Fig. 25. Dominique cockerel. (Photograph from W. H. Davenport, Coleraine, Massachusetts)
When we speak of native fowls in America we mean fowls derived from the stocks brought here by the early settlers. The fowl was not known in the Western Hemisphere until it was brought here by Europeans. Britain, France, Spain, Holland, and Sweden all sent colonists to America, and from each of these countries came, no doubt, some of the ordinary fowls of that country. Perhaps improved varieties came from some of these lands in early colonial times, but the only breeds that retained their identity sufficiently to have distinctive names were the Game Fowls, which came mostly from England, and the Dominiques (bluish-gray barred fowls which probably came from Holland or from the north of France, where fowls of this type were common).
Fig. 26. Dominique hen. (Photograph from Skerritt and Son, Utica, New York)
The Game Fowls, being prized for the sport of cockfighting, were often bred with great care, but the Dominique fowls (also called cuckoo fowls and hawk-colored fowls) were mixed with other stock, and the name was commonly given to any fowl of that color, until after the improvement of fowls began. Then some people collected flocks of fowls of this color and bred them for uniformity in other characters. Well-bred fowls, however, were comparatively rare. Most of the stock all through the country was of the little mongrel type until about the middle of the last century. Then that type began to disappear from New England, New York, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania. It remained longer in the Northern states west of the Allegheny Mountains and a generation ago was still the most common type in the upper Mississippi Valley. It is now unknown outside of the Southern states, and within ten or twenty years it will disappear entirely.
