ON THE HISTORY AND MANAGEMENT OF Ornamental and Domestic Poultry. BY REV. EDMUND SAUL DIXON, A. M. И RECTOR OF INTWOOD-WITH-KESWICK, NORFOLK. WITH LARGE ADDITIONS, BY J. J. KERR, M.D. ILLUSTRATED WITH SIXTY-FIVE ORIGINAL PORTRAITS, ENGRAVED FOURTH EDITION, REVISED. NEW YORK: C. M. SAXTON AND COMPANY, No. 140 FULTON STREET, Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by E. H. BUTLER & CO. in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. BERHARD MOSER D5 1857 EDITOR'S PREFACE. IN offering to the public Mr. Dixon's Treatise "On Ornamental and Domestic Poultry," the Editor begs to submit a few preliminary remarks. Several gentlemen in the vicinity of Philadelphia, amateur breeders of choice Poultry, considering me to be one of some experience in that branch of rural economy, suggested that I might fill up whatever leisure I had from professional duty, in recording my experience, and thus give to them, and others, the result of several years' observation. They seemed pleased with occasional articles I had written on the subject, over the nom de plume, "Asa Rugg." On reflection, I resolved to make myself better acquainted with all, or nearly all, that had been written on the subject. With this view, I procured, through my bookseller, whatever Treatises on Poultry I had not at hand. On carefully consulting them, I came to the conclusion that the Rev. Edmund Saul Dixon's work on "Ornamental and Domestic Poultry," was decidedly the best. I determined, therefore, instead of adding another book to this branch of Natural History, merely to edit this, adding portraits of the most important Fowls described, and descriptions of the 825975 9 several kinds of Shanghaes, Guelderland, and other varieties, not therein specifically noticed. In addition to this, there were wanting some remarks on the history and method of making Capons, a practice which Mr. Dixon seems, without sufficient reasons, inclined to condemn. There have been omitted, also, certain portions, not deemed necessary or interesting to the American Fancier. In order that the reader may know how deeply Mr. Dixon is interested in the prosecution of this and kindred branches of Natural History, and how far his views and statements may consequently be relied on, I take the liberty of extracting the following from a letter I received from him twelve months ago. He says, "I beg to thank you very sincerely for your friendly offers of assistance, and shall not hesitate to avail myself of them. . . . As soon as the second edition of my book is finished, which will be much enlarged, [the second is the one used in preparing this,] I propose setting about a second volume on Domesticated and Captive Birds, to comprise the Fancy Pigeons, Guans, Curassows, Gold and Silver *The Editor is quite confident that the Fowl described in English Treatises on Poultry, as the Cochin China, is, when pure, identical with our thorough-bred Shanghaes.-He avails himself of this occasion to say, that though, in the main, he accords with the views and statements of his kind and valued correspondents, herein recorded, yet he would not be understood as agreeing with them in every particular. |