelihood, and they 

 know even better how to do it than man, though he 

 invents the best of "systems." 



So let me remind you that the most interesting 

 time to observe the true beauty and charm of the Cam- 

 pines is when they are enjoying their freedom, finding 

 their own living along the hedge rows or on lands over 

 which they are permitted to forage. At the end of the 

 day, when the sun is low and an allowance of food calls 

 the flocks about their roosting quarters, the finer quali- 

 ties of show markings appear at close range. The 

 beauty of the clear, precise markings that command 

 top-most prices for exhibition purposes will appear on 

 nearby inspection. Those very narrowest pencilings of 

 white, popular as an extreme show room fashion, can be 

 appreciated only when the bird is in hand or confined 

 to close quarters. 



Standard makers need not be reminded that the 

 beautiful points of fowls should be readily observed 

 out of hand and that the most fascinating times for 

 poultry keeping is of longer duration than the show 

 season, when birds are confined and subject to tlie close 

 scrutiny of critics and of the few who have to use mag- 

 nifying glasses to see the faults or comprehend the 

 beauties of Standard-bred poultry. Fowls that depend 

 upon microscopical examination for appreciation of 

 their chief beauty cannot hope for a long lived pop- 

 ularity. Out of the great majority who profit by poul- 

 try keeping and egg production are to come many of 

 the industry's best breeders. Fowls that excite admi- 

 ration at first glance awaken most widespread interest 

 among this great class and, providing the productive 

 powers prove that the fowls are highly profitable to 

 keep, their continued popularity is assured. 



Beauty in the form of the Campine depends, as it 

 does in the shape of all fowls, upon its symmetrical pro- 

 portions and graceful contour of outline. Unbalanced 

 proportions, lop-sided carriage or any degree of de- 

 formity that throws the bird out of balance offends even 



