February 1st, 1989

Dear Bill,

Thanks for your letter dated Jan 27 which was very good written. Enclosed I send you 2 clippings of a German poultry paper with pictures of 2 rumpless female chickens, the Kaulhuhn is a common European rumpless and an Araucana. It is easy to see that the last has a longer back, because she has one vertebra more as the Kaulhuhn has. That one vertebra is special for the Araucana. I have a book on Japanese fowl. There is a breed which is rumpless, the Uzura-O chicken. There is also a rumpless variety of the Japanese Bantam or Chabo. Pictures are in the famous poultry number of the National Geographic Magazine of April 1927. Rumplessness has a lethal factor when breeding the birds. Therefore breeders often bred a rumpless bird to one with a tail. Therefore these varieties throw birds with tail from time to time which keep them able to duplicate.

Japan, being islands, imported all kind of chickens before 1636 and developed the birds in their own way. There was no contact for more as 200 years with other countries in this period, it was forbidden to built vessels and to sail for the Japanese. The only contact they had was with the Dutch trade center on the small island Decima. This period lasted from 1636-1865. Japan cannot have been so important in exporting poultry during that time, but there are signals of Japanese poultry in the Netherlands on old paintings from that period.

In the book of Houwink from which I quoted about the chicken bones, there is also a part on the poultry culture in Australia round 1909. He writes for his book (part II - 1909): “The oldest type of fowl in NSW is the Asiatic type, imported centuries ago by sailors and bred by the people of Australia. It was a certain Game Fowl, from which the beautiful Australian Game is bred and his miniature the Australian Game Bantam. A wild fowl (chicken) never existed in Australia.

It is remarkable that in this country suddenly the beautiful English and American breeds of chickens are imported, which very easy adapted the climate and became profitable. So the last 15 years the poultry culture increased very well in a more or less American way to an important part of the agriculture. There are large farms with a very important flock of poultry. The poultry culture equals the English and American points.”

End quotation. There was an egg contest for 2 years old hens over 2 years. The breeds were: Langshan, cuckoo and buff Leghorn, white and buff Orpington, light brown Leghorn, silver and white Wyandotte, black Orpington, RIR, buff Wyandotte and Minorca.

In that time there were known here 2 real Australian breeds of poultry: the Australian Game Fowl and the Australian Game Bantam.

That’s all for today. We are fine. We have no real winter till now. I have a lot of eggs from my birds. Keep on with the good work.

Sincerely yours,