[8] Temminck, ‘Hist. Nat. Gén. des Pigeons,’ tom. i.; also ‘Les Pigeons’ par Mme. Knip and Temminck. Bonaparte, however, in his ‘Coupd’œil’ believes that two closely allied species are confounded together under this name. The _C. leucocephala_ of the West Indies is stated by Temminck to be a rock-pigeon; but I am informed by Mr. Gosse that this is an error.
[9] ‘Handbuch der Naturgesch. Vögel Deutschlands.’
[11] ‘Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,’ vol. xix., 1847, p. 102. This excellent paper on pigeons is well worth consulting.
[12] ‘Natural History of Ireland,’ Birds, vol. ii. (1850), p. 11. For Graba _see_ previous reference.
[15] ‘History of British Birds,’ vol. i. pp. 275-284. Mr. Andrew Duncan tamed a rock-pigeon in the Shetland Islands. Mr. James Barclay, and Mr. Smith of Uyea Sound, both say that the wild rock-pigeon can be easily tamed; and the former gentleman asserts that the tamed birds breed four times a year. Dr. Lawrence Edmondstone informs me that a wild rock-pigeon came and settled in his dovecot in Balta Sound in the Shetland Islands, and bred with his pigeons; he has also given me other instances of the wild rock-pigeon having been taken young and breeding in captivity.
[16] ‘Annals and Mag. of Nat. History,’ vol. xix. 1847, p. 103, and [17] Domestic pigeons of the common kind are mentioned as being pretty numerous in John Barbut’s ‘Description of the Coast of Guinea’ (p.
215), published in 1746; they are said, in accordance with the name which they bear, to have been imported.
[18] With respect to feral pigeons—for Juan Fernandez, _ see_ Bertero in ‘Annal. des Sc. Nat.,’ tom. xxi. p. 351. For Norfolk Islands, _see_ Rev. E. S. Dixon in the ‘Dovecote,’ 1851, p. 14, on the authority of Mr. Gould. For Ascension I rely on MS. information given me by Mr.
Layard. For the banks of the Hudson, _see_ Blyth in ‘Annals of Nat.
Hist.,’ vol. xx., 1857, p. 511. For Scotland, _see_ Macgillivray, Ireland, Birds,’ vol. ii. p. 11. For ducks, _see_ Rev. E. S. Dixon, ‘Ornamental Poultry,’ 1847, p. 122. For the feral hybrids of the Selys-Longchamp’s ‘Hybrides dans la Famille des Anatides.’ For the goose, Isidore Geoffroy St.-Hilaire, ‘Hist. Nat. Gén.,’ tom. iii. p.
Jamaica,’ p. 124; and his ‘Birds of Jamaica,’ for fuller particulars.
I saw the wild guinea-fowl in Ascension. For the peacock, _see_ ‘A Week at Port Royal,’ by a competent authority, Mr. R. Hill, p. 42. For the turkey I rely on oral information; I ascertained that they were not Curassows. With respect to fowls I will give the references in the next chapter.
[19] I have drawn out a long table of the various crosses made by fanciers between the several domestic breeds but I do not think it worth while publishing. I have myself made for this special purpose many crosses, and all were perfectly fertile. I have united in one bird five of the most distinct races, and with patience I might undoubtedly have thus united all. The case of five distinct breeds being blended together with unimpaired fertility is important, because Gärtner has shown that it is a very general, though not, as he thought, universal rule, that complex crosses between several species are excessively sterile. I have met with only two or three cases of reported sterility in the offspring of certain races when crossed.
Pistor (‘Das Ganze der Feldtaubenzucht,’ 1831, s. 15) asserts that the mongrels from Barbs and Fantails are sterile: I have proved this to be erroneous, not only by crossing those hybrids with several other hybrids of the same parentage, but by the more severe test of pairing brother and sister hybrids _inter se,_ and they were _perfectly_ fertile. Temminck has stated (‘Hist. Nat. Gén. des Pigeons,’ tom. i.
p. 197) that the Turbit or Owl will not cross readily with other breeds: but my Turbits crossed, when left free with Almond Tumblers and with Trumpeters; the same thing has occurred (Rev. E. S. Dixon, ‘The Dovecote,’ p. 107) between Turbits and Dovecots and Nuns. I have crossed Turbits with Barbs, as has M. Boitard (p. 34), who says the hybrids were very fertile. Hybrids from a Turbit and Fantail have been known to breed _inter se_ (Riedel, ‘Taubenzucht,’ s. 25, and 26) have been crossed with Pouters and with Jacobins, and with a hybrid Jacobin-trumpeter (Riedel, s. 27). The latter author has, however, made some vague statements (s. 22) on the sterility of Turbits when crossed with certain other crossed breeds. But I have little doubt that the Rev. E. S. Dixon’s explanation of such statements is correct, viz. that individual birds both with Turbits and other breeds are occasionally sterile.
[22] Domestic pigeons pair readily with the allied _C. œnas_ (Bechstein, ‘Naturgesch. Deutschlands,’ B. iv. s. 3); and Mr. Brent has made the same cross several times in England, but the young were very apt to die at about ten days old; one hybrid which he reared (from _C. œnas_ and a male Antwerp Carrier) paired with a Dragon, but never laid eggs. Bechstein further states (s. 26) that the domestic pigeon will cross with _C. palumbus, Turtur risoria,_ and _T.
vulgaris,_ but nothing is said of the fertility of the hybrids, and this would have been mentioned had the fact been ascertained. In the Zoological Gardens (MS. report to me from Mr. James Hunt) a male hybrid from _Turtur vulgaris_ and a domestic pigeon “paired with several different species of pigeons and doves, but none of the eggs were good.” Hybrids from _C. œnas_ and _gymnophthalmos_ were sterile.
In Loudon’s ‘Mag. of Nat. Hist.,’ vol. vii. 1834, p. 154, it is said that a male hybrid (from _Turtur vulgaris_ male, and the cream-coloured _T. risoria_ female) paired during two years with a female _T. risoria,_ and the latter laid many eggs, but all were sterile. MM. Boitard and Corbié (‘Les Pigeons,’ p. 235) state that the hybrids from these two turtle-doves are invariably sterile both _inter se_ and with either pure parent. The experiment was tried by M. Corbié “avec une espèce d’obstination;” and likewise by M. Mauduyt, and by M.
Vieillot. Temminck also found the hybrids from these two species quite barren. Therefore, when Bechstein (‘Naturgesch. Deutschlands Vögel,’ B. iv. s. 101) asserts that the hybrids from these two turtle-doves propagate _inter se_ equally well with pure species, and when a writer in the ‘Field’ newspaper (in a letter dated Nov. 10th, 1858) makes a similar assertion, it would appear that there must be some mistake; though what the mistake is I know not, as Bechstein at least must have known the white _variety_ of _T. risoria_: it would be an unparalleled fact if the same two species sometimes produced _extremely_ fertile, and sometimes _extremely_ barren, offspring. In the MS. report from the Zoological Gardens it is said that hybrids from _Turtur vulgaris_ migratorius,_ were sterile. Two of the latter male hybrids paired with their pure parents, viz. _Turtur vulgaris_ and the Ectopistes, and likewise with _T. risoria_ and with _ Columba œnas,_ and many eggs were produced, but all were barren. At Paris, hybrids have been raised (Isid. Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire, ‘Hist. Nat. Générale,’ tom. iii. p.
suratensis_; but nothing is said of their fertility. At the Zoological Gardens of London the _Goura coronata_ and _victoriæ_ produced a hybrid which paired with the pure _G. coronata,_ and laid several eggs, but these proved barren. In 1860 _Columba gymnophthalmos_ and _maculosa_ produced hybrids in these same gardens.
[23] There is one exception to the rule, namely, in a sub-variety of the Swallow of German origin, which is figured by Neumeister, and was shown to me by Mr. Wicking. This bird is blue, but has not the black wing-bars; for our object, however, in tracing the descent of the chief races, this exception signifies the less as the Swallow approaches closely in structure to _C. livia._ In many sub-varieties the black bars are replaced by bars of various colours. The figures given by Neumeister are sufficient to show that, if the wings alone are blue, the black wing-bars appear.
[24] I have observed blue birds with all the above-mentioned marks in the following races, which seemed to be perfectly pure, and were shown at various exhibitions. Pouters, with the double black wing-bars, with white croup, dark bar to end of tail, and white edging to outer tail-feathers. Turbits, with all these same characters. Fantails with the same; but the croup in some was bluish or pure blue. Mr. Wicking bred blue Fantails from two black birds. Carriers (including the Bagadotten of Neumeister) with all the marks: two birds which I examined had white, and two had blue croups; the white edging to the outer tail-feathers was not present in all. Mr. Corker, a great breeder, assures me that, if black carriers are matched for many successive generations, the offspring become first ash-coloured, and then blue with black wing-bars. Runts of the elongated breed had the same marks, but the croup was pale blue; the outer tail-feathers had white edges. Neumeister figures the great Florence Runt of a blue colour with black bars. Jacobins are very rarely blue, but I have received authentic accounts of at least two instances of the blue variety with black bars having appeared in England; blue Jacobins were bred by Mr. Brent from two black birds. I have seen common Tumblers, both Indian and English, and Short-faced Tumblers, of a blue colour, with black wing-bars, with the black bar at the end of the tail, and with the outer tail-feathers edged with white; the croup in all was blue, or extremely pale blue, never absolutely white. Blue Barbs and Trumpeters seem to be excessively rare; but Neumeister, who may be implicitly trusted, figures blue varieties of both, with black wing-bars. Mr. Brent informs me that he has seen a blue Barb; and Mr.
H. Weir, as I am informed by Mr. Tegetmeier, once bred a silver (which means very pale blue) Barb from two yellow birds.
[25] Mr. Blyth informs me that all the domestic races in India have the croup blue; but this is not invariable, for I possess a very pale blue Simmali pigeon with the croup perfectly white, sent to me by Sir W. Elliot from Madras. A slaty-blue and chequered Nakshi pigeon has some white feathers on the croup alone. In some other Indian pigeons there were a few white feathers confined to the croup, and I have noticed the same fact in a carrier from Persia. The Java Fantail (imported into Amoy, and thence sent me) has a perfectly white croup.
p. 71.
[29] I could give numerous examples; two will suffice. A mongrel, whose four grandparents were a white Turbit, white Trumpeter, white Fantail, and blue Pouter, was white all over, except a very few feathers about the head and on the wings, but the whole tail and tail-coverts were dark bluish-grey. Another mongrel whose four grandparents were a red Runt, white Trumpeter, white Fantail, and the same blue Pouter, was pure white all over, except the tail and upper tail-coverts, which were pale fawn, and except the faintest trace of double wing-bars of the same pale fawn tint.
[30] It deserves notice, as bearing on the general subject of variation, that not only _C. livia_ presents several wild forms, regarded by some naturalists as species and by others as sub-species or as mere varieties, but that the species of several allied genera are in the same predicament. This is the case, as Mr. Blyth has remarked to me, with Treron, Palumbus, and Turtur.
[31] ‘Denkmäler,’ Abth. ii. Bl. 70.
Adolphe Pictet (in his ‘Les Origines Indo-Européennes,’ 1859, p. 399) states that there are in the ancient Sanscrit language between 25 and 30 names for the pigeon, and other 15 or 16 Persian names; none of these are common to the European languages. This fact indicates the antiquity of the domestication of the pigeon in the East.
[33] English translation, 1601, Book x. ch. xxxvii.
270.
6.
[36] As in the following discussion I often speak of the present time, I should state that this chapter was completed in the year 1858.
[38] ‘A Treatise on Domestic Pigeons,’ dedicated to Mr. Mayor, 1765.
Preface, p. 14.
[39] Mr. Blyth has given a translation of part of the ‘Ayeen Akbery’ in ‘Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,’ vol. xix. 1847, p. 104.
[42] J. M. Eaton ‘Treatise on the Breeding and Managing of the Almond [45] _See_ Neumeister’s figure of the Florence Runt, tab. 13 in ‘Das Ganze der Taubenzucht.’
[46] Mr. W. J. Moore gives a full account of the Ground Tumblers of India (‘Indian Medical Gazette,’ Jan. and Feb. 1873), and says the pricking the base of the brain, and giving hydrocyanic acid, together with strychnine, to an ordinary pigeon, brings on convulsive movements exactly like those of a Tumbler. One pigeon, the brain of which had been pricked, completely recovered, and ever afterwards occasionally made somersaults.
CHAPTER VII. FOWLS.
BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE CHIEF BREEDS—ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF THEIR DESCENT FROM SEVERAL SPECIES—ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF ALL THE BREEDS HAVING DESCENDED FROM GALLUS BANKIVA—REVERSION TO THE PARENT-STOCK IN COLOUR—ANALOGOUS VARIATIONS—ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE FOWL—EXTERNAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE SEVERAL BREEDS—EGGS—CHICKENS—SECONDARY SEXUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE SKULL, VERTEBRÆ, ETC—EFFECTS OF USE AND DISUSE ON CERTAIN PARTS—CORRELATION OF GROWTH.
As some naturalists may not be familiar with the chief breeds of the fowl, it will be advisable to give a condensed description of them.[1] From what I have read and seen of specimens brought from several quarters of the world, I believe that most of the chief kinds have been imported into England, but many sub-breeds are probably still unknown here. The following discussion on the origin of the various breeds and on their characteristic differences does not pretend to completeness, but may be of some interest to the naturalist. The classification of the breeds cannot, as far as I can see, be made natural. They differ from each other in different degrees, and do not afford characters in subordination to each other, by which they can be ranked in group under group. They seem all to have diverged by independent and different roads from a single type. Each chief breed includes differently coloured sub-varieties, most of which can be truly propagated, but it would be superfluous to describe them. I have classed the various crested fowls as sub-breeds under the Polish fowl; but I have great doubts whether this is a natural arrangement, showing true affinity or blood relationship. It is scarcely possible to avoid laying stress on the commonness of a breed; and if certain foreign sub-breeds had been largely kept in this country they would perhaps have been raised to the rank of main-breeds. Several breeds are abnormal in character; that is, they differ in certain points from all wild Gallinaceous birds. At first I made a division of the breeds into normal and abnormal, but the result was wholly unsatisfactory.
1. GAME BREED.—This may be considered as the typical breed, as it deviates only slightly from the wild _Gallus bankiva,_ or, as perhaps more correctly named, _ferrugineus._ Beak strong; comb single and upright. Spurs long and sharp. Feathers closely appressed to the body.
Tail with the normal number of 14 feathers. Eggs often pale buff.
Disposition indomitably courageous, exhibited even in the hens and chickens. An unusual number of differently coloured varieties exist, such as black and brown-breasted reds, duckwings, blacks, whites, piles, etc., with their legs of various colours.
2. MALAY BREED.—Body of great size, with head, neck, and legs elongated; carriage erect; tail small, sloping downwards, generally formed of 16 feathers; comb and wattle small; ear-lobe and face red; skin yellowish; feathers closely appressed to the body; neck-hackles short, narrow, and hard. Eggs often pale buff. Chickens feather late.
Disposition savage. Of Eastern origin.
3. COCHIN, OR SHANGAI BREED.—Size great; wing feathers short, arched, much hidden in the soft downy plumage; barely capable of flight; tail short, generally formed of 16 feathers, developed at a late period in the young males; legs thick, feathered; spurs short, thick; nail of middle toe flat and broad; an additional toe not rarely developed; skin yellowish. Comb and wattle well developed. Skull with deep medial furrow; occipital foramen, sub-triangular, vertically elongated. Voice peculiar. Eggs rough, buff-coloured. Disposition extremely quiet. Of Chinese origin.
4. DORKING BREED.—Size great; body square, compact; feet with an additional toe; comb well developed, but varies much in form; wattles well developed; colour of plumage various. Skull remarkably broad between the orbits. Of English origin.
The white Dorking may be considered as a distinct sub-breed, being a less massive bird.
Illustration: Fig. 30—Spanish Fowl 5. SPANISH BREED (fig. 30).—Tall, with stately carriage; tarsi long; comb single, deeply serrated, of immense size; wattles largely developed; the large ear-lobes and sides of face white. Plumage black glossed with green. Do not incubate. Tender in constitution, the comb being often injured by frost. Eggs white, smooth, of large size.
Chickens feather late but the young cocks show their masculine characters, and crow at an early age. Of Mediterranean origin.
The _Andalusians_ may be ranked as a sub-breed: they are of a slaty-blue colour, and their chickens are well feathered. A smaller, short-legged Dutch sub-breed has been described by some authors as distinct.
Illustration: Fig. 31—Hamburgh Fowl 6. HAMBURGH BREED (fig 31).—Size moderate; comb flat, produced backwards, covered with numerous small points; wattle of moderate dimensions; ear lobe white; legs blueish, thin. Do not incubate. Skull, with the tips of the ascending branches of the premaxillary and with the nasal bones standing a little separate from each other; anterior margin of the frontal bones less depressed than usual.
There are two sub-breeds; the _ spangled_ Hamburgh, of English origin, with the tips of the feathers marked with a dark spot; and the _pencilled_ Hamburgh, of Dutch origin, with dark transverse lines across each feather, and with the body rather smaller. Both these sub-breeds include gold and silver varieties, as well as some other sub-varieties. Black Hamburghs have been produced by a cross with the Spanish breed.
Illustration: Fig. 32—Polish Fowl 7. CRESTED OR POLISH BREED (fig 32).—Head with a large, rounded crest of feathers, supported on a hemispherical protuberance of the frontal bones, which includes the anterior part of the brain. The ascending branches of premaxillary bones and the inner nasal processes are much shortened. The orifice of the nostrils raised and crescentic. Beak short. Comb absent, or small and of crescentic shape; wattles either present or replaced by a beard-like tuft of feathers. Legs leaden-blue.
Sexual differences appear late in life. Do not incubate. There are several beautiful varieties which differ in colour and slightly in other respects.
The following sub-breeds agree in having a crest, more or less developed, with the comb, when present, of crescentic shape. The skull presents nearly the same remarkable peculiarities of structure as in the true Polish fowl.
Sub-breed _(a) Sultans._—A Turkish breed, resembling white Polish fowls with a large crest and beard with short and well-feathered legs. The tail is furnished with additional sickle feathers. Do not incubate.[2] Sub-breed _(b) Ptarmigans._—An inferior breed closely allied to the last, white, rather small, legs much feathered, with the crest pointed; comb small, cupped; wattles small.
Sub-breed _(c) Ghoondooks._—Another Turkish breed having an extraordinary appearance; black and tailless; crest and beard large; legs feathered. The inner processes of the two nasal bones come into contact with each other, owing to the complete abortion of the ascending branches of the premaxillaries. I have seen an allied white, tailless breed from Turkey.
Sub-breed _(d) Crève-cœur._—A French breed of large size, barely capable of flight, with short black legs, head crested, comb produced into two points or horns, sometimes a little branched like the horns of a stag; both beard and wattles present. Eggs large. Disposition quiet.[3] Sub-breed _(e) Horned fowl._—With a small crest; comb produced into two great points, supported on two bony protuberances.
Sub-breed _(f) Houdan._—A French breed; of moderate size, short-legged with five toes, well developed; plumage invariably mottled with black, white, and straw-yellow; head furnished with a crest, on a triple comb placed transversely; both wattles and beard present.[4] Sub-breed _(g) Guelderlands._—No comb, head said to be surmounted by a longitudinal crest of soft velvety feathers; nostrils said to be crescentic; wattles well developed; legs feathered; colour black. From North America. The Breda fowl seems to be closely allied to the Guelderland.
8. BANTAM BREED.—Originally from Japan[5] characterised by small size alone; carriage bold and erect. There are several sub-breeds, such as the Cochin, Game, and Sebright Bantams, some of which have been recently formed by various crosses. The Black Bantam has a differently shaped skull, with the occipital foramen like that of the Cochin fowl.
9. RUMPLESS FOWLS.—These are so variable in character[6] that they hardly deserve to be called a breed. Any one who will examine the caudal vertebræ will see how monstrous the breed is.
10. CREEPERS OR JUMPERS.—These are characterised by an almost monstrous shortness of legs, so that they move by jumping rather than by walking; they are said not to scratch up the ground. I have examined a Burmese variety, which had a skull of rather unusual shape.
11. FRIZZLED OR CAFFRE FOWLS.—Not uncommon in India, with the feathers curling backwards, and with the primary feathers of the wing and tail imperfect; periosteum of bones black.
12. SILK FOWLS.—Feathers silky, with the primary wing and tail-feathers imperfect; skin and periosteum of bones black; comb and wattles dark leaden-blue; ear-lappets tinged with blue; legs thin, often furnished with an additional toe. Size rather small.
13. SOOTY FOWLS.—An Indian breed, having the peculiar appearance of a white bird smeared with soot, with black skin and periosteum. The hens alone are thus characterised.
From this synopsis we see that the several breeds differ considerably, and they would have been nearly as interesting for us as pigeons, if there had been equally good evidence that all had descended from one parent-species. Most fanciers believe that they are descended from several primitive stocks. The Rev. E. S.
Dixon[7] argues strongly on this side of the question; and one fancier even denounces the opposite conclusion by asking, “Do we not perceive pervading this spirit, the spirit of the _Deist_?”
Most naturalists, with the exception of a few, such as Temminck, believe that all the breeds have proceeded from a single species; but authority on such a point goes for little. Fanciers look to all parts of the world as the possible sources of their unknown stocks; thus ignoring the laws of geographical distribution. They know well that the several kinds breed truly even in colour. They assert, but, as we shall see, on very weak grounds, that most of the breeds are extremely ancient. They are strongly impressed with the great difference between the chief kinds, and they ask with force, can differences in climate, food, or treatment have produced birds so different as the black stately Spanish, the diminutive elegant Bantam, the heavy Cochin with its many peculiarities, and the Polish fowl with its great top-knot and protuberant skull? But fanciers, whilst admitting and even overrating the effects of crossing the various breeds, do not sufficiently regard the probability of the occasional birth, during the course of centuries, of birds with abnormal and hereditary peculiarities; they overlook the effects of correlation of growth—of the long-continued use and disuse of parts, and of some direct result from changed food and climate, though on this latter head I have found no sufficient evidence; and lastly, they all, as far as I know, entirely overlook the all-important subject of unconscious or unmethodical selection, though they are well aware that their birds differ individually and that by selecting the best birds for a few generations they can improve their stocks.
An amateur writes[8] as follows: “The fact that poultry have until lately received but little attention at the hands of the fancier, and been entirely confined to the domains of the producer for the market, would alone suggest the improbability of that constant and unremitting attention having been observed in breeding, which is requisite to the consummating in the offspring of any two birds transmittable forms not exhibited by the parents.” This at first sight appears true. But in a future chapter on Selection, abundant facts will be given showing not only that careful breeding, but that actual selection was practised during ancient periods, and by barely civilised races of man. In the case of the fowl I can adduce no direct facts showing that selection was anciently practised; but the Romans at the commencement of the Christian era kept six or seven breeds, and Columella “particularly recommends as the best, those sorts that have five toes and white ears.”[9] In the fifteenth century several breeds were known and described in Europe; and in China, at nearly the same period, seven kinds were named. A more striking case is that at present, in one of the Philippine Islands, the semi-barbarous inhabitants have distinct native names for no less than nine sub-breeds of the Game fowl.[10] Azara,[11] who wrote towards the close of the last century, states that in the interior parts of South America, where I should not have expected that the least care would have been taken of poultry, a black-skinned and black-boned breed is kept, from being considered fertile and its flesh good for sick persons. Now every one who has kept poultry knows how impossible it is to keep several breeds distinct unless the utmost care be taken in separating the sexes. Will it then be pretended that those persons who, in ancient times and in semi-civilised countries took pains to keep the breeds distinct, and who therefore valued them, would not occasionally have destroyed inferior birds and occasionally have preserved their best birds? This is all that is required. It is not pretended that any one in ancient times intended to form a new breed, or to modify an old breed according to some ideal standard of excellence. He who cared for poultry would merely wish to obtain, and afterwards to rear, the best birds which he could; but this occasional preservation of the best birds would in the course of time modify the breed, as surely, though by no means as rapidly, as does methodical selection at the present day, If one person out of a hundred or out of a thousand attended to the breeding of his birds, this would be sufficient; for the birds thus tended would soon become superior to others, and would form a new strain; and this strain would, as explained in the last chapter, slowly have its characteristic differences augmented, and at last be converted into a new sub-breed or breed. But breeds would often be for a time neglected and would deteriorate; they would, however, partially retain their character, and afterwards might again come into fashion and be raised to a standard of perfection higher than their former standard; as has actually occurred quite recently with Polish fowls. If, however, a breed were utterly neglected, it would become extinct, as has recently happened with one of the Polish sub-breeds. Whenever in the course of past centuries a bird appeared with some slight abnormal structure, such as with a lark-like crest on its head, it would probably often have been preserved from that love of novelty which leads some persons in England to keep rumpless fowls, and others in India to keep frizzled fowls. And after a time any such abnormal appearance would be carefully preserved, from being esteemed a sign of the purity and excellence of the breed; for on this principle the Romans eighteen centuries ago valued the fifth toe and the white ear-lobe in their fowls.
Thus from the occasional appearance of abnormal characters, though at first only slight in degree; from the effects of the use and the disuse of parts; possibly from the direct effects of changed climate and food; from correlation of growth; from occasional reversions to old and long-lost characters; from the crossing of breeds, when more than one had been formed; but, above all, from unconscious selection carried on during many generations, there is no insuperable difficulty, to the best of my judgment, in believing that all the breeds have descended from some one parent-source. Can any single species be named from which we may reasonably suppose that all are descended? The Gallus bankiva apparently fulfils every requirement. I have already given as fair an account as I could of the arguments in favour of the multiple origin of the several breeds; and now I will give those in favour of their common descent from _G. bankiva._ But it will be convenient first briefly to describe all the known species of Gallus. The _G. sonneratii_ does not range into the northern parts of India; according to Colonel Sykes,[12] it presents at different heights of the Ghauts, two strongly marked varieties, perhaps deserving to be called species. It was at one time thought to be the primitive stock of all our domestic breeds, and this shows that it closely approaches the common fowl in general structure; but its hackles partially consist of highly peculiar, horny laminæ, transversely banded with three colours; and I have met no authentic account of any such character having been observed in any domestic breed.[13] This species also differs greatly from the common fowl, in the comb being finely serrated, and in the loins being destitute of true hackles. Its voice is utterly different. It crosses readily in India with domestic hens; and Mr. Blyth[14] raised nearly 100 hybrid chickens; but they were tender and mostly died whilst young. Those which were reared were absolutely sterile when crossed inter se or with either parent. At the Zoological Gardens, however, some ‘hybrids of the same parentage were not quite so sterile: Mr. Dixon, as he informed me, made, with Mr. Yarrell’s aid, particular inquiries on this subject, and was assured that out of 50 eggs only five or six chickens were reared. Some, however, of these half-bred birds were crossed with one of their parents, namely, a Bantam, and produced a few extremely feeble chickens. Mr. Dixon also procured some of these same birds and crossed them in several ways, but all were more or less infertile. Nearly similar experiments have recently been tried on a great scale in the Zoological Gardens with almost the same result.[15] Out of 500 eggs, raised from various first crosses and hybrids, between _G. sonneratii, bankiva,_ and _varius,_ only 12 chickens were reared, and of these only three were the product of hybrids _inter se._ From these facts, and from the above-mentioned strongly-marked differences in structure between the domestic fowl and _G. sonneratii,_ we may reject this latter species as the parent of any domestic breed.
Ceylon possesses a fowl peculiar to the island, viz. _G.
stanleyii_; this species approaches so closely (except in the colouring of the comb) to the domestic fowl, that Messrs. Layard and Kellaert[16] would have considered it, as they inform me, as one of the parent-stocks, had it not been for its singularly different voice. This bird, like the last, crosses readily with tame hens, and even visits solitary farms and ravishes them. Two hybrids, a male and female, thus produced, were found by Mr.
Mitford to be quite sterile: both inherited the peculiar voice of _G. stanleyii._ This species, then, may in all probability be rejected as one of the primitive stocks of the domestic fowl.
Java and the islands eastward as far as Flores are inhabited by _G.
varius_ (or _furcatus_), which differs in so many characters—green plumage, unserrated comb, and single median wattle—that no one supposes it to have been the parent of any one of our breeds; yet, as I am informed by Mr. Crawfurd,[17] hybrids are commonly raised between the male _G. varius_ and the common hen, and are kept for their great beauty, but are invariably sterile: this, however, was not the case with some bred in the Zoological Gardens. These hybrids were at one time thought to be specifically distinct, and were named _G. æneus._ Mr. Blyth and others believe that the _G.
temminckii_[18] (of which the history is not known) is a similar hybrid. Sir J. Brooke sent me some skins of domestic fowls from Borneo, and across the tail of one of these, as Mr. Tegetmeier observed, there were transverse blue bands like those which he had