The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-01-08
CHICKENS A La MODE.

quite probable that the majority will admit
that their Partially has reference entirely to
the toothsomeness of the bird when roasted
or fricaseed, or in the dyspeptic form of salad.
There are others, however, more or less @s-
thetic in their tastes, as the case may be,
who are enthusiasts in the matter of live
fowls. These may be the regular poultry
f%anciers, whose interests are wholly financial,
or they may be amateurs who grow eloquent
over the shade of a feather, or the number of
notches on the comb of his pure-blooded
birds. The amateur has a financial interest,
too, but not of a compound nature, the re-
turns being in inverse ratio to the invest
ment. hen there is a large class of persons
who are neither amateurs nor profess
SIGNALS. They know no difference be-
tween common barn-yard fowls and
aristocratie hens, whose eggs sell
for So a dozen, until the superiority of the
latter Is pointed out to them. Nevertheless,
in spite of this ignorance, they have an ad-
miration for chickens in all conditions of
life, as well as those with their heads cut off.
Everyone, then, can go to the poultry show
now being held in Masonic Hall and find
something to please. If a man doesn't like
the sight of these fowls with their feathers
on, he can delight his fancy by picturing the
gigantic, but tender, spring chickens dressed
would not undressed be more correct?-
and set before him in tempting BROWNIES,
done to a turn.
The first visit to a poultry show is an
event to be remembered. The unsuspecting
visitor, who has recollections of the red
rooster and the dozen mems which strayed
about the premises when he was a child, is
not prepared for what is coming. At the
foot of the stairs he hears q noise like the
scraping of innumerable fddles, mingled
with whatm may be horns and some distant
thunder. Once in the hall, the deafening din
proves to be nothing more than the Growing
of cocks, the cackling of hens, assisted by a
number of geese and turkeys with a CORE
spending volume of voice. Do cocks crow
that way on ordinary occasions2 Is the roos-
ter in the freedom of the barnyard in the
habit of Growing so continuously? There is a
tradition that a cock crows once each hour of
the twenty-four. By being penned up and
brought into a giddy round of dissipa-
ton which compels him to stay awake at
night, has he lost the faculty of determining
the time of day? Or does the sight of so
many rivals incite him to trials of vocal skill
without regard to time? The hens adapt
themselves to circumstances more gracefully.
If they are filled with jealousy and envy they
hide these feelings, and cluck and cackle with
their accustomed placidity. They all sing and
cackle and crow and gobble at once, and
without ceasing, until the wonder arises
whether they are each trying to Guido the
other, or trying vainly to to each
other-for possibly they do not speak a COM
mon language. Can the Cochin be expected
to know what the Brabmas are saying, or the
black Spanish to understand the Plymouth
Rocks?
Describe the birds? No indeed. No one
but an expert with no personal choice as to
breeds could do that, and no such unbiased
expert exists. The visitor, who has some
knowledge of the animosity toward each
other which fills the bosoms OF owners of
different breeds of cattle and hogs, and pre-
sumably of poultry f~anciers, declines to
mention his ~favorite among the birds on ex-
hibition. Should he declare in favor of the
buff Cochins or the Plymouth Rocks, volumes
of statistics to prove their inferiority to the
Leghorns and the black Cochins would be
hurled at his head, and he would be pursued
by breeders of Houdans, Sebrights, and
all the other varieties, with proofs that he
was wrong. But it is safe to say that they are
all beautiful. 1t can be no longer a question
where the wings and feathers are procured
which ornament the feminine bonnets of the
season. 1t is not the innocent song-oird
which is robbed, but the domestic fowl. The
gorgeousness of plumage is tropical. Breed
ing for feathers, according to farm authori-
ties is a waste of trouble, but the owners of
ornamental birds evidently know what they
are about. BY happy management and
foresight, the leading colors
are the fashionable ones in feminine attire.
ALI the terra Gotta shades can be found.
~"Old-gold' birds are in plenty, and the
stylish mingling of black and white is found
in all styles. Jet black hens with white top
knots, white hen with black topknots, and
polka-dotted mems are numerous. The old
red rooster, too, is quite in order. Next year
the prevailing colors in dress goods, it is said,
will be greens and blues. Poultry-raisers
will, doubtless, exhibit, at the next show,
birds in every graduation of these tints, The