THE BREEDS 51 



As Brown^ (whom I have largely followed) points out, 

 there are excellent reasons for believing that such heavy, 

 loose-feathered breeds as the Cochins and Brahmas came 

 from an entirely different ancestry with which the Aseel 

 or Malay fowl, domesticated over three thousand years ago, 

 is the connecting link. In these breeds the long axis of the 

 opening of the skull through which the spinal cord passes 

 (occipital foramen) is perpendicular, while in both the 

 Leghorn and Bankiva it is horizontal. This is mentioned 

 as representative of several structural differences which 

 could not have been selected for. It can be noted only 

 by removing the head from the neck. 



Besides structural differences, there are also differences 

 in habit which seem to indicate an ancestor far removed 

 from the close-feathered, early-maturing, high-flying jungle 

 fowl. 



The question of just what was the forerunner of our heavy 

 breeds is an open one. While various suggestions have been 

 made, none have gained general acceptance, and it seems 

 probable that it is now extinct. 



Early American Poultry. — ^There is little information to be 

 found concerning the status of poultry previous to the rise 

 of the breeds in the middle of the last century. "With the 

 exception of the turkey ,2 all our farm animals and poultry 

 were imported from the Old World. The first to reach the 

 New World were brought by Columbus on his second 

 voyage in 1493.* * * Chickens, ducks, and geese are known 

 to have been brought at that time."' According to Robinson,* 

 the ordinary native stocks of fowls, ducks, geese, and turkeys 

 in America at the time of the general awakening of interest 

 in improved poultry and for some years after were, even 

 when compared with the average mongrel stocks of today, 

 small birds of distinctly inferior table qualities, and usually 

 inferior also in egg production. This degeneracy of stock 

 was due to the common practice of selecting for the table first. 



' Races of Domestic Poultry. 



2 One breed of ducks, the Muscovy, probably originated in South America. 



' Carver, Principles of Rural Economies. 



'Principles and Practice of Poultry Culture. 



