POULTRY LORE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 942, 21 March 1890, Page 18

POULTRY LORE.

OLD-FASHIONED ENGLISH GAME. Considerable attention has of late been paid to the old-fashioned type of English Game fowl, and a club has been started in its interest. There can be no question that sinoe the arena of conflict has been changed from the cockpit to the show pon, a> very great alteration has come over the type of i our breeds of game fowls. Of course, the breeders of the old varieties say that the fowl has been entirely spoiled, and that it is not what it once was. This ia, however, a matter which it is not necessary to discuss, for the simple reason that the old Game fowl was bred for the purpose of fighting, and as the abolition of that system of cruelty has induced changes in the form and type it is only what might have been anticipated. At the same time we think those who are at' tempting to save the old breed of Game fowl from extinction are to be commended, and we hope their efforts will be successful. Our object now is to show the difference between the old aud the new, both of which have special characteristice and beauties of their own. The following description of the old fash’ ioned Game fowl was written some years ago and may be taken a> a correot represeDta’ turn of the birds seen thirty or forty years ago. In these birds were 9een eleguncy of contour aud perfect symmetry in every part. The head small, narrow, and inclined to be long ; eyes full and bright, with an expression to the very last ; bill curved and stout at the base j neck rather long, strong, and well set, Bomowhat arched, with a sleek full hackle of regularly placed feathers which reach back broad at the shoulders, flat and sloping ; breast ample and broad; wings large, strong, and well turned, and drooping downwards over part of the thighs, and carried with an appearance of readiness to assault an enemy ; the boiv round and com. pact, tapering gradually to the tail ; thighs short, strong and firm in muscle, with shanks which are powerfully set on, and somewhat long -as compared with thighs, and well placed apart; feet flat, with good-sized toes, and claws of good dimentions. The rump hackle, like the neck hackle, is finely feathered, long and abundant. The tail is a point of special attraction in the old fashioned Game ; it is of imposing outline, and has an abundance of finely-turned feathers, which are carried gaiiy and well together. It should bo at right angles with the back. The plumage is very bard, close, and lustrous, showing quality aud purity in every feather. The spurs are low, and the hind toes well placed backwards for preserving equilibrium in retreating backwards. If we compare this with the type of,Game fowl accepted now, the difference is very apparent. The standard says that, the head; must be ‘ long, lean, and bony,’{With a long, strong beak. The hackle is short and close ; the wings rathei short, powerful, standingout from the body at the shoulders ; the tail- 1 small, carried low and very close, with narrow, hard-sickle feathers, -tapering to a fine point. The thighs lengthy and muscular, standing out from the budv, but Blightly sloping towards the hooks, and legs long, bony, with fine soales, and not flat either on shanks or hocks, the latter stand? 4ng well apart, and not turned inwards. ' From this it will be seen that the oldfashioned type of Game fowl and that seen At the present flay differs very materially,

especially in the head, the hackle, the tail, the length of thighs and legs, the former being a much closer set and heavier type of bird. But its supporters claim that not only is there the difference S9eu in the ex’ ternal appearance, but that there is a very marked atteratiow in the laying powers of the fowls. It is generally admitted that the Game fowl at the preseut, by which we mean those generally seeu in the show-pen, are poor layers. This is olaimed not to be the case with the old-fashioned Game, who are said to be very good winttr layers, in this respect finding few superiors. We have seen it jjrecorded that hens of this variety have produced eggs all through a winter, and nut in insclated \laces either. It is also said that the flesh of the old-fashioned Game fowl is beautifully white, and if that be so, this is another difference from the modern Game which, though rich in the quality of their flesh, cannot be called whise-fleshed. As to the colour of these birds, there is more vatiaty than is found in the modern show-pen, for tho exhibition system has andoubtebly been the means of concentrated attention upon a few colours. Doubtless, if the old’fashioned Game heeomes popular, as a show-bird the same result will follow, for the tendency is always to exalt oae at the expense of others. Now black.breasted reds, piles, and duckwings are to be seen, but, in addition, there are many others with combinations of leg aud body colouring we do not now see amongst our ordinary Game fowls. M. - THE VALUE OF EGGS. Mr. yimmons, an English authority on poultry, lately delivered a lecture before the Society of Arts, in which he held that eggs constitute a neglected mine of wealth. They aro the only article of agricultural produce for which the demand is unlimited, and perhaps the only one in which we might, did we ohom, defy foreign compaiition. They not only mean money, but they command .prices that admit of profit compared with which beef and mutton are of little account, and wheat barely worth mentioning. Hens, for those who know howto utilize them, lay'eggs which, if not ma-6 of gold, are quite capable of being turned into that metal, when they are retailabie all the year around. :Bggs are a meal in themselves. Every element nehessary to the support of man is oontained within the limits of an eggshell, in the best proportions and in the most palatable form. The masters of French cookery affirm that it is easy to dress them in more than five hundred different ways, 6ach method not only economical, but salutary in the highest degree. They strengthen the consumptive, invigorate the feeble, and render the moat susceptible all but proof against: jaundice in its most malignant phrase. In France alone the wine clarifiers use more than eighty millions a year, and the Alsatians consume fully thirty eight milli na in calico printing and for dressing the leather used in making the finest of French kid gloves. Finally, not to mention various other employments for eggs in the" arts, they may, with trouble bn the farmer’s part, be converted into fowl which, in any shape, are profitable to the seller and welcome to the buyer.—Poultry Keeper.