386 POULTRY CULTURE 



of poultry confirms this view. It may seem a comparatively easy 

 matter to settle such a question beyond dispute by a study of the 

 poultry of Asia, but the expense of such investigation is too great 

 for private enterprise. 



Compared with the Malay Game type, with which it was some- 

 times confounded, the early Asiatic was such a fowl as would 

 develop from the same stock or (more easily) from an intermediate 

 type, by general selection for size and constitution. While they had 

 longer plumage than the European races, they had not the excessive 

 development of feather which characterizes the modern Exhibition 

 Cochin and Brahma. The legs and feet were only moderately or 

 scantily feathered, — sometimes quite bare. The combs were some- 

 times single, sometimes triple (pea combs). There were no striking 

 developments of comb or crest. The colors were much the same as 

 in the Leghorns in Italy, — of the same variety but with yellow or 

 red-brown shades most popular. As in Italy, no effort was made 

 to develop elaborate color patterns. While the colors were various, it 

 appears that by local preference some color varieties had been out- 

 lined and somewhat developed ; but much of the stock was, so far 

 as color went, in a condition of mongrelism. To Americans and 

 Europeans the feathers on the legs and feet were, after size, the most 

 striking characteristic, and it has been generally assumed that the 

 Chinese made special efforts to develop this character ; but as the 

 quantity of foot feathering on the Asiatic type as developed in Asia 

 was no greater than would naturally be correlated with a rather hea\y 

 plumage, this type may properly be considered a strictly utility 

 type, especially adapted to cold regions and, because of its greater 

 ruggedness and vitality, growing (under favorable conditions) larger 

 than the European races approaching it in size. While great size 

 was the most conspicuous race character, many specimens de- 

 scribed by early American writers were medium or even small in 

 size. In a general way they might be considered the opposites of 

 the European laying race as most typically developed in the Leg- 

 horn. They were developed in the opposite direction not only 

 for shape but for color of eggs, laying dark-brown eggs, as did the 

 Malay Game. In flesh qualities they were superior to the Leghorn 

 only in quantity of meat ; the quality of the flesh was similar, 

 though the meat of the Asiatics was coarser in fiber. 



