=Development of principal races of fowls.= There is no evidence that any of the ancient civilized peoples made any effort to improve the fowl, nor have any improved races been produced in the lands where those civilizations flourished. Outside of this area many different types were gradually developed to suit the needs or the tastes of people in different countries and localities. Thus in the course of centuries were produced from the same original wild stock fowls as unlike as the massive Brahma, with feathered legs and feet, and the diminutive Game Bantam; the Leghorn, with its large comb, and the Polish, with only the rudiments of a comb and in its place a great ball of feathers; the Spanish, with monstrous development of the skin of the face, and the Silky, with dark skin and hairlike plumage. Except in a few limited districts these special types did not displace the ordinary type for many centuries. Until modern times they were hardly known outside of the districts or the countries where they originated. Of the details of their origin nothing is known. They were not of the highly specialized and finished types such as are bred by fanciers now. Their distinctive features had been established, but in comparatively crude form. The refining and perfecting of all these types has been the work of fanciers in Holland, Belgium, England, and America in modern times. These fanciers have also developed new races of more serviceable types. [Illustration: Fig. 17. Light Brahma hen] [Illustration: Fig. 18. Red Pile Game Bantam cock] [Illustration: Fig. 19. Red Pile Game Bantam hen] =How fowls were kept in old times.= Less than a century ago it was quite a common practice among the cottagers of England and Scotland to keep their fowls in their cottages at night. Sometimes a loft, to which the birds had access by a ladder outside, was fitted up for them. Sometimes perches for the fowls were put in the living room of the cottage. Such practices seem to us wrong from a sanitary standpoint, but it is only within very recent times that people have given careful attention to sanitation, and in old times, when petty thieving was more common than it is now, there was a decided advantage in having such small domestic animals as poultry and pigs where they could not be disturbed without the owner's knowing it. The practice of keeping fowls in the owner's dwelling seems to have been confined to the poorer people, who had no large domestic animals for which they must provide suitable outbuildings. On large farms special houses were sometimes provided for poultry, but they were probably oftener housed with other animals, for few people thought it worth while to give them special attention. [Illustration: Fig. 20. White-Faced Black Spanish cockerel. (Photograph from R. A. Rowan, Los Angeles, California)]