576 
The I llustrated Book of Poultry. 
and with a great freedom from that “dryness” which distinguishes infeiior English poultry. But 
the liking for this kind of meat seems an acquired taste, and it is certainly not so much liked by 
average English palates as the better class of native poultry, having been again and again 
pronounced in our hearing to be “ insipid ” or with “ no flavour.” We believe national habit has 
much to do with this. The English are a meat-eating people ; and accordingly prefer their poultry 
with a certain amount of both firmness and distinguishable flavour. The French, on the other hand, 
eat much less meat, and much of that made excessively tender in stews and made dishes. 1 hey 
accordingly seek somewhat of the same delicate tenderness in their fowls. Such at least is our 
theory ; but whether it be true or not, it is quite certain that such prices as 20s. and 30s. each 
would never be given in England, in other than a few cases, for such fatted La Fleche fowls as 
readily return that sum in Paris. 
On the whole, therefore, we believe that the fowl to be aimed at for general purposes will be of 
the accepted English type, reared for so many generations in Surrey and Sussex \ the best being 
found in pure Dorking or Houdan, or the “ Dorkingized ” barn-door kind known as Surrey fowls, 
which have by degrees almost assumed the character of a distinct breed (much more so than the 
La Bresse fowls of France), strengthened in less favoured localities by Asiatic crosses, at some slight 
sacrifice of quality. The chief thing in this class of breeding is to ensure that such sacrifice is slight, 
and this can only be done by carefully selecting the best types of both Brahmas and Langshans, 
which are far the best of the Asiatic crosses, on account of their depth of breast and white skins. 
It has already been pointed out that Brahmas have been of late too much bred to the Cochin 
model, and this should be avoided, both as regards want of breast and looseness of plumage ; and 
in regard to Langshans, the scanty breast and long scraggy legs favoured by some writers, must be 
carefully eschewed if good table fowls are desired. So important is a good breast on a table fowl, 
that if Malays can be obtained of the old-fashioned sort, which had a heavier body and shorter 
legs than is now usual, it may often be employed with great benefit as the Asiatic component, 
giving great size of breast and merry-thought. This fowl has only been mentioned last, because 
the average modern exhibition bird is far less suitable in these respects. 
The recently-manufactured Plymouth Rocks and Wyandottes are good fowls if bred to a 
judicious model ; but we have seen some with no more breast than a Cochin. 
It may, indeed, be affirmed that, although not quite all, a good breast is the chief point in a table 
fowl. And it may be well to point out in what a good breast consists ; for this does not always 
seem well understood, embracing as it does at least three distinct qualities. 
1. A good breast must be deep , especially in front. On this depends the breadth of the slices 
cut from it. Internally, this quality depends upon depth of the keel of the breast-bone ; 
externally, it is marked by the fowl appearing, when looked at sideways, as deep through the body 
at the shoulders as behind. This is true, although the contour may be widely different. For 
instance, referring to Fig. 78, representing the ideal contour of a Dorking, the equal depth at 
shoulders is seen at once, in the general contour of a parallelogram. No such square form can 
be seen in a Game fowl, whose breast shows a beautiful curve. But it will be seen that a well- 
shaped Game fowPs body is much like a fir-cone in figure, the thick end representing the shoulders ; 
hence the greatest depth is still through the shoulders and breast. The same is true of the 
pheasant, and of every good table fozvl ; and an application of this simple rule will show the 
serious deficiency of many Langshans upheld as the “true type” by some injudicious writers. 
2. The breast must be broad. On this depends the number of slices it will yield. Internally, 
this depends upon the width of the flat parts of the breast-bone. Externally, it is seen on looking 
at the front of the fowl. The true type of the Brahma, when it is not bred to Cochin models, 
