Nearly all farmers now keep quite large flocks of fowls. Many farmers make the most of their living from poultry, and in some places nearly every farm is devoted primarily to the production of eggs and of poultry for the table. Fowls receive most attention, although, as we shall see, some of the largest and most profitable farms are engaged in producing ducks. In the suburbs of cities and in villages all over the land many people keep more fowls now than the average farmer did in old times. These city poultry keepers often give a great deal of time to their fowls and still either lose money on them or make very small wages for the time given to this work, because they try to keep too many in a small space, or to keep more than they have time to care for properly. [Illustration: Fig. 23. Black Langshan hen. (Photograph from Urban Farms, Buffalo, New York)] The breeding of fancy fowls is also an important pursuit. Those who engage in this line on a large scale locate on farms, but many of the smaller breeders live in towns, and the greater number of the amateur fanciers who breed fine fowls for pleasure are city people. On large poultry farms the work is usually done by men. There are many small plants operated by women. The ordinary farm and family flocks are cared for by women and children much oftener than by men, because, even when the men are interested in poultry, other work takes the farmer away from the vicinity of the house, and the city man away from home, so much that they cannot look after poultry as closely as is necessary to get the best results. Many women like to have the care of a small flock of fowls, because it takes them outdoors for a few minutes at intervals every day, and the eggs and poultry sold may bring in a considerable amount of pin money. Many boys, while attending the grammar and high schools, earn money by keeping a flock of fowls. Some have saved enough in this way to pay expenses at college for a year or more, or to give them a start in a small business. When there are both boys and girls in a family, such outdoor work usually falls to the lot of a boy. A girl can do just as well if she has the opportunity and takes an interest in the work. [Illustration: Fig. 24. Pit Game cock. (Photograph from W. F. Liedtke, Meriden, Connecticut)] =Native fowls in America.= To appreciate the influence of improved races of fowls from various parts of the Old World upon the development of poultry culture in America, we must know what the fowls in this country were like when poultry keepers here began to see the advantages of keeping better stock, and must learn something of the history of the improved races in the countries from which they came. [Illustration: Fig. 25. Dominique cockerel. (Photograph from W. H. Davenport, Coleraine, Massachusetts)]