The poultry book

Front matter

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1 JLlJCji

POULTRY BOOR

Preface

" There is nothing among; men perpetual nor nothing stable, but all things pass and repass, even Uke unto the flowing and ebbing of the sea." — Sallust.

S A CHILI) I was ever happy, contented and amused by

the companionship of animals and birds, particularly fowls.

At the time that my only brother* and myself were

cpite "httle things, " our father would make outHne pencil

drawings for us to copy. These, by our desire, were mostly

"cocks and hens." No stories pleased us so much as those

of the wild and tame animal life of the woods, hedgerows and the farm,

and none like those that told of the Kent and Sussex homesteads, with

their cattle, bird and poultry associations.

Early in May, 1829, when scarcely five years old, I traveled with my mother by coach to Tunbriclge Wells, and thence by a hired conveyance along the Hastings road to Pembury, another mile ; then up a long, narrow, wheel-rutted, sanded lane, whose high and low side-banks and hedges amid their greenery fairly glowed with the rich and rural colorings of spring, through a five-barred gateway, past a pond darkened by overhanging trees, a wider and more open space of the grass-fringed trackway, and we were at "Fletchers'," the ancient family home of a near relative: an oldworld, primitive, half-stone, brick, timber and weather-tile built house, * John Jenner Weir, F.L.S., F.Z.S., F.E.S,, etc.

viii The Poultry Book

'.- :T.r— ^"^te^. *1 thatched out-buildings,

barn, cart-house and

jtV' ■■■-«, ^LL " ^i pigReries, with a sur-

i,^g^ N-^*^ ■ ' roun di n g o I h Op

gardens, arable, ^^^B^ V ^ meadow and other

*"-«* '" (, ^ ^ homestead was some

-t' *"" i^" " centuries old, also the

^ "/ tinS'W out -buildings ; fields

" -'" i^f were scattered among

—^' - woods, joining other

AT THE OLD FARM woods iu almost never-

ending variety of forms and masses, Avhile in front of the leaden casement-windowed house was the trim and gay flower garden, defended from cattle and other incursions by the whitest of wooden palings. A thrush sang amid the trees of the blossomy orchard close by, and a chaffinch gave voice from a lilac bush. All about was old, even the very fruit-trees, and yet to me — so new. To this day everything I saw and heard is as fresh and as bright in my memory as though it were but yesterday; the house, the woods, the hedged-in fields, the birds, the wild and garden flowers, were to me then, as now, a very wonderment of lovable things and an adorning beauty unadorned.

The day after our arrival I was missed, and by much searching found in the cowyard with a pencil and paper, endeavoring to draw "the cocks and hens. " For many years these drawings, with their slight resemblance to fowls, were treasured and proudly shown by my mother. Here it was that I first saAV the Kent and Sussex whitc-shankcd five-toed l.)lack-andred poultry, though kept and known at " Fletchers' " and some adjacent farms beyond time of remembrance. A'ears afterward I learned that the whole of the hdusekeeping expenses were paid out of the profits derived from the small dairy and — the poultry. From this time my love of animal life so increased that some fowls were got to please my brother and myself. Three Nankeen Bantams, and then some partridge-colored and "booted," were given to our father by Sir John Sebright for "the boys." Then Aylesbury Ducks, pigeons, rabbits, dogs. Guinea-pigs, piebald rats, fawncoloied, black and white mice, and a tame but very young squirrel were

Preface

IX purchased ; and thus it was with my brotlier and myself no time was more enjoyable than that spent in attending to the wants and welfare of our various, somewhat incongruous animal and bird belongings; but the farmyard, with its poultry, was ever the first and our most restful pleasure. Growing older and stronger, we wandered wide in search of variety in this our chief delight.

]\Iany of our relatives and friends living in Kent and Sussex were farmers, and that chiefly of their own land or of large holdings ; and it may be said that all, as a rule, kept the best of farm-stock, and the poultry was niit only a profitable adjunct, but things of beauty of the highest excellence, whether for the table or for the production of eggs.

The farmer and the poultry fancier of to-day has but little or no idea of the superior and long-tested quality of the then ancient breeds of fowls nurtured and kept about our southern homesteads, nor how much they were cared for, appreciated and ^■alued.

Both the cocks and hens were most carefully and thoughtfully selected, not only for their fineness of flesh, thinness of skin, their form and size, but also for their uniformity and beauty of color; in this respect districts and farms were known as having a certain specialty, and the fowls were not, as many modern writers ignorantly state, uncuUed or unmatched. In many cases the housewives were as proud, if not more so, of their poultry as any cattle-breeder was or could be of his cattle. Often would they take my brother and myself at the feeding-time into the poultry yard, and there point out the best, and tell us why they were the best, and what were their chief pfjints of excellence, or their beauty of color or markings ; and further tell us how the same kind and breed had

OLD KENT AND SUSSEX FIVE-TOED HEN

X The Poultry Book

been kept and reared on the land for many generations; and also when some were killed, and plucked for the table for culinary purposes, Ave were shown what constituted a first-class fowl as regarded size, color of flesh, fineness of the fiber, thinness, whiteness and smoothness of the skin, the even distribution of the white fat, the sc[uareness of the body — for none were then in favor of the long breast, as now advocated, and which latter is a mistake, as it must be generally wanting in depth; but with the shape then bred an exceeding plumpness of breast was of>tained. The Cartridge* was invariably quoted as "the model form" of what a fowl should be, with rather more leg and thigh, the shanks being in due proportion; and they one and all were most particular that the shanks (then called legs) should be white, and fleshy scaled, Avith feet five -toed white — L-ven one dark nail was considered a blemish, and rejected as breeding stock. We were shown where to look for the hens' eggs, and trained in the feeding and rearing of cliickens, and to note the times of feathering, the hen's pratings, cacklings and callings; the cock's crowings were talked of as noticeable as varying both in power and tone, and as indications of health and strength that were not to be lost sight of when choosing the birds of the year for mating as breeding stock. Several methods of fattening the chicken were shown to us, and how to pluck a dead fowl properly, while the carving of one on the table was not neglected. All of this was well r)vcr "sixty years since" ; and thus it has been that almost from verv infancy have I grown into the knowledge and love of our "farm" and "fancy" poultry, and the which to me has been a source r)f everlasting pleasure both in thought and reality. Having kept almost every variety, not r)nlv have I studied fowls from a poulterer's view, but as a naturalist, and, lastly, as an artist, professionally and otherwise attending poultry shows, from that of 1845 at the Zoological Societies Gardens, and elsewhere to the present time, often acting as one of the judges, and have been also an exhibitor for nearly fifty years. f During this time I have seen, knr)wn and conversed with those fanciers of the far-off past as to what poultry was, and those breeders of the day as to what it now is, and thus by theirs and my own long and almost unique experience have gathered, I hope, a true and certain knowledge of the varieties of the breeds, both old and new. Such, I believe, should become

* Perhaps the Gmuse would be in Scotland.

t Winning first ]irize Tor old English Game cocks, Crystal Palace, 1898.

Preface

XI historical ; thus it is that I have endeavored not only to put together such facts that have come under my own actual observation, but also those made known to me by others that have been my friends and associates in bygone times, as well as those truthfully recorded by authentic writers in the

SKETCH AT THE OLD FARM SIXTY YEARS SINCE

numerous books, mostly in my possession, my idea being to tell of, to portray or describe our different breeds of fowls as to what they were, and now Avhat they are. This has been my conceit for more than forty years. Many long and serious illnesses, and work in other directions, has hindered much, and made progress slow, but the intention has gained in material, though in one sense it has unexpectedly lost in another, as I shall presently show. That I was writing and preparing an illustrated book on poultry had long been known, and that it would comprehend the past and present variations of the different breeds, but the full scope of its contents had not been defined to others, until in a friendly conversation between myself and the editor of Poultry (the late Mr. Broomhead), May, 1891, in which I gave him the general outline of what I was and had been doing, upon which he published the following in Poultry, May 22, 1891 :

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" Mr. Harrison Weir has for a long time been engaged in writing a poultry book, although illness has again somewhat hindered him. The work, which will be altogether different from the general run of poultry books, is a resume of more than fifty years' experience, and will show the variations of many of the breeds of fowls for a number of years in consequence of poultry shows, which, as is generally well known, Mr. Harrison Weir has contended for many years past has been the ruin of the commercial table fowls. For years past Mr. Weir has been making very carefully delineated drawings, which will accompany his descriptions of the birds. Game-fowls and Dorkings will occupy a prominent position in the wc)rk, a large amount of valuable and interesting information having been got together respecting these breeds."

This information having been freely given, I, and also many others, were somewhat indignantly surprised to find another book published in 1892 of nearly the same construction, and not only that, but using on the title-page almost the precise words that the editor of Poultry had written in May, 1891, regarding my book from the information that I gave him.

I only quote the above fact to clear myself from any imputation of plagiarism at least on my part, and for no other reason. The above carries its own comment, therefore any from me is needless.

Upon this, 1 thought it best to abandon my book, though the work of many years' research, much thought and a lifelong experience ; so for the

PARTRIDGES time at least it was abandoned, and only resumed at the earnest entreaty of some dear friends, and though from ill-hecdth and various other causes the work has been slow, and at times almost tedious, it is at last completed, and I most sincerely trust and hope that as it has been a labor of love,

Preface

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OLD STYLE OF KENT AiNU SUSSEX FOWL with all its faults and shortcomings it may prove to be both useful and interesting; also, being partly historical and biographical, it may be found instructive.

The antiquarian portion is selected from a mass of notes taken from old books. Middle Age inventories, records, and from various other sources, and which I trust will be found acceptable, and at one and the same time convey to the fanciers, poultry keepers and poultry writers of to-day that, without doubt, and whatever may have been said to the contrary, for many centuries at least our poultry was not merely one of the neglected appendages of the villa and farm, but was chosen and bred with much care, atten-

XIV tion and discretion, and that not only as a soiirce of profit, but also for pleasure and even sport ; and that before any poultry shows existed there were fanciers, and the table fowls of Kent were noted in history, and these, with those of Sussex and Surrey, were truthfully pronounced by competent judges to be as "table fowls, the very finest and best in the Avorld. "

I have only to add that the birds dehneated are portraits and not ideals, and that latterly, to insure as much accuracy as possible, photographs have been used in every instance where procurable. For many of these I am lastingly indebted to seA'cral of our principal poultry breeders and fanciers, and their great kindness in having their birds photographed especially for my use, and for which and other gentle courtesies I tender my most hearty and sincere thanks.

HARRISON WEIR.