Page:EB1911 - Volume 22.djvu/233

 weighing up to, are sold as poulets de grains. The demand for such birds in England is small, and confined to the West End of London, the flesh being too excessively tender for average English palates. Birds of similar sizes have lately been finding a market in the United States, as “squab broilers,” but are split and broiled, and not fattened, the difference being that a whole bird is served for one portion.

Turkeys.—The varieties of the (q.v.) differ chiefly as to colour. The principal English breeds are the bronze or Cambridge, the black or Norfolk, the fawn and the white. Of these the first, especially when crossed with the American, is the largest and most desirable.

Guinea-fowls.—The (q.v.) may be successfully reared in any dry locality provided it has a good range and trees in which to roost. The hen lays an abundance of eggs, which are generally hidden. The birds are useful as furnishing a supply of poultry for the table in the interval that ensues between the time when game are out of season and that before chickens arrive at maturity. On a dry, sandy and chalky soil and in a warm situation they are reared with ease, but are quite unsuited to damp, cold localities. The continued vociferation of the henbirds renders their maintenance near a house very objectionable, as the cry is continued throughout great part of the night. Several variations of colour exist, but they do not require any detailed description.

Ducks.—All the varieties of the domesticated duck are descended from the common mallard or wild duck, Anas boschas, a species which, though timid in its wild state, is easily domesticated, and suffers changes of form and colour in a few generations. The most important breeds are: the Rouen, which, retaining the colour of the original species, grows to a large size; the Aylesbury, a large white breed with an expanded lemon coloured bill; the Peking, a white breed with a pale yellowish tint in the plumage, and a very bright orange bill; two breeds which are entirely black. The smaller of these, which has been bred down to a very diminutive size, is remarkable for the extreme lustre of its feathers and the fact that its eggs are covered with a dark black pigment, which becomes less in quantity as each successive egg is deposited. It is known by the equally absurd names of East Indian, Labrador or Buenos Aires duck. The larger black variety, the Cayuga duck, has been introduced into England. Decoy or call ducks are small breeds of a very loquacious character, which were originally bred for the purpose of attracting the wild birds to the decoys. Some are of the natural colour, others are white. Amongst the less known breeds are the Duclair ducks of France, evidently the result of crossing white and coloured varieties. Among the breeds differing in structure may be mentioned the Indian Runner duck, formerly called Penguin duck from its erect attitude, the hook-billed and the tufted ducks, &c. During the last fifteen years of the 19th century the first of these became very popular in England as a hardy forager and good layer, many birds laying 150 to 180 eggs in a year. It is small in body but good in flavour, and is a great favourite in many districts.

Geese.—The domestic (q.v.) of Europe is undoubtedly the descendant of the migratory Graylag goose, Amer cinereus, from which it differs chiefly by its increased size. Although domesticated since the time of the Romans, it has not been subject to much variation. The most important breeds are the large grey variety known as the Toulouse, the white breed known as the Embden, and the common variety frequently marked with dark feathers on the back, and hence termed “saddle backs.” After the Crimean War a Russian variety was introduced into England in which the feathers are singularly elongated, and even curled and twisted; this breed, termed the Sebastopol, is of small size and more important as a fanciers’ breed than from a practical point of view. In some countries a second species is domesticated; it is usually termed the Chinese, knob-fronted or swan goose, Anser cygnoides. Though perfectly distinct as a species, having a different number of vertebrae in the neck and a loud clanging voice, it breeds freely with the common goose, and the hybrids produced are perfectly fertile.

Geese in England are declining in relative popularity. In German they are consumed to an enormous extent, and the British consul-general at Berlin reports that even the large domestic supplies have to be supplemented by considerable imports from Russia, a special “goose-train” of fifteen to forty cars arriving daily from the Russian frontier at that city. In America there has been increased interest in goose-breeding, and in the Chinese goose especially, which has been largely bred (with some trifling peculiarities) under the name of the African goose, and crossed with the Embden and Toulouse. The produce of this African cross is considered very fertile and profitable to rear.

Geese are much more exclusively vegetable feeders than ducks, and can only be kept to profit where they can obtain a large proportion of their food by grazing. The old birds should not be killed off, as they continue fertile to a great age. Geese are readily fattened on oats thrown into water, and the young, when brought rapidly forward for the markets, afford a very good profit. The Chinese, if well fed, lay at a much earlier date than the common species, and, if their eggs are hatched under large Cochin hens, giving three or four to each bird, the young are ready for the table at a very early period. The nest, as in ail cases of ground-nesting birds, should be made on the earth and not in boxes, which become too dry and over-heated. In breeding for the market or for the sake of profit, the very large exhibition birds should be avoided, as many are barren from over-fatness, and none are so prolific as birds of fair average size.