TYPES, BREEDS, AND VARIETIES OF FOWLS 42 1 



but in the larger races are often found specimens and strains with the 

 Asiatic body type, and in the smaller races specimens and strains with the 

 body type of the small European races. The standard type in any case is 

 simply the pattern or model selected for the breed. The proportion of any 

 flock approaching it depends on the selection of the breeding stock and the de- 

 velopment of the young stock. The ideal shape is preserved only in flocks 

 carefully selected for that character, and so reared that full development is se- 

 cured. I n what are called the practical qualities, — egg production and meat prop- 

 erties, — and in their adaptation to climatic and soil conditions and environment, 

 they are substantially the same. The differences constantly observed between 

 flocks of different breeds, varieties, and subvarieties are no greater than those 

 constantly observed between stocks, flocks, and individuals of the same variety. 

 Special excellence in any character or combination of characters, secured 

 and made characteristic of a stock or strain by a breeder, may be in a measure 

 transmitted to other stocks, and may persist for a while in his stock under un- 

 favorable conditions, and even reappear in individuals after having been lost 

 for some generations. Certain desirable characters or traits may be very persist- 

 ent in some lines of blood in any variety ; undesirable features may be as per- 

 sistent in other lines in the same variety. These observations apply to all races 

 of poultry, but apply with particular force in consideration of this class because 

 of the comparatively narrow range of standard weights and shapes. Descrip- 

 tions of these, omitted from the separate descriptions of breeds and varieties, 

 are here given, and with the weights for this class, weights of varieties of like 

 weights in lighter and heavier classes. 



Table XXI. American Standard Weights of Medium Breeds 



A glance at this table shows plainly the difficulty of making sharp distinctions 

 of shape in these breeds. The so-called breed types may be differentiated in 

 verbal and pictorial descriptions, and in occasional specimens, but that in or- 

 dinary breeding operations they should be somewhat confused is inevitable. 

 The methods of judging exhibition poultry and the necessities of color breeding 

 tend also to confusion of body types. 



