8-t 



THE C A M P I N E S 



silver Pencilea Hamburg pullet and pullet-breeding cock erel bred by Harry Turton, England. 



destiny have decreed. It reads: "Body moderate length 

 and fairly deep. Not a sharp appearing body from 

 behind." 



The Campine must be distinct; is there an indication 

 of the Hamburg; let us know it, and we will cull against 

 it. So we find the red eye of the Hamburg a serious 

 defect in the Campine. This seriousness, however, ap- 

 plies with especial emphasis to the Silver. I do not 

 think that I have placed a red eyed Silver at New York 

 in three years, but I have yet to find the iris of a Golden 

 cpckerel's eye that did not fade to red as he became a 

 cock. This is a good point for American breeders to 

 know, for it must be admitted that as a whole, we do 

 not acquaint ouVselves' with the nature of breeds and 

 as a consequence have the most bookish and mechan- 

 ical Standards in the world. 



If we could have it, our birds would be turned out 

 on a lathe. This spirit was quite noticeable when the 

 new type of Campine was first shown here. The type 

 had its beginning in 1904. To perfect the body and 

 feather properties, the English had neglected the comb. 

 Had given it a valuation of three points. Without giving 

 credit to these other properties, the combs were loudlj' 

 criticised when the birds were first shown at New York 

 — as if pickled cocks' combs was' the end and purpose 

 for which chickens were kept. 



This tendency of the people was not to be balked, 

 however, and combs have been finely improved. And the 

 Standard carries the influence of the English mind, for 

 unlike the Leghorn's comb, which we value at ten points, 

 the Campine's comb is valued at eight points in the new 

 191S edition of the American Standard of Perfection. So 

 it is that a policy that once has become established, even 

 though it is later modified, continues to exert an in- 

 fluence over a long period. 



How much more firmly established must be the 

 characters of a breed which are due to centuries of en- 

 vironment. In the modern Campine we have a com- 

 posite or two sets of characters. Shall one be dominant 

 and the other recessive, or shall they be blended and 

 a new Campine come forth? There are the concave 

 lines of the Campine; petite, graceful; there are the ob- 



long lines of the Braekel, but many of this race are too 

 full of flufi and short of shank. For a time the Campine 

 lines were held, as is shown by the illustration of the 

 3rd Crystal Palace pullet, 1910, which was the property 

 of Rev. E. Lewis Jones, and said by him to show the 

 proper type. We find him in 1913, however, placing 

 first prize at the Dairy on a pullet belonging to Miss 

 Edwards, of a new type. It is the type that the Amer- 

 ican Club Standard calls for; the type that has been set as 

 ideal at the American Campine Club shows. If ever 

 there was an improved type of Campine, this is.it. We 

 hear it said by outsiders that this type takes too much 

 of the Minorca — as if the Minorca were a mean race. 

 Let us say it embodies the alertness of the Campine, 

 the length and somewhat of the size of the Braekel with- 

 out its coarse shoulders, stubby legs and full fluff. It is 

 distinct from the Hamburg. 



The lines of the Leghorn have influenced some of 

 the recruits to the Campine fancy in America. But, the 

 improved Campine is not a Leghorn. Its back should 

 be as the American Standard says: "Back rather long, 

 declining slightly to tail, not too broad at shoulders and 

 narrowing very slightly to tail." A sharply concaved 

 back is a feature of some of the winning males, you 

 say. Quite true, but such birds win because their color 

 merits Dver-balance their shape defects, it being impossi- 

 ble in a new breed to find the specimens strictly uni- 

 form. So it happens that the best "all round" bird is 

 often the winner. It is the 'tendency, however^ the ten- 

 dency towards an ideal and what that ideal is, that ulti- 

 mately matters. 



The American Campine Club Standard drawn up on 

 the basis that if the male is to have a concave back, 

 there must be mates that can breed such males — reads 

 in the male description as in the female back description 

 gi\en above. The two sexes are therefore uniform and 

 the type consistent. It is a useful type, putting strength 

 into the little Campine type, putting the spirit of alert- 

 ness into the Braekel. And so, from the material in 

 hand, it has been made, the hand of the moulders being 

 guided by common belief that "type is intimately con- 

 nected with the economic qualities of the bird." 



