4- TO 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
FRENCH BREEDS OF POULTRY. 
The enormous production of eggs and poultry in France, to which allusion has already been made, 
and the fact that the breeds most esteemed by the French were very distinct from those varieties 
which were formerly known to poultry-keepers, might naturally lead at first to the conclusion that 
to the breeds in question was the great production due. This idea seems to have been in fact 
entertained by the managers of the National Poultry Company mentioned in the earlier portion 
of this work, who devoted much time, money, and energy to the dissemination in this country of 
the French breeds of poultry, which, though already known, were previously to the Company’s 
existence very little kept. To a great extent these exertions succeeded ; but subsequent expe- 
rience of the French breeds has not shown any such general or conclusive good qualities in them as 
can account for the immense poultry crops of France, which appear rather, as we have already 
said in the proper place, to be owing to the immense number of small proprietors , who for many 
reasons — especially with a fine climate in their favour — are in the most favourable position for 
poultry-keeping of any individuals in the world. All expectation that “ French fowls ” would give 
French success has long since vanished; but, nevertheless, some of the French races have been 
found to possess truly valuable qualities, and one of them in particular — the Houdan — has formed 
a most useful addition to our poultry-yards. 
The French breeds have all one point in common — every one of them is most delicious eating. 
They, moreover, show in a very suggestive manner what may be done by a judicious system of 
crossing, and subsequent selection, in the way of founding new breeds; since they are evidently 
built upon the Polish fowl as a foundation, obtaining from this race the juicy flesh, excellent laying 
properties, and absence of incubating instinct, whilst size has been added from foreign sources. 
The Crevecoeur, as we remarked in our last chapter, is in fact a Polish fowl to all intents and 
purposes, but increased in size ; and the same ancestry is shown by the delicate constitution which 
characterises nearly all of the varieties. This fault, which is of little consequence in a climate like 
that of France, becomes of serious importance in less favoured localities, and has probably inter- 
fered with the extensive popularity of any French variety save the Houdan ; though the Creve 
appears to have manifested of late symptoms of more satisfactory acclimatisation than at one time 
appeared probable. Without further remark on these points, however, we will proceed to consider 
the breeds themselves in detail. 
HOUDANS. — This breed was vaguely described by Messrs. Wingfield and Johnson in 1853, 
but the first authentic description of it in English was published in 1865 by Mr. Geyelin, in a 
pamphlet embodying certain views on wholesale poultry-keeping which, as is well known, signally 
failed. As it is always interesting to compare the earlier impressions of recently-introduced 
varieties with the conclusions of more recent experience, we quote his description entire. Of 
Houdans he writes : — 
