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 CHARACTERS--WING- AND TAIL-FEATHERS, VOICE, DISPOSITION,
ETC.--OSTEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES IN THE SKULL, VERTEBRAE, 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.[361] 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 here unknown. 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 {226} 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.
[Illustration: Fig. 30.--Spanish Fowl.]
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 adpressed to the body.
Tail with the normal number of 14 feathers. Eggs often pale-buff.
Disposition {227} 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, &c., 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 adpressed 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.
5. SPANISH BREED.--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.
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.
7. CRESTED OR POLISH BREED (fig. 32).--Head with a large, rounded crest
of feathers, supported on a hemispherical protuberance of the frontal
bones, {228} which includes the anterior part of the brain. The
ascending branches of the 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.
[Illustration: Fig. 31.--Hamburgh Fowl.]
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.[362]
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.
{229}
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 absorption of the
ascending branches of the premaxillaries. I have seen an allied, white,
tailless breed from Turkey.
[Illustration: Fig. 32.--Polish Fowl.]
Sub-breed (_d_) _Creve-coeur_.--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.[363]
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, wings well developed; plumage invariably
mottled with {230} black, white, and straw-yellow; head furnished with
a crest, and a triple comb placed transversely; both wattles and beard
present.[364]
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,[365] characterized 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. RUMP-LESS FOWLS.--These are so variable in character[366] that they
hardly deserve to be called a breed. Any one who will examine the
caudal vertebrae will see how monstrous the breed is.
10. CREEPERS OR JUMPERS.--These are characterized 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, of a white colour stained with soot,
with black skin and periosteum. The hens alone are thus characterized.
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[367] 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 {231} 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[368] 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 {232} that
have five toes and white ears."[369] 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.[370]
Azara,[371] 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-civilized 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 {233} 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
rump-less 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 once 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 have 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,[372] it presents at
different heights on 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 laminae,
transversely banded with three colours; and I have met with no
authentic account of any such character having been observed {234} in
any domestic breed.[373] 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 [374] 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.[375]
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. E. Layard and Kellaert[376]
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,[377] 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 {235} be specifically distinct, and were named _G.
aeneus_. Mr. Blyth and others believe that the _G. Temminckii_[378] (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 seen on the tail-feathers of hybrids from _G.
varius_, reared in the Zoological Gardens. This fact apparently
indicates that some of the fowls of Borneo have been slightly affected
by crosses with _G. varius_, but the case may possibly be one of
analogous variation. I may just allude to the _G. giganteus_, so often
referred to in works on poultry as a wild species; but Marsden,[379]
the first describer, speaks of it as a tame breed; and the specimen in
the British Museum evidently has the aspect of a domestic variety.
The last species to be mentioned, namely, _Gallus bankiva_, has a much
wider geographical range than the three previous species; it inhabits
Northern India as far west as Sinde, and ascends the Himalaya to a
height of 4000 ft.; it inhabits Burmah, the Malay peninsula, the
Indo-Chinese countries, the Philippine Islands, and the Malayan
archipelago as far eastward as Timor. This species varies considerably
in the wild state. Mr. Blyth informs me that the specimens, both male
and female, brought from near the Himalaya, are rather paler coloured
than those from other parts of India; whilst those from the Malay
peninsula and Java are brighter coloured than the Indian birds. I have
seen specimens from these countries, and the difference of tint in the
hackles was conspicuous. The Malayan hens were a shade redder on the
breast and neck than the Indian hens. The Malayan males generally had a
red ear-lappet, instead of a white one as in India; but Mr. Blyth has
seen one Indian specimen without the white ear-lappet. The legs are
leaden blue in the Indian, whereas they show some tendency to be
yellowish in the Malayan and Javan specimens. In the former Mr. Blyth
finds the tarsus remarkably variable in length. According to
Temminck[380] the Timor specimens differ as a local race from that of
Java. These several wild varieties have not as yet been ranked as
distinct species; if they should, as is not unlikely, be hereafter thus
ranked, the circumstance would be quite immaterial as far as the
parentage and differences of our domestic breeds are concerned. The
wild _G. bankiva_ agrees most closely with the black-breasted red
Game-breed, in colouring and in all other respects, except in being
smaller, and in the tail being carried more horizontally. But the
manner in which the tail is carried is highly variable in many of our
breeds, for, as Mr. Brent informs me, the tail slopes much in the
Malays, is erect in the Games and some other breeds, and is more than
erect in Dorkings, Bantams, &c. There is one other difference, namely,
that in _G. bankiva_, according to Mr. Blyth, the neck-hackles when
first moulted are replaced during two or three months, not by other
{236} hackles, as with our domestic poultry, but by short blackish
feathers.[381] Mr. Brent, however, has remarked that these black
feathers remain in the wild bird after the development of the lower
hackles, and appear in the domestic bird at the same time with them; so
that the only difference is that the lower hackles are replaced more
slowly in the wild than in the tame bird; but as confinement is known
sometimes to affect the masculine plumage, this slight difference
cannot be considered of any importance. It is a significant fact that
the voice of both the male and female _G. bankiva_ closely resembles,
as Mr. Blyth and others have noted, the voice of both sexes of the
common domestic fowl; but the last note of the crow of the wild bird is
rather less prolonged. Captain Hutton, well known for his researches
into the natural history of India, informs me that he has seen several
crossed fowls from the wild species and the Chinese bantam; these
crossed fowls _bred freely_ with bantams, but unfortunately were not
crossed _inter se_. Captain Hutton reared chickens from the eggs of the
_Gallus bankiva_; and these, though at first very wild, afterwards
became so tame that they would crowd round his feet. He did not succeed
in rearing them to maturity; but, as he remarks, "no wild gallinaceous
bird thrives well at first on hard grain." Mr. Blyth also found much
difficulty in keeping _G. bankiva_ in confinement. In the Philippine
Islands, however, the natives must succeed better, as they keep wild
cocks to fight with their domestic game-birds.[382] Sir Walter Elliot
informs me that the hen of a native domestic breed of Pegu is
undistinguishable from the hen of the wild _G. bankiva_; and the
natives constantly catch wild cocks by taking tame cocks to fight with
them in the woods.[383] Mr. Crawfurd remarks that from etymology it
might be argued that the fowl was first domesticated by the Malays and
Javanese.[384] It is also a curious fact, of which I have been assured
by Mr. Blyth, that wild specimens of the _Gallus bankiva_, brought from
the countries east of the Bay of Bengal, are far more easily tamed than
those of India; nor is this an unparalleled fact, for, as Humboldt long
ago remarked, the same species sometimes evinces a more tameable
disposition in one country than in another. If we suppose that the _G.
bankiva_ was first tamed in Malaya and afterwards imported into India,
we can understand an observation made to me by Mr. Blyth, that the
domestic fowls of India do not resemble the wild _G. bankiva_ more
closely than do those of Europe.
From the extremely close resemblance in colour, general structure, and
especially in voice, between _Gallus bankiva_ and the Game fowl; from their
fertility, as far as this has been ascertained, when crossed; from the
possibility of the wild species being tamed, and from its varying in the
wild state, we may confidently look at it as the parent of the most typical
of all the {237} domestic breeds, namely, the Game-fowl. It is a
significant fact, that almost all the naturalists in India, namely, Sir W.
Elliot, Mr. S. N. Ward, Mr. Layard, Mr. J. C. Jerdon, and Mr. Blyth,[385]
who are familiar with _G. bankiva_, believe that it is the parent of most
or all our domestic breeds. But even if it be admitted that _G. bankiva_ is
the parent of the Game breed, yet it may be urged that other wild species
have been the parents of the other domestic breeds; and that these species
still exist, though unknown, in some country, or have become extinct. The
extinction, however, of several species of fowls, is an improbable
hypothesis, seeing that the four known species have not become extinct in
the most anciently and thickly peopled regions of the East. There is, in
fact, only one kind of domesticated bird, namely, the Chinese goose or
_Anser cygnoides_, of which the wild parent-form is said to be still
unknown, or extinct. For the discovery of new, or the rediscovery of old
species of Gallus, we must not look, as fanciers often look, to the whole
world. The larger gallinaceous birds, as Mr. Blyth has remarked,[386]
generally have a restricted range: we see this well illustrated in India,
where the genus Gallus inhabits the base of the Himalaya, and is succeeded
higher up by Gallophasis, and still higher up by Phasianus. Australia, with
its islands, is out of the question as the home for unknown species of the
genus. It is, also, as improbable that Gallus should inhabit South
America[387] as that a humming-bird should be found in the Old World. From
the character of the other gallinaceous {238} birds of Africa, it is not
probable that Gallus is an African genus. We need not look to the western
parts of Asia, for Messrs. Blyth and Crawfurd, who have attended to this
subject, doubt whether Gallus ever existed in a wild state even as far west
as Persia. Although the earliest Greek writers speak of the fowl as a
Persian bird, this probably merely indicates its line of importation. For
the discovery of unknown species we must look to India, to the Indo-Chinese
countries, and to the northern parts of the Malay Archipelago. The southern
portion of China is the most likely country; but as Mr. Blyth informs me,
skins have been exported from China during a long period, and living birds
are largely kept there in aviaries, so that any native species of Gallus
would probably have become known. Mr. Birch, of the British Museum, has
translated for me passages from a Chinese Encyclopaedia published in 1609,
but compiled from more ancient documents, in which it is said that fowls
are creatures of the West, and were introduced into the East (_i.e._ China)
in a dynasty 1400 B.C. Whatever may be thought of so ancient a date, we see
that the Indo-Chinese and Indian regions were formerly considered by the
Chinese as the source of the domestic fowl. From these several
considerations we must look to the present metropolis of the genus, namely,
to the south-eastern parts of Asia, for the discovery of species which were
formerly domesticated, but are now unknown in the wild state; and the most
experienced ornithologists do not consider it probable that such species
will be discovered.
In considering whether the domestic breeds are descended from one species,
namely, _G. bankiva_, or from several, we must {239} not quite overlook,
though we must not exaggerate, the importance of the test of fertility.
Most of our domestic breeds have been so often crossed, and their mongrels
so largely kept, that it is almost certain, if any degree of infertility
had existed between them, it would have been detected. On the other hand,
the four known species of Gallus when crossed with each other, or when
crossed, with the exception of _G. bankiva_, with the domestic fowl,
produce infertile hybrids.
Finally, we have not such good evidence with fowls as with pigeons, of all
the breeds having descended from a single primitive stock. In both cases
the argument of fertility must go for something; in both we have the
improbability of man having succeeded in ancient times in thoroughly
domesticating several supposed species,--most of these supposed species
being extremely abnormal as compared with their natural allies,--all being
now either unknown or extinct, though the parent-form of scarcely any other
domesticated bird has been lost. But in searching for the supposed
parent-stocks of the various breeds of the pigeon, we were enabled to
confine our search to species having peculiar habits of life; whilst with
fowls there is nothing in their habits in any marked manner distinct from
those of other gallinaceous birds. In the case of pigeons, I have shown
that purely-bred birds of every race and the crossed offspring of distinct
races frequently resemble, or revert to, the wild rock-pigeon in general
colour and in each characteristic mark. With fowls we have facts of a
similar nature, but less strongly pronounced, which we will now discuss.
* * * * *
_Reversion and Analogous Variation._--Purely-bred Game, Malay, Cochin,
Dorking, Bantam, and, as I hear from Mr. Tegetmeier, Silk fowls, may
frequently or occasionally be met with, which are almost identical in
plumage with the wild _G. bankiva_. This is a fact well deserving
attention, when we reflect that these breeds rank amongst the most
distinct. Fowls thus coloured are called by amateurs black-breasted reds.
Hamburghs properly have a very different plumage; nevertheless, as Mr.
Tegetmeier informs me, "the great difficulty in breeding cocks of the
golden-spangled variety is their tendency to have black breasts and red
backs." The males of white Bantams and {240} white Cochins, as they come to
maturity, often assume a yellowish or saffron tinge; and the longer neck
hackles of black bantam cocks,[388] when two or three years old, not
uncommonly become ruddy; these latter bantams occasionally "even moult
brassy winged, or actually red shouldered." So that in these several cases
we see a plain tendency to reversion to the hues of _G. bankiva_, even
daring the lifetime of the individual bird. With Spanish, Polish, pencilled
Hamburgh, silver-spangled Hamburgh fowls, and with some other less common
breeds, I have never heard of a black-breasted red bird having appeared.
From my experience with pigeons, I made the following crosses. I first
killed all my own poultry, no others living near my house, and then
procured, by Mr. Tegetmeier's assistance, a first-rate black Spanish cock,
and hens of the following pure breeds,--white Game, white Cochin,
silver-spangled Polish, silver-spangled Hamburgh, silver-pencilled
Hamburgh, and white Silk. In none of these breeds is there a trace of red,
nor when kept pure have I ever heard of the appearance of a red feather;
though such an occurrence would perhaps not be very improbable with white
Games and white Cochins. Of the many chickens reared from the above six
crosses the majority were black, both in the down and in the first plumage;
some were white, and a very few were mottled black and white. In one lot of
eleven mixed eggs from the white Game and white Cochin by the black Spanish
cock, seven of the chickens were white, and only four black: I mention this
fact to show that whiteness of plumage is strongly inherited, and that the
belief in the prepotent power in the male to transmit his colour is not
always correct. The chickens were hatched in the spring, and in the latter
part of August several of the young cocks began to exhibit a change, which
with some of them increased during the following years. Thus a young male
bird from the silver-spangled Polish hen was in its first plumage
coal-black, and combined in its comb, crest, wattle, and beard, the
characters of both parents; but when two years old the secondary
wing-feathers became largely and symmetrically marked with white, and,
wherever in _G. bankiva_ the hackles are red, they were in this bird
greenish-black along the shaft, narrowly bordered {241} with
brownish-black, and this again broadly bordered with very pale
yellowish-brown; so that in general appearance the plumage had become
pale-coloured instead of black. In this case, with advancing age there was
a great change, but no reversion to the red colour of _G. bankiva_.
A cock with a regular rose comb derived either from the spangled or
pencilled silver Hamburgh was likewise at first quite black; but in less
than a year the neck-hackles, as in the last case, became whitish, whilst
those on the loins assumed a decided reddish-yellow tint; and here we see
the first symptom of reversion; this likewise occurred with some other
young cocks, which need not here be described. It has also been
recorded[389] by a breeder, that he crossed two silver-pencilled Hamburgh
hens with a Spanish cock, and reared a number of chickens, all of which
were black, the cocks having _golden_ and the hens brownish hackles; so
that in this instance likewise there was a clear tendency to reversion.
Two young cocks from my white Game hen were at first snow white; of these,
one subsequently assumed pale orange-coloured hackles, chiefly on the
loins, and the other an abundance of fine orange-red hackles on the neck,
loins, and upper wing-coverts. Here again, we have a more decided, though
partial, reversion to the colours of _G. bankiva_. This second cock was in
fact coloured like an inferior "pile Game cock;"--now this sub-breed can be
produced, as I am informed by Mr. Tegetmeier, by crossing a black-breasted
red Game cock with a white Game hen, and the "pile" sub-breed thus produced
can afterwards be truly propagated. So that we have the curious fact of the
glossy-black Spanish cock and the black-breasted red Game cock when crossed
with white Game-hens producing offspring of nearly the same colours.
I reared several birds from the white Silk-hen by the Spanish cock: all
were coal-black, and all plainly showed their parentage in having blackish
combs and bones; none inherited the so-called silky feathers, and the
non-inheritance of this character has been observed by others. The hens
never varied in their plumage. As the young cocks grew old, one of them
assumed yellowish-white hackles, and thus resembled in a considerable {242}
degree the cross from the Hamburgh hen; the other became a gorgeous bird,
so much so that an acquaintance had it preserved and stuffed simply from
its beauty. When stalking about it closely resembled the wild _Gallus
bankiva_, but with the red feathers rather darker. On close comparison one
considerable difference presented itself, namely, that the primary and
secondary wing-feathers were edged with greenish-black, instead of being
edged, as in _G. bankiva_, with fulvous and red tints. The space, also,
across the back, which bears dark-green feathers, was broader, and the comb
was blackish. In all other respects, even in trifling details of plumage,
there was the closest accordance. Altogether it was a marvellous sight to
compare this bird first with _G. bankiva_, and then with its father, the
glossy green-black Spanish cock, and with its diminutive mother, the white
Silk hen. This case of reversion is the more extraordinary as the Spanish
breed has long been known to breed true, and no instance is on record of
its throwing a single red feather. The Silk hen likewise breeds true, and
is believed to be ancient, for Aldrovandi, before 1600, alludes probably to
this breed, and describes it as covered with wool. It is so peculiar in
many characters that some writers have considered it as specifically
distinct; yet, as we now see, when crossed with the Spanish fowl, it yields
offspring closely resembling the wild _G. bankiva_.
Mr. Tegetmeier has been so kind as to repeat, at my request, the cross
between a Spanish cock and Silk hen, and he obtained similar results; for
he thus raised, besides a black hen, seven cocks, all of which were
dark-bodied with more or less orange-red hackles. In the ensuing year he
paired the black hen with one of her brothers, and raised three young
cocks, all coloured like their father, and a black hen mottled with white.
The hens from the six above-described crosses showed hardly any tendency to
revert to the mottled-brown plumage of the female _G. bankiva_: one hen,
however, from the white Cochin, which was at first coal-black, became
slightly brown or sooty. Several hens, which were for a long time
snow-white, acquired as they grew old a few black feathers. A hen from the
white Game, which was for a long time entirely black glossed with green,
when two years old had some of the primary wing-feather greyish-white, and
a multitude of feathers over her body {243} narrowly and symmetrically
tipped or laced with white. I had expected that some of the chickens whilst
covered with down would have assumed the longitudinal stripes so general
with gallinaceous birds; but this did not occur in a single instance. Two
or three alone were reddish-brown about their heads. I was unfortunate in
losing nearly all the white chickens from the first crosses; so that black
prevailed with the grandchildren; but they were much diversified in colour,
some being sooty, others mottled, and one blackish chicken had its feathers
oddly tipped and barred with brown.
I will here add a few miscellaneous facts connected with reversion, and
with the law of analogous variation. This law implies, as stated in a
previous chapter, that the varieties of one species frequently mock
distinct but allied species; and this fact is explained, according to the
views which I maintain, on the principle of allied species having descended
from one primitive form. The white Silk fowl with black skin and bones
degenerates, as has been observed by Mr. Hewitt and Mr. R. Orton, in our
climate; that is, it reverts to the ordinary colour of the common fowl in
its skin and bones, due care having been taken to prevent any cross. In
Germany[390] a distinct breed with black bones, and with black, not silky
plumage, has likewise been observed to degenerate.
Mr. Tegetmeier informs me that, when distinct breeds are crossed, fowls are
frequently produced with their feathers marked or pencilled by narrow
transverse lines of a darker colour. This may be in part explained by
direct reversion to the parent-form, the Bankiva hen; for this bird has all
its upper plumage finely mottled with dark and rufous brown, with the
mottling partially and obscurely arranged in transverse lines. But the
tendency to pencilling is probably much strengthened by the law of
analogous variation, for the hens of some other species of Gallus are more
plainly pencilled, and the hens of many gallinaceous birds belonging to
other genera, as the partridge, have pencilled feathers. Mr. Tegetmeier has
{244} also remarked to me, that, although with domestic pigeons we have so
great a diversity of colouring, we never see either pencilled or spangled
feathers; and this fact is intelligible on the law of analogous variation,
as neither the wild rock-pigeon nor any closely-allied species has such
feathers. The frequent appearance of pencilling in crossed birds probably
accounts for the existence of "cuckoo" sub-breeds in the Game, Polish,
Dorking, Cochin, Andalusian, and Bantam breeds. The plumage of these birds
is slaty-blue or grey, with each feather transversely barred with darker
lines, so as to resemble in some degree the plumage of the cuckoo. It is a
singular fact, considering that the male of no species of Gallus is in the
least barred, that the cuckoo-like plumage has often been transferred to
the male, more especially in the cuckoo Dorking; and the fact is all the
more singular, as in gold and silver pencilled Hamburghs, in which
pencilling is characteristic of the breed, the male is hardly at all
pencilled, this kind of plumage being confined to the female.
Another case of analogous variation is the occurrence of spangled
sub-breeds of Hamburgh, Polish, Malay, and Bantam fowls. Spangled feathers
have a dark mark, properly crescent-shaped, on their tips; whilst pencilled
feathers have several transverse bars. The spangling cannot be due to
reversion to _G. bankiva_; nor does it often follow, as I hear from Mr.
Tegetmeier, from crossing distinct breeds; but it is a case of analogous
variation, for many gallinaceous birds have spangled feathers,--for
instance, the common pheasant. Hence spangled breeds are often called
"pheasant"-fowls. Another case of analogous variation in several domestic
breeds is inexplicable; it is, that the chickens, whilst covered with down,
of the black Spanish, black Game, black Polish, and black Bantam, all have
white throats and breasts, and often have some white on their wings.[391]
The editor of the 'Poultry Chronicle'[392] remarks that all the breeds
which properly have red ear-lappets occasionally produce birds with white
ear-lappets. This remark more especially applies to the Game breed, which
of all comes nearest to the {245} _G. bankiva_; and we have seen that with
this species living in a state of nature, the ear-lappets vary in colour,
being red in the Malayan countries, and generally, but not invariably,
white in India.
* * * * *
In concluding this part of my subject I may repeat that there exists one
widely-ranging, varying, and common species of Gallus, namely _G. bankiva_,
which can be tamed, produces fertile offspring when crossed with common
fowls, and closely resembles in its whole structure, plumage, and voice the
Game breed; hence it may be safely ranked as the parent of this, the most
typical domesticated breed. We have seen that there is much difficulty in
believing that other, now unknown, species have been the parents of the
other domestic breeds. We know that all the breeds are most closely allied,
as shown by their similarity in most points of structure and in habits, and
by the analogous manner in which they vary. We have also seen that several
of the most distinct breeds occasionally or habitually closely resemble in
plumage _G. bankiva_, and that the crossed offspring of other breeds, which
are not thus coloured, show a stronger or weaker tendency to revert to this
same plumage. Some of the breeds, which appear the most distinct and the
least likely to have proceeded from _G. bankiva_, such as Polish fowls,
with their protuberant and little ossified skulls, and Cochins, with their
imperfect tail and small wings, bear in these characters the plain marks of
their artificial origin. We know well that of late years methodical
selection has greatly improved and fixed many characters; and we have every
reason to believe that unconscious selection, carried on for many
generations, will have steadily augmented each new peculiarity and thus
have given rise to new breeds. As soon as two or three breeds had once been
formed, crossing would come into play in changing their character and in
increasing their number. Brahma Pootras, according to an account lately
published in America, offer a good instance of a breed, lately formed by a
cross, which can be truly propagated. The well-known Sebright Bantams offer
another and similar instance. Hence it may be concluded that not only the
Game-breed but that all our breeds are probably the descendants of the
{246} Malayan or Indian variety of _G. bankiva_. If so, this species has
varied greatly since it was first domesticated; but there has been ample
time, as we shall now show.
_History of the Fowl._--Ruetimeyer found no remains of the fowl in the
ancient Swiss lake-dwellings. It is not mentioned in the Old Testament; nor
is it figured on the ancient Egyptian monuments.[393] It is not referred to
by Homer or Hesiod (about 900 B.C.); but is mentioned by Theognis and
Aristophanes between 400 and 500 B.C. It is figured on some of the
Babylonian cylinders, of which Mr. Layard sent me an impression, between
the sixth and seventh centuries B.C.; and on the Harpy Tomb in Lycia, about
600 B.C.: so that we may feel pretty confident that the fowl reached Europe
somewhere near the sixth century B.C. It had travelled still farther
westward by the time of the Christian era, for it was found in Britain by
Julius Caesar. In India it must have been domesticated when the Institutes
of Manu were written, that is, according to Sir W. Jones, 1200 B.C., but,
according to the later authority of Mr. H. Wilson, only 800 B.C., for the
domestic fowl is forbidden, whilst the wild is permitted to be eaten. If,
as before remarked, we may trust the old Chinese Encyclopaedia, the fowl
must have been domesticated several centuries earlier, as it is said to
have been introduced from the West into China 1400 B.C.
Sufficient materials do not exist for tracing the history of the separate
breeds. About the commencement of the Christian era, {247} Columella
mentions a five-toed fighting breed, and some provincial breeds; but we
know nothing more about them. He also alludes to dwarf fowls; but these
cannot have been the same with our Bantams, which, as Mr. Crawfurd has
shown, were imported from Japan into Bantam in Java. A dwarf fowl, probably
the true Bantam, is referred to in an old Japanese Encyclopaedia, as I am
informed by Mr. Birch. In the Chinese Encyclopaedia published in 1596, but
compiled from various sources, some of high antiquity, seven breeds are
mentioned, including what we should now call jumpers or creepers, and
likewise fowls with black feathers, bones, and flesh. In 1600 Aldrovandi
describes seven or eight breeds of fowls, and this is the most ancient
record from which the age of our European breeds can be inferred. The
_Gallus Turcicus_ certainly seems to be a pencilled Hamburgh; but Mr.
Brent, a most capable judge, thinks that Aldrovandi "evidently figured what
he happened to see, and not the best of the breed." Mr. Brent, indeed,
considers all Aldrovandi's fowls as of impure breed; but it is a far more
probable view that all our breeds since his time have been much improved
and modified; for, as he went to the expense of so many figures, he
probably would have secured characteristic specimens. The Silk fowl,
however, probably then existed in its present state, as did almost
certainly the fowl with frizzled or reversed feathers. Mr. Dixon[394]
considers Aldrovandi's Paduan fowl as "a variety of the Polish," whereas
Mr. Brent believes it to have been more nearly allied to the Malay. The
anatomical peculiarities of the skull of the Polish breed were noticed by
P. Borelli in 1656. I may add that in 1737 one Polish sub-breed, viz. the
golden spangled, was known; but judging from Albin's description, the comb
was then larger, the crest of feathers much smaller, the breast more
coarsely spotted, and the stomach and thighs much blacker: a
golden-spangled Polish fowl in this condition would now be of no value.
_Differences in External and Internal Structure between the {248} Breeds:
Individual Variability._--Fowls have been exposed to diversified conditions
of life, and as we have just seen there has been ample time for much
variability and for the slow action of unconscious selection. As there are
good grounds for believing that all the breeds are descended from _Gallus
bankiva,_ it will be worth while to describe in some detail the chief
points of difference. Beginning with the eggs and chickens, I will pass on
to the secondary sexual characters, and then to the differences in external
structure and in the skeleton. I enter on the following details chiefly to
show how variable almost every character has become under domestication.
_Eggs._--Mr. Dixon remarks[395] that "to every hen belongs an
individual peculiarity in the form, colour, and size of her egg, which
never changes during her life-time, so long as she remains in health,
and which is as well known to those who are in the habit of taking her
produce, as the handwriting of their nearest acquaintance." I believe
that this is generally true, and that, if no great number of hens be
kept, the eggs of each can almost always be recognised. The eggs of
differently sized breeds naturally differ much in size; but,
apparently, not always in strict relation to the size of the hen: thus
the Malay is a larger bird than the Spanish, but _generally_ she
produces not such large eggs; white Bantams are said to lay smaller
eggs than other Bantams;[396] white Cochins, on the other hand, as I
hear from Mr. Tegetmeier, certainly lay larger eggs than buff Cochins.
The eggs, however, of the different breeds vary considerably in
character; for instance, Mr. Ballance states[397] that his Malay
"pullets of last year laid eggs equal in size to those of any duck, and
other Malay hens, two or three years old, laid eggs very little larger
than a good-sized Bantam's egg. Some were as white as a Spanish hen's
egg, and others varied from a light cream-colour to a deep rich buff,
or even to a brown." The shape also varies, the two ends being much
more equally rounded in Cochins than in Games or Polish. Spanish fowls
lay smoother eggs than Cochins, of which the eggs are generally
granulated. The shell in this latter breed, and more especially in
Malays, is apt to be thicker than in Games or Spanish; but the
Minorcas, a sub-breed of Spanish, are said to lay harder eggs than true
Spanish.[398] The colour differs considerably,--the Cochins laying
buff-coloured eggs; the Malays {249} a paler variable buff; and Games a
still paler buff. It would appear that darker-coloured eggs
characterise the breeds which have lately come from the East, or are
still closely allied to those now living there. The colour of the yolk,
according to Ferguson, as well as of the shell, differs slightly in the
sub-breeds of the Game, and stands in some degree of correlation with
the colour of the plumage. I am also informed by Mr. Brent that dark
partridge-coloured Cochin hens lay darker coloured eggs than the other
Cochin sub-breeds. The flavour and richness of the egg certainly differ
in different breeds. The productiveness of the several breeds is very
different. Spanish, Polish, and Hamburgh hens have lost the incubating
instinct.
_Chickens._--As the young of almost all gallinaceous birds, even of the
black curassow and black grouse, whilst covered with down, are
longitudinally striped on the back,--of which character, when adult,
neither sex retains a trace,--it might have been expected that the
chickens of all our domestic fowls would have been similarly
striped.[399] This could, however, hardly have been expected, when the
adult plumage in both sexes has undergone so great a change as to be
wholly white or black. In white fowls of various breeds the chickens
are uniformly yellowish white, passing in the black-boned Silk fowl
into bright canary-yellow. This is also generally the case with the
chickens of white Cochins, but I hear from Mr. Zurhost that they are
sometimes of a buff or oak colour, and that all those of this latter
colour, which were watched, turned out males. The chickens of buff
Cochins are of a golden-yellow, easily distinguishable from the paler
tint of the white Cochins, and are often longitudinally streaked with
dark shades: the chickens of silver-cinnamon Cochins are almost always
of a buff colour. The chickens of the white Game and white Dorking
breeds, when held in particular lights, sometimes exhibit (on the
authority of Mr. Brent) faint traces of longitudinal stripes. Fowls
which are entirely black, namely Spanish, black Game, black Polish, and
black Bantams, display a new character, for their chickens have their
breasts and throats more or less white, with sometimes a little white
elsewhere. Spanish chickens also, occasionally (Brent), have, where the
down was white, their first true feathers tipped for a time with white.
The primordially striped character is retained by the chickens of most
of the Game sub-breeds (Brent, Dixon); by Dorkings; by the partridge
and grouse-coloured sub-breeds of Cochins (Brent), but not, as we have
seen, by all the other sub-breeds; by the pheasant-Malay (Dixon), but
apparently not (at which I am much surprised) by other Malays. The
following breeds and sub-breeds are barely, or not at all,
longitudinally striped; viz. gold and silver pencilled Hamburghs, which
can hardly be distinguished from each other (Brent) in the down, both
having a few {250} dark spots on the head and rump, with occasionally a
longitudinal stripe (Dixon) on the back of the neck. I have seen only
one chicken of the silver-spangled Hamburgh, and this was obscurely
striped along the back. Gold-spangled Polish chickens (Tegetmeier) are
of a warm russet brown; and silver-spangled Polish chickens are grey,
sometimes (Dixon) with dashes of ochre on the head, wings, and breast.
Cuckoo and blue-dun fowls (Dixon) are grey in the down. The chickens of
Sebright Bantams (Dixon) are uniformly dark brown, whilst those of the
brown-breasted red Game Bantam are black, with some white on the throat
and breast. From these facts we see that the chickens of the different
breeds, and even of the same main breed, differ much in their downy
plumage; and, although longitudinal stripes characterise the young of
all wild gallinaceous birds, they disappear in several domestic breeds.
Perhaps it may be accepted as a general rule that the more the adult
plumage differs from that of the adult _G. bankiva,_ the more
completely the chickens have lost their proper stripes.
With respect to the period of life at which the characters proper to each
breed first appear, it is obvious that such structures as additional toes
must be formed long before birth. In Polish fowls, the extraordinary
protuberance of the anterior part of the skull is well developed before the
chickens come out of the egg;[400] but the crest, which is supported on the
protuberance, is at first feebly developed, nor does it attain its full
size until the second year. The Spanish cock is pre-eminent for his
magnificent comb, and this is developed at an unusually early age; so that
the young males can be distinguished from the females when only a few weeks
old, and therefore earlier than in other breeds; they likewise crow very
early, namely, when about six weeks old. In the Dutch sub-breed of the
Spanish fowl the white ear-lappets are developed earlier than in the common
Spanish breed.[401] Cochins are characterised by a small tail, and in the
young cocks the tail is developed at an unusually late period.[402] Game
fowls are notorious for their pugnacity; and the young cocks crow, clap
their little wings, and obstinately fight with each other, even whilst
under their mother's care.[403] "I have often had," says one {251}
author,[404] "whole broods, scarcely feathered, stone-blind from fighting;
the rival couples moping in corners, and renewing their battles on
obtaining the first ray of light." With the males of all gallinaceous birds
the use of their weapons and pugnacity is to fight for the possession of
the females; so that the tendency in our Game chickens to fight at an
extremely early age is not only useless, but is injurious, as they suffer
so much from their wounds. The training for battle during an early period
may be natural to the wild _Gallus bankiva_; but as man during many
generations has gone on selecting the most obstinately pugnacious cocks, it
is more probable that their pugnacity has been unnaturally increased, and
unnaturally transferred to the young male chickens. In the same manner, it
is probable that the extraordinary development of the comb in the Spanish
cock has been unintentionally transferred to the young cocks; for fanciers
would not care whether their young birds had large combs, but would select
for breeding the adults which had the finest combs, whether or not
developed at an early period. The last point which need here be noticed is
that, though the chickens of Spanish and Malay fowls are well covered with
down, the true feathers are acquired at an unusually late age; so that for
a time the young birds are partially naked, and are liable to suffer from
cold.
_Secondary Sexual Characters._--The two sexes in the parent-form, the
_Gallus bankiva_, differ much in colour. In our domestic breeds the
difference is never greater, but is often less, and varies much in degree
even in the sub-breeds of the same main breed. Thus in certain Game fowls
the difference is as great as in the parent-form, whilst in the black and
white sub-breeds there is no difference in plumage. Mr. Brent informs me
that he has seen two strains of black-breasted red Games, in which the
cocks could not be distinguished, whilst the hens in one were
partridge-brown and in the other fawn-brown. A similar case has been
observed in the strains of the brown-breasted red Game. The hen of the
"duck-winged Game" is "extremely beautiful," and differs much from the hens
of all the other Game sub-breeds; but generally, as with the blue and grey
Game and {252} with some sub-varieties of the pile-game, a moderately close
relation may be observed between the males and females in the variation of
their plumage.[405] A similar relation is also evident when we compare the
several varieties of Cochins. In the two sexes of gold and silver-spangled
and of buff Polish fowls, there is much general similarity in the colouring
and marks of the whole plumage, excepting of course in the hackles, crest,
and beard. In spangled Hamburghs, there is likewise a considerable degree
of similarity between the two sexes. In pencilled Hamburghs, on the other
hand, there is much dissimilarity; the pencilling which is characteristic
of the hens being almost absent in the males of both the golden and silver
varieties. But, as we have already seen, it cannot be given as a general
rule that male fowls never have pencilled feathers, for Cuckoo Dorkings are
"remarkable from having nearly similar markings in both sexes."
It is a singular fact that the males in certain sub-breeds have lost some
of their secondary masculine characters, and, from their close resemblance
in plumage to the females, are often called hennies. There is much
diversity of opinion whether these males are in any degree sterile; that
they sometimes are partially sterile seems clear,[406] but this may have
been caused by too close interbreeding. That they are not quite sterile,
and that the whole case is widely different from that of old females
assuming masculine characters, is evident from several of these hen-like
sub-breeds having been long propagated. The males and females of gold and
silver-laced Sebright Bantams can be barely distinguished from each other,
except by their combs, wattles, and spurs, for they are coloured alike, and
the males have not hackles, nor the flowing sickle-like tail-feathers. A
hen-tailed sub-breed of Hamburghs was recently much esteemed. There is also
a breed of Game-fowls, in which the males and females resemble each other
so closely that the cocks have often mistaken their hen-feathered opponents
in the cock-pit for real hens, and by the mistake have lost their
lives.[407] The cocks, {253} though dressed in the feathers of the hen,
"are high-spirited birds, and their courage has been often proved:" an
engraving even has been published of one celebrated hen-tailed victor. Mr.
Tegetmeier[408] has recorded the remarkable case of a brown-breasted red
Game-cock which, after assuming its perfect masculine plumage, became
hen-feathered in the autumn of the following year; but he did not lose
voice, spurs, strength, nor productiveness. This bird has now retained the
same character during five seasons, and has begot both hen-feathered and
male-feathered offspring. Mr. Grantley F. Berkeley relates the still more
singular case of a celebrated strain of "polecat Game-fowls," which
produced in nearly every brood a single hen-cock. "The great peculiarity in
one of these birds was that he, as the seasons succeeded each other, was
not always a hen-cock, and not always of the colour called the polecat,
which is black. From the polecat and hen-cock feather in one season he
moulted to a full male-plumaged black-breasted red, and in the following
year he returned to the former feather."[409]
I have remarked in my 'Origin of Species' that secondary sexual characters
are apt to differ much in the species of the same genus, and to be
unusually variable in the individuals of the same species. So it is with
the breeds of the fowl, as we have already seen, as far as the colour of
plumage is concerned, and so it is with the other secondary sexual
characters. Firstly, the comb differs much in the various breeds,[410] and
its form is eminently characteristic of each kind, with the exception of
the Dorkings, in which the form has not been as yet determined on by
fanciers, and fixed by selection. A single, deeply-serrated comb is the
typical and most common form. It differs much in size, being immensely
developed in Spanish fowls; and in a local breed called Red-caps, it is
sometimes "upwards of three inches in breadth at the front, and more than
four inches in length, measured to the end of the peak behind."[411] In
some breeds the comb is double, and when the two ends are cemented {254}
together it forms a "cup-comb;" in the "rose-comb" it is depressed, covered
with small projections, and produced backwards; in the horned and
creve-coeur fowl it is produced into two horns; it is triple in the
pea-combed Brahmas, short and truncated in the Malays, and absent in the
Guelderlands. In the tasselled Game a few long feathers arise from the back
of the comb; in many breeds a crest of feathers replaces the comb. The
crest, when little developed, arises from a fleshy mass, but, when much
developed, from a hemispherical protuberance of the skull. In the best
Polish fowls it is so largely developed, that I have seen birds which could
hardly pick up their food; and a German writer asserts[412] that they are
in consequence liable to be struck by hawks. Monstrous structures of this
kind would thus be suppressed in a state of nature. The wattles, also, vary
much in size, being small in Malays and some other breeds; they are
replaced in certain Polish sub-breeds by a great tuft of feathers called a
beard.
The hackles do not differ much in the various breeds, but are short and
stiff in Malays, and absent in Hennies. As in some orders of birds the
males display extraordinarily-shaped feathers, such as naked shafts with
discs at the end, &c., the following case may be worth giving. In the wild
_Gallus bankiva_ and in our domestic fowls, the barbs which arise from each
side of the extremities of the hackles are naked or not clothed with
barbules, so that they resemble bristles; but Mr. Brent sent me some
scapular hackles from a young Birchen Duckwing Game cock, in which the
naked barbs became densely reclothed with barbules towards their tips; so
that these tips, which were dark coloured with a metallic lustre, were
separated from the lower parts by a symmetrically-shaped transparent zone
formed of the naked portions of the barbs. Hence the coloured tips appeared
like little separate metallic discs.
The sickle-feathers in the tail, of which there are three pair, and which
are eminently characteristic of the male sex, differ much in the various
breeds. They are scimitar-shaped in some Hamburghs, instead of being long
and flowing as in the typical breeds. They are extremely short in Cochins,
and are not at {255} all developed in Hennies. They are carried, together
with the whole tail, erect in Dorkings and Games; but droop much in Malays
and in some Cochins. Sultans are characterized by an additional number of
lateral sickle-feathers. The spurs vary much, being placed higher or lower
on the shank; being extremely long and sharp in Games, and blunt and short
in Cochins. These latter birds seem aware that their spurs are not
efficient weapons; for though they occasionally use them, they more
frequently fight, as I am informed by Mr. Tegetmeier, by seizing and
shaking each other with their beaks. In some Indian Game-cocks, received by
Mr. Brent from Germany, there are, as he informs me, three, four, or even
five spurs on each leg. Some Dorkings also have two spurs on each leg;[413]
and in birds of this breed the spur is often placed almost on the outside
of the leg. Double spurs are mentioned in the ancient Chinese Encyclopaedia.
Their occurrence may be considered as a case of analogous variation, for
some wild gallinaceous birds, for instance, the Polyplectron, have double
spurs.
Judging from the differences which generally distinguish the sexes in the
Gallinaceae, certain characters in our domestic fowls appear to have been
transferred from the one sex to the other. In all the species (except in
Turnix), when there is any conspicuous difference in plumage between the
male and female, the male is always the most beautiful; but in
golden-spangled Hamburghs the hen is equally beautiful with the cock, and
incomparably more beautiful than the hen in any natural species of Gallus;
so that here a masculine character has been transferred to the female. On
the other hand, in cuckoo Dorkings and in other cuckoo breeds the
pencilling, which in Gallus is a female attribute, has been transferred to
the male: nor, on the principle of analogous variation, is this
transference surprising, as the males in many gallinaceous genera are
barred or pencilled. With most of these birds head ornaments of all kinds
are more fully developed in the male than in the female; but in Polish
fowls the crest or top-knot, which in the male replaces the comb, is
equally developed in both sexes. In certain {256} sub-breeds, which, from
the hen having a small crest, are called lark-crested, "a single upright
comb sometimes almost entirely takes the place of the crest in the
male."[414] From this latter case, and from some facts presently to be
given with respect to the protuberance of the skull in Polish fowls, the
crest in this breed ought perhaps to be viewed as a feminine character
which has been transferred to the male. In the Spanish breed the male, as
we know, has an immense comb, and this has been partially transferred to
the female, for her comb is unusually large, though not upright. In
Game-fowls the bold and savage disposition of the male has likewise been
largely transferred to the female;[415] and she sometimes even possesses
the eminently masculine character of spurs. Many cases are on record of
hens being furnished with spurs; and in Germany, according to
Bechstein,[416] the spurs in the Silk-hen are sometimes very long. He
mentions also another breed similarly characterized, in which the hens are
excellent layers, but are apt to disturb and break their eggs owing to
their spurs.
Mr. Layard[417] has given an account of a breed of fowls in Ceylon with
black skin, bones, and wattle, but with ordinary feathers, and which cannot
"be more aptly described than by comparing them to a white fowl drawn down
a sooty chimney; it is, however," adds Mr. Layard, "a remarkable fact that
a male bird of the pure sooty variety is almost as rare as a tortoise-shell
tom-cat." Mr. Blyth finds that the same rule holds good with this breed
near Calcutta. The males and females, on the other hand, of the black-boned
European breed, with silky feathers, do not differ from each other; so that
in the one breed black skin and bones, and the same kind of plumage, are
common to both sexes, whilst in the other breed these characters are
confined to the female sex.
At the present day all the breeds of Polish fowls have the great bony
protuberance on their skulls, which includes part of the brain and supports
the crest, equally developed in both sexes. {257} But formerly in Germany
the skull of the hen alone was protuberant: Blumenbach,[418] who
particularly attended to abnormal peculiarities in domestic animals,
states, in 1813, that this was the case; and Bechstein had previously, in
1793, observed the same fact. This latter author has carefully described
the effects of a crest on the skull not only in fowls, but in ducks, geese,
and canaries. He states that with fowls, when the crest is not much
developed, it is supported on a fatty mass; but when much developed, it is
always supported on a bony protuberance of variable size. He well describes
the peculiarities of this protuberance, and he attended to the effects of
the modified shape of the brain on the intellect of these birds, and
disputes Pallas' statement that they are stupid. He then expressly states
that he never observed this protuberance in male fowls. Hence there can be
no doubt that this remarkable character in the skulls of Polish fowls was
formerly in Germany confined to the female sex, but has now been
transferred to the males, and has thus become common to both sexes.
_External Differences, not connected with the sexes, between the breeds and
between individual birds._
The size of the body differs greatly. Mr. Tegetmeier has known a Brahma
to weigh 17 pounds; a fine Malay cock 10 pounds; whilst a first-rate
Sebright Bantam weighs hardly more than 1 pound. During the last 20
years the size of some of our breeds has been largely increased by
methodical selection, whilst that of other breeds has been much
diminished. We have already seen how greatly colour varies even within
the same breed; we know that the wild _G. bankiva_ varies slightly in
colour; we know that colour is variable in all our domestic animals;
nevertheless some eminent fanciers have so little faith in variability,
that they have actually argued that the chief Game sub-breeds, which
differ from each other in nothing but colour, are descended from
distinct wild species! Crossing often causes strange modifications of
colour. Mr. Tegetmeier informs me that when buff and white Cochins are
crossed, some of the {258} chickens are almost invariably black.
According to Mr. Brent, black and white Cochins occasionally produce
chickens of a slaty-blue tint; and this same tint appears, as Mr.
Tegetmeier tells me, from crossing white Cochins with black Spanish
fowls, or white Dorkings with black Minorcas.[419] A good observer[420]
states that a first-rate silver-spangled Hamburgh hen gradually lost
the most characteristic qualities of the breed, for the black lacing to
her feathers disappeared, and her legs changed from leaden-blue to
white; but what makes the case remarkable is, that this tendency ran in
the blood, for her sister changed in a similar but less strongly marked
manner; and chickens produced from this latter hen were at first almost
pure white, "but on moulting acquired black collars and some spangled
feathers with almost obliterated markings;" so that a new variety arose
in this singular manner. The skin in the different breeds differs much
in colour, being white in common kinds, yellow in Malays and Cochins,
and black in Silk fowls; thus mocking, as M. Godron[421] remarks, the
three principal types of skin in mankind. The same author adds, that,
as different kinds of fowls living in distant and isolated parts of the
world have black skin and bones, this colour must have appeared at
various times and places.
The shape and carriage of the body and the shape of the head differ
much. The beak varies slightly in length and curvature, but
incomparably less than with pigeons. In most crested fowls the nostrils
offer a remarkable peculiarity in being raised with a crescentic
outline. The primary wing-feathers are short in Cochins; in a male,
which must have been more than twice as heavy as _G. bankiva_, these
feathers were in both birds of the same length. I have counted, with
Mr. Tegetmeier's aid, the primary wing-feathers in thirteen cocks and
hens of various breeds; in four of them, namely in two Hamburghs, a
Cochin, and Game Bantam, there were 10, instead of the normal number 9;
but in counting these feathers I have followed the practice of
fanciers, and have _not_ included the first minute primary feather,
barely three-quarters of an inch in length. These feathers differ
considerably in relative length, the fourth, or the fifth, or the
sixth, being the longest; with the third either equal to, or
considerably shorter than the fifth. In wild gallinaceous species the
relative length and number of the main wing and tail-feathers are
extremely constant.
The tail differs much in erectness and size, being small in Malays and
very small in Cochins. In thirteen fowls of various breeds which I have
examined, five had the normal number of 14 feathers, including in this
number the two middle sickle-feathers; six others (viz. a Caffre cock,
Gold-spangled Polish cock, Cochin hen, Sultan hen, Game hen, and Malay
hen) had 16; {259} and two (an old Cochin cock and Malay hen) had 17
feathers. The rumpless fowl has no tail, and in a bird which I kept
alive the oil-gland had aborted; but this bird, though the os coccygis
was extremely imperfect, had a vestige of a tail with two rather long
feathers in the position of the outer caudals. This bird came from a
family where, as I was told, the breed had kept true for twenty years;
but rumpless fowls often produce chickens with tails.[422] An eminent
physiologist[423] has recently spoken of this breed as a distinct
species; had he examined the deformed state of the os coccyx he would
never have come to this conclusion; he was probably misled by the
statement, which may be found in some works, that tailless fowls are
wild in Ceylon; but this statement, as I have been assured by Mr.
Layard and Dr. Kellaert, who have so closely studied the birds of
Ceylon, is utterly false.
The tarsi vary considerably in length, being relatively to the femur
considerably longer in the Spanish and Frizzled, and shorter in the
Silk and Bantam breeds, than in the wild _G. bankiva_; but in the
latter, as we have seen, the tarsi vary in length. The tarsi are often
feathered. The feet in many breeds are furnished with additional toes.
Golden-spangled Polish fowls are said[424] to have the skin between
their toes much developed; Mr. Tegetmeier observed this in one bird,
but it was not so in one which I examined. In Cochins the middle toe is
said[425] to be nearly double the length of the lateral toes, and
therefore much longer than in _G. bankiva_ or in other fowls; but this
was not the case in two which I examined. The nail of the middle toe in
this same breed is surprisingly broad and flat, but in a variable
degree in two birds which I examined; of this structure in the nail
there is only a trace in _G. bankiva_.
The voice differs slightly, as I am informed by Mr. Dixon, in almost
every breed. The Malays[426] have a loud, deep, somewhat prolonged
crow, but with considerable individual differences. Colonel Sykes
remarks that the domestic Kulm cock in India has not the shrill clear
pipe of the English bird, and "his scale of notes appears more
limited." Dr. Hooker was struck with the "prolonged howling screech" of
the cocks in Sikhim.[427] The crow of the Cochin is notoriously and
ludicrously different from that of the common cock. The disposition of
the different breeds is widely different, varying from the savage and
defiant temper of the Game-cock to the extremely peaceable temper of
the Cochin. The latter, it has been asserted, "graze to a much greater
extent than any other varieties." The Spanish fowls suffer more from
frost than other breeds.
Before we pass on to the skeleton, the degree of distinctness of the
several breeds from _G. bankiva_ ought to be noticed. Some {260} writers
speak of the Spanish as one of the most distinct breeds, and so it is in
general aspect; but its characteristic differences are not important. The
Malay appears to me more distinct, from its tall stature, small drooping
tail with more than fourteen tail-feathers, and from its small comb and
wattles; nevertheless one Malay sub-breed is coloured almost exactly like
_G. bankiva._ Some authors consider the Polish fowl as very distinct; but
this is a semi-monstrous breed, as shown by the protuberant and irregularly
perforated skull. The Cochin, with its deeply furrowed frontal bones,
peculiarly shaped occipital foramen, short wing-feathers, short tail
containing more than fourteen feathers, broad nail to the middle toe,
fluffy plumage, rough and dark-coloured eggs, and especially from its
peculiar voice, is probably the most distinct of all the breeds. If any one
of our breeds has descended from some unknown species, distinct from _G.
bankiva,_ it is probably the Cochin; but the balance of evidence does not
favour this view. All the characteristic differences of the Cochin breed
are more or less variable, and may be detected in a greater or lesser
degree in other breeds. One sub-breed is coloured closely like _G.
bankiva._ The feathered legs, often furnished with an additional toe, the
wings incapable of flight, the extremely quiet disposition, indicate a long
course of domestication; and these fowls come from China, where we know
that plants and animals have been tended from a remote period with
extraordinary care, and where consequently we might expect to find
profoundly modified domestic races.
_Osteological Differences._--I have examined twenty-seven skeletons and
fifty-three skulls of various breeds, including three of _G. bankiva_:
nearly half of these skulls I owe to the kindness of Mr. Tegetmeier, and
three of the skeletons to Mr. Eyton.
The _Skull_ differs greatly in size in different breeds, being nearly
twice as long in the largest Cochins, but not nearly twice as broad, as
in Bantams. The bones at the base, from the occipital foramen to the
anterior end (including the quadrates and pterygoids), are absolutely
identical in _shape_ in all the skulls. So is the lower jaw. In the
forehead slight differences are often perceptible between the males and
females, evidently caused by the presence of the comb. In every case I
take the skull of _G. bankiva_ as the standard of comparison. In four
Games, in one Malay hen, in an {261} African cock, in a Frizzled cock
from Madras, in two black-boned Silk hens, no differences occur worth
notice. In three _Spanish_ cocks, the form of the forehead between the
orbits differs considerably; in one it is considerably depressed,
whilst in the two others it is rather prominent, with a deep medial
furrow; the skull of the hen is smooth. In three skulls of _Sebright
Bantams_ the crown is more globular, and slopes more abruptly to the
occiput, than in _G. bankiva_. In a Bantam or Jumper from Burmah these
same characters are more strongly pronounced, and the supra-occiput is
more pointed. In a black Bantam the skull is not so globular, and the
occipital foramen is very large, and has nearly the same sub-triangular
outline presently to be described in Cochins; and in this skull the two
ascending branches of the premaxillary are overlapped in a singular
manner by the processes of the nasal bone, but, as I have seen only one
specimen, some of these differences may be individual. Of Cochins and
Brahmas (the latter a crossed race approaching closely to Cochins) I
have examined seven skulls; at the point where the ascending branches
of the premaxillary rest on the frontal bone the surface is much
depressed, and from this depression a deep medial furrow extends
backwards to a variable distance; the edges of this fissure are rather
prominent, as is the top of the skull behind and over the orbits. These
characters are less developed in the hens. The pterygoids, and the
processes of the lower jaw, relatively to the size of the head, are
broader than in _G. bankiva_; and this is likewise the case with
Dorkings when of large size. The terminal fork of the hyoid bone in
Cochins is twice as wide as in _G. bankiva_, whereas the length of the
other hyoid bones is only as three to two. But the most remarkable
character is the shape of the occipital foramen: in _G. bankiva_ (A)
the breadth in a horizontal line exceeds the height in a vertical line,
and the outline is nearly circular; whereas in Cochins (B) the outline
is sub-triangular, and the vertical line exceeds the horizontal line in
length. This same form likewise occurs in the black Bantam above
referred to, and an approach to it may be seen in some Dorkings, and in
a slight degree in certain other breeds.
[Illustration: Fig. 33.--Occipital Foramen, of natural size. A. Wild
_Gallus bankiva_. B. Cochin Cock.]
Of _Dorkings_ I have examined three skulls, one belonging to the white
sub-breed; the one character deserving notice is the breadth of the
frontal bones, which are moderately furrowed in the middle; thus in a
skull which was less than once and a half the length of that of _G.
bankiva_, the breadth between the orbits was exactly double. Of
_Hamburghs_ I have examined four skulls (male and female) of the
pencilled sub-breed, and one (male) of the spangled sub-breed; the
nasal bones stand remarkably wide apart, but in a variable degree;
consequently narrow membrane-covered spaces fare left between the tips
of the two ascending branches of the premaxillary {262} bones, which
are rather short, and between these branches and the nasal bones. The
surface of the frontal bone, on which the branches of the premaxillary
rest, is very little depressed. These peculiarities no doubt stand in
close relation with the broad flattened rose-comb characteristic of the
Hamburgh breed.
[Illustration: Fig. 34.--Skulls of natural size, viewed from above, a
little obliquely. A. Wild _Gallus bankiva_. B. White-crested Polish
Cock.]
I have examined fourteen skulls of _Polish and other crested breeds_.
Their differences are extraordinary. First for nine skulls of different
sub-breeds of English Polish fowls. The hemispherical protuberance of
the frontal bones[428] may be seen in the accompanying drawings, in
which (B) the skull of a white-crested Polish fowl is shown obliquely
from above, with the skull (A) of _G. bankiva_ in the same position. In
fig. 35 longitudinal sections are given of the skulls of a Polish fowl,
and, for comparison, of a Cochin of the same size. The protuberance in
all Polish fowls occupies the same position, but differs much in size.
In one of my nine specimens it was extremely slight. The degree to
which the protuberance is ossified varies greatly, larger or smaller
portions of bone being replaced by membrane. In one specimen there was
only a single open pore; generally, there are many variously-shaped
open spaces, the bone forming an irregular reticulation. A medial,
longitudinal, arched ribbon of bone is generally retained, but in one
specimen there was no bone whatever over the whole protuberance, and
the skull when cleaned and viewed from above presented the appearance
of an open basin. The change in the whole internal form of the skull is
surprisingly great. The brain is modified in a corresponding manner, as
is shown in the two longitudinal sections, {263} which deserve
attentive consideration. The upper and anterior cavity of the three
into which the skull may be divided, is the one which is so greatly
modified; it is evidently much larger than in the Cochin skull of the
same size, and extends much further beyond the interorbital septum, but
laterally is less deep. Whether this cavity is entirely filled by the
brain, may be doubted. In the skull of the Cochin and of all ordinary
fowls a strong internal ridge of bone separates the anterior from the
central cavity; but this ridge is entirely absent in the Polish skull
here figured. The shape of the central cavity is circular in the
Polish, and lengthened in the Cochin skull. The shape of the posterior
cavity, together with the position, size, and number of the pores for
the nerves, differ much in these two skulls. A pit deeply penetrating
the occipital bone of the Cochin is entirely absent in this Polish
skull, whilst in another specimen it was well developed. In this second
specimen the whole internal surface of the posterior cavity likewise
differs to a certain extent in shape. I made sections of two other
skulls,--namely, of a Polish fowl with the protuberance singularly
little developed, and of a Sultan in which it was a little more
developed; and when these two skulls were placed between the two above
figured (fig. 35), a perfect gradation in the configuration of each
part of the internal surface could be traced. In the Polish skull, with
a small protuberance, the ridge between the anterior and middle
cavities was present, but low; and in the Sultan this ridge was
replaced by a narrow furrow standing on a broad raised eminence.
[Illustration: Fig. 35.--Longitudinal sections of Skull, of natural
size, viewed laterally. A. Polish Cock. B. Cochin Cock, selected for
comparison with the above from being of nearly the same size.]
{264}
It may naturally be asked whether these remarkable modifications in the
form of the brain affect the intellect of Polish fowls; some writers
have stated that they are extremely stupid, but Bechstein and Mr.
Tegetmeier have shown that this is by no means generally the case.
Nevertheless Bechstein[429] states that he had a Polish hen which "was
crazy, and anxiously wandered about all day long." A hen in my
possession was solitary in her habits, and was often so absorbed in
reverie that she could be touched; she was also deficient in the most
singular manner in the faculty of finding her way, so that, if she
strayed a hundred yards from her feeding-place, she was completely
lost, and would then obstinately try to proceed in a wrong direction. I
have received other and similar accounts of Polish fowls appearing
stupid or half-idiotic.[430]
To return to the skull. The posterior part, viewed externally, differs
little from that of _G. bankiva_. In most fowls the posterior-lateral
process of the frontal bone and the process of the squamosal bone run
together and are ossified near their extremities: this union of the two
bones, however, is not constant in any breed; and in eleven out of
fourteen skulls of crested breeds, these processes were quite distinct.
These processes, when not united, instead of being inclined anteriorly
as in all common breeds, descend at right angles to the lower jaw; and
in this case the longer axis of the bony cavity of the ear is likewise
more perpendicular than in other breeds. When the squamosal process is
free, instead of expanding at the tip, it is reduced to an extremely
fine and pointed style, of variable length. The pterygoid and quadrate
bones present no difference. The palatine bones are a little more
curved upwards at their posterior ends. The frontal bones, anteriorly
to the protuberance, are, as in Dorkings, very broad, but in a variable
degree. The nasal bones either stand far apart, as in Hamburghs, or
almost touch each other, and in one instance were ossified together.
Each nasal bone properly sends out in front two long processes of equal
lengths, forming a fork; but in all the Polish skulls, except one, the
inner process was considerably, but in a variable degree, shortened and
somewhat upturned. In all the skulls, except one, the two ascending
branches of the premaxillary, instead of running up between the
processes of the nasal bones and resting on the ethmoid bone, are much
shortened and terminate in a blunt, somewhat upturned point. In those
skulls in which the nasal bones approach quite close to each other or
are ossified together, it would be impossible for the ascending
branches of the premaxillary to reach the ethmoid and frontal bones;
hence we see that even the relative connection of the bones has been
changed. Apparently in consequence of the branches of the premaxillary
and of the inner processes of the nasal bones being somewhat upturned,
the external orifices of the nostrils are upraised and assume a
crescentic outline.
I must still say a few words on some of the foreign Crested breeds. The
skull of a crested, rumpless, white Turkish fowl is very slightly
protuberant, and but little perforated; the ascending branches of the
premaxillary {265} are well developed. In another Turkish breed, called
Ghoondooks, the skull is considerably protuberant and perforated; the
ascending branches of the premaxillary are so much aborted that they
project only 1/15th of an inch; and the inner processes of the nasal
bone are so completely aborted, that the surface where they should have
projected is quite smooth. Here then we see these two bones modified to
an extreme degree. Of Sultans (another Turkish breed) I examined two
skulls; in that of the female the protuberance was much larger than in
the male. In both skulls the ascending branches of the premaxillary
were very short, and in both the basal portion of the inner processes
of the nasal bones were ossified together. These Sultan skulls differed
from those of English Polish fowls in the frontal bones, anteriorly to
the protuberance, not being broad.
The last skull which I need describe is a unique one, lent to me by Mr.
Tegetmeier: it resembles a Polish skull in most of its characters, but
has not the great frontal protuberance; it has, however, two rounded
knobs of a different nature, which stand more in front, above the
lachrymal bones. These curious knobs, into which the brain does not
enter, are separated from each other by a deep medial furrow; and this
is perforated by a few minute pores. The nasal bones stand rather wide
apart, with their inner processes, and the ascending branches of the
premaxillary, upturned and shortened. The two knobs no doubt supported
the two great horn-like projections of the comb.
[Illustration: Fig. 36.--Skull of Horned Fowl, of natural size, viewed
from above, a little obliquely. (In the possession of Mr. Tegetmeier.)]
From the foregoing facts we see in how astonishing a manner some of the
bones of the skull vary in Crested fowls. The protuberance may
certainly be called in one sense a monstrosity, as being wholly unlike
anything observed in nature: but as in ordinary cases it is not
injurious to the bird, and as it is strictly inherited, it can hardly
in another sense be called a monstrosity. A series may be formed
commencing with the black-boned Silk fowl, which has a very small crest
with the skull beneath penetrated only by a few minute orifices, but
with no other change in its structure; and from this first stage we may
proceed to fowls with a moderately large crest, which rests, according
to Bechstein, on a fleshy mass, but without any {266} protuberance in
the skull. I may add that I have seen a similar fleshy or fibrous mass
beneath the tuft of feathers on the head of the Tufted duck; and in
this case there was no actual protuberance in the skull, but it had
become a little more globular. Lastly, when we come to fowls with a
largely developed crest, the skull becomes largely protuberant and is
perforated by a multitude of irregular open spaces. The close relation
between the crest and the size of the bony protuberance is shown in
another way; for Mr. Tegetmeier informs me that if chickens lately
hatched be selected with a large bony protuberance, when adult they
will have a large crest. There can be no doubt that in former times the
breeder of Polish fowls attended solely to the crest, and not to the
skull; nevertheless, by increasing the crest, in which he has
wonderfully succeeded, he has unintentionally made the skull
protuberant to an astonishing degree; and through correlation of
growth, he has at the same time affected the form and relative
connexion of the premaxillary and nasal bones, the shape of the orifice
of the nose, the breadth of the frontal bones, the shape of the
post-lateral processes of the frontal and squamosal bones, the
direction of the axis of the bony cavity of the ear, and lastly the
internal configuration of the whole skull together with the shape of
the brain.
_Vertebrae._--In _G. bankiva_ there are fourteen cervical, seven dorsal
with ribs, apparently fifteen lumbar and sacral, and six caudal
vertebrae;[431] but the lumbar and sacral are so much anchylosed that I
am not sure of their number, and this makes the comparison of the total
number of vertebrae in the several breeds difficult. I have spoken of
six caudal vertebrae, because the basal one is almost completely
anchylosed with the pelvis; but if we consider the number as seven, the
caudal vertebrae agree in all the skeletons. The cervical vertebrae are,
as just stated, in appearance fourteen; but out of twenty-three
skeletons in a fit state for examination, in five of them, namely, in
two Games, in two pencilled Hamburghs, and in a Polish, the fourteenth
vertebra bore ribs, which, though small, were perfectly developed with
a double articulation. The presence of these little ribs cannot be
considered as a fact of much importance, for all the cervical vertebrae
bear representatives of ribs; but their development in the fourteenth
vertebra reduces the size of the passages in the transverse processes,
and makes this vertebra exactly like the first dorsal vertebra. The
addition of these little ribs does not affect the fourteenth cervical
alone, for properly the ribs of the first true dorsal vertebra are
destitute of processes; but in some of the skeletons in which the
fourteenth cervical bore little ribs, the first pair of true ribs had
well-developed processes. When we know that the sparrow has only nine,
and the swan twenty-three cervical vertebrae,[432] we need feel no
surprise at the number of the cervical vertebrae in the fowl being, as
it appears, variable.
There are seven dorsal vertebrae bearing ribs; the first dorsal is never
{267} anchylosed with the succeeding four, which are generally
anchylosed together. In one Sultan fowl, however, the two first dorsal
vertebrae were free. In two skeletons, the fifth dorsal was free;
generally the sixth is free (as in _G. bankiva_), but sometimes only at
its posterior end, where in contact with the seventh. The seventh
dorsal vertebra, in every case excepting in one Spanish cock, was
anchylosed with the lumbar vertebrae. So that the degree to which these
middle dorsal vertebrae are anchylosed together is variable.
Seven is the normal number of true ribs, but in two skeletons of the
Sultan fowl (in which the fourteenth cervical vertebra was not
furnished with little ribs) there were eight pairs; the eighth pair
seemed to be developed on a vertebra corresponding with the first
lumbar in _G. bankiva_; the sternal portion of both the seventh and
eighth ribs did not reach the sternum. In four skeletons in which ribs
were developed on the fourteenth cervical vertebra, there were, when
these cervical ribs are included, eight pairs; but in one Game-cock, in
which the fourteenth cervical was furnished with ribs, there were only
six pairs of true dorsal ribs; the sixth pair in this case did not have
processes, and thus resembled the seventh pair in other skeletons; in
this game-cock, as far as could be judged from the appearance of the
lumbar vertebrae, a whole dorsal vertebra with its ribs was missing. We
thus see that the ribs (whether or not the little pair attached to the
fourteenth cervical vertebra be counted) vary from six to eight pair.
The sixth pair is frequently not furnished with processes. The sternal
portion of the seventh pair is extremely broad in Cochins, and is
completely ossified. As previously stated, it is scarcely possible to
count the lumbo-sacral vertebrae; but they certainly do not correspond
in shape or number in the several skeletons. The caudal vertebrae are
closely similar in all the skeletons, the only difference being,
whether or not the basal one is anchylosed to the pelvis; they hardly
vary even in length, not being shorter in Cochins, with their short
tail-feathers, than in other breeds; in a Spanish cock, however, the
caudal vertebrae were a little elongated. In three rumpless fowls the
caudal vertebrae were few in number, and anchylosed together into a
misformed mass.
[Illustration: Fig. 37.--Sixth Cervical Vertebra, of natural size,
viewed laterally. A. Wild _Gallus bankiva_. B. Cochin Cock.]
In the individual vertebrae the differences in structure are very
slight. In the atlas the cavity for the occipital condyle is either
ossified into a ring, or is, as in Bankiva, open on its upper margin.
The upper arc of the spinal canal is a little more arched in Cochins,
in conformity with the shape of occipital foramen, than in _G.
bankiva_. In several skeletons a difference, but not of much
importance, may be observed, which commences a the fourth cervical
vertebra, and is greatest at about the sixth, seventh, or eighth
vertebra; this consists in the haemal descending processes being united
to the body of the vertebra by a sort of buttress. This structure may
be observed in Cochins, Polish, some Hamburgh, and probably other
breeds; but is absent, or barely developed, in Game, Dorking, Spanish,
Bantam, and {268} several other breeds examined by me. On the dorsal
surface of the sixth cervical vertebra in Cochins three prominent
points are more strongly developed than in the corresponding vertebra
of the Game-fowl or _G. bankiva_.
_Pelvis._--This differs in some few points in the several skeletons.
The anterior margin of the ilium seems at first to vary much in
outline, but this is chiefly due to the degree to which the margin in
the middle part is ossified to the crest of the spine; the outline,
however, does differ in being more truncated in Bantams, and more
rounded in certain breeds, as in Cochins. The outline of the ischiadic
foramen differs considerably, being nearly circular in Bantams, instead
of egg-shaped as in the Bankiva, and more regularly oval in some
skeletons, as in the Spanish. The obturator notch is also much less
elongated in some skeletons than in others. The end of the pubic bone
presents the greatest difference; being hardly enlarged in the Bankiva;
considerably and gradually enlarged in Cochins, and in a lesser degree
in some other breeds; and abruptly enlarged in Bantams. In one Bantam
this bone extended very little beyond the extremity of the ischium. The
whole pelvis in this latter bird differed widely in its proportions,
being far broader proportionally to its length than in Bankiva.
[Illustration: Fig. 38.--Extremity of the Furcula, of natural size,
viewed laterally. A. Wild _Gallus bankiva_. B. Spangled Polish Fowl. C.
Spanish Fowl. D. Dorking Fowl.]
_Sternum._--This bone is generally so much deformed that it is scarcely
possible to compare its form strictly in the several breeds. The shape
of the triangular extremity of the lateral processes differs
considerably, being either almost equilateral or much elongated. The
front margin of the crest is more or less perpendicular and varies
greatly, as does the curvature of the posterior end, and the flatness
of the lower surface. The outline of the manubrial process also varies,
being wedge-shaped in the Bankiva, and rounded in the Spanish breed.
The _furcula_ differs in being more or less arched, and greatly, as may
be seen in the accompanying outlines, in the shape of the terminal
plate; but the shape of this part differed a little in two skeletons of
the wild Bankiva. The _coracoids_ present no difference worth notice.
The _scapula_ varies in shape, being of nearly uniform breadth in
Bankiva, much broader in the middle in the Polish fowl, and abruptly
narrowed towards the apex in the two Sultan fowls.
I carefully compared each separate bone of the leg and wing, relatively
to the same bones in the wild Bankiva, in the following breeds, which I
thought were the most likely to differ; namely, in Cochin, Dorking,
{269} Spanish, Polish, Burmese Bantam, Frizzled Indian, and black-boned
Silk fowls; and it was truly surprising to see how absolutely every
process, articulation, and pore agreed, though the bones differed
greatly in size. The agreement is far more absolute than in other parts
of the skeleton. In stating this, I do not refer to the relative
thickness and length of the several bones; for the tarsi varied
considerably in both these respects. But the other limb-bones varied
little even in relative length.
Finally, I have not examined a sufficient number of skeletons to say
whether any of the foregoing differences, except in the skull, are
characteristic of the several breeds. Apparently some differences are more
common in certain breeds than in others,--as an additional rib to the
fourteenth cervical vertebra in Hamburghs and Games, and the breadth of the
end of the pubic bone in Cochins. Both skeletons of the Sultan fowl had
eight dorsal vertebrae, and the end of the scapula in both was somewhat
attenuated. In the skull, the deep medial furrow in the frontal bones and
the vertically elongated occipital foramen seem to be characteristic of
Cochins; as is the great breadth of the frontal bones in Dorkings; the
separation and open spaces between the tips of the ascending branches of
the premaxillaries and nasal bones, as well as the front part of the skull
being but little depressed, characterise Hamburghs; the globular shape of
the posterior part of the skull seems to be characteristic of laced
Bantams; and lastly, the protuberance of the skull with the ascending
branches of the premaxillaries partially aborted, together with the other
differences before specified, are eminently characteristic of Polish and
other Crested fowls.
But the most striking result of our examination of the skeleton is the
great variability of all the bones except those of the extremities. To a
certain extent we can understand why the skeleton fluctuates so much in
structure; fowls have been exposed to unnatural conditions of life, and
their whole organisation has thus been rendered variable; but the breeder
is quite indifferent to, and never intentionally selects, any modifications
in the skeleton. External characters, if not attended to by man,--such as
the number of the tail and wing feathers and their relative lengths, which
in wild birds are generally constant points,--fluctuate in our domestic
fowls in the same manner as the several parts of the skeleton. An
additional toe is a "point" in Dorkings, and has become a fixed character,
but is variable in {270} Cochins and Silk-fowls. The colour of the plumage
and the form of the comb are in most breeds, or even sub-breeds, eminently
fixed characters; but in Dorkings these points have not been attended to,
and are variable. When any modification in the skeleton is related to some
external character which man values, it has been, unintentionally on his
part, acted on by selection, and has become more or less fixed. We see this
in the wonderful protuberance of the skull, which supports the crest of
feathers in Polish fowls, and which by correlation has affected other parts
of the skull. We see the same result in the two protuberances which support
the horns in the horned fowl, and in the flattened shape of the front of
the skull in Hamburghs consequent on their flattened and broad
"rose-combs." We know not in the least whether additional ribs, or the
changed outline of the occipital foramen, or the changed form of the
scapula, or of the extremity of the furcula, are in any way correlated with
other structures, or have arisen from the changed conditions and habits of
life to which our fowls have been subjected; but there is no reason to
doubt that these various modifications in the skeleton could be rendered,
either by direct selection, or by the selection of correlated structures,
as constant and as characteristic of each breed, as are the size and shape
of the body, the colour of the plumage, and the form of the comb.
_Effects of the Disuse of Parts._
Judging from the habits of our European gallinaceous birds, _Gallus
bankiva_ in its native haunts would use its legs and wings more than do
our domestic fowls, which rarely fly except to their roosts. The Silk
and the Frizzled fowls, from having imperfect wing-feathers, cannot fly
at all; and there is reason to believe that both these breeds are
ancient, so that their progenitors during many generations cannot have
flown. The Cochins, also, from their short wings and heavy bodies, can
hardly fly up to a low perch. Therefore in these breeds, especially in
the two first, a considerable diminution in the wing-bones might have
been expected, but this is not the case. In every specimen, after
disarticulating and cleaning the bones, I carefully compared the
relative length of the two main bones of the wing to each other, and of
the two main bones of the leg to each other, with those of _G.
bankiva_; and it was surprising to see (except in the case of the
tarsi) how exactly the same relative length had been retained. This
fact is curious, from showing how truly the proportions of an organ may
be inherited, although not fully exercised during many generations. I
then compared in several breeds the {271} length of the femur and tibia
with the humerus and ulna, and likewise these same bones with those of
_G. bankiva_; the result was that the wing-bones in all the breeds
(except the Burmese Jumper, which has unnaturally short legs) are
slightly shortened relatively to the leg-bones; but the decrease is so
slight that it may be due to the standard specimen of _G. bankiva_
having accidentally had wings of slightly greater length than usual; so
that the measurements are not worth giving. But it deserves notice that
the Silk and Frizzled fowls, which are quite incapable of flight, had
their wings _less_ reduced relatively to their legs than in almost any
other breed! We have seen with domesticated pigeons that the bones of
the wings are somewhat reduced in length, whilst the primary feathers
are rather increased in length, and it is just possible, though not
probable, that in the Silk and Frizzled fowls any tendency to decrease
in the length of the wing-bones from disuse may have been checked
through the law of compensation, by the decreased growth of the
wing-feathers, and consequent increased supply of nutriment. The
wing-bones, however, in both these breeds, are found to be slightly
reduced in length when judged by the standard of the length of the
sternum or head, relatively to these same parts in _G. bankiva_.
The actual weight of the main bones of the leg and wing in twelve
breeds is given in the two first columns in the following table. The
calculated weight of the wing-bones relatively to the leg-bones, in
comparison with the leg and wing-bones of _G. bankiva_, are given in
the third column,--the weight of the wing-bones in _G. bankiva_ being
called a hundred.[433]
TABLE I.
+----------------------------------+---------+---------+----------------+
| | | | Weight of |
| | Actual | Actual | Wingbones |
| | Weight | Weight | relatively to |
| Names of Breeds. | of | of | the Leg-bones, |
| | Femur | Humerus | in comparison |
| | and | and | with these |
| | Tibia. | Ulna. | same bones in |
| | Grains. | Grains. | G. bankiva. |
+--+-------------------------------+---------+---------+----------------+
| |Gallus bankiva wild male | 86 | 54 | 100 |
| 1|Cochin male | 311 | 162 | 83 |
| 2|Dorking male | 557 | 248 | 70 |
| 3|Spanish (Minorca) male | 386 | 183 | 75 |
| 4|Gold Spangled Polish male | 306 | 145 | 75 |
| 5|Game, black-breasted male | 293 | 143 | 77 |
| 6|Malay female | 231 | 116 | 80 |
| 7|Sultan male | 189 | 94 | 79 |
| 8|Indian Frizzled male | 206 | 88 | 67 |
| 9|Burmese Jumper female | 53 | 36 | 108 |
|10|Hamburgh (pencilled) male | 157 | 104 | 106 |
|11|Hamburgh (pencilled) female | 114 | 77 | 108 |
|12|Silk (black-boned) female | 88 | 57 | 103 |
+--+-------------------------------+---------+---------+----------------+
{272}
In the eight first birds, belonging to distinct breeds, in this table,
we see a decided reduction in the weight of the bones of the wing. In
the Indian Frizzled fowl, which cannot fly, the reduction is carried to
the greatest extent, namely, to thirty-three per cent. of their proper
proportional weight. In the next four birds, including the Silk-hen,
which is incapable of flight, we see that the wings, relatively to the
legs, are slightly increased in weight; but it should be observed that,
if in these birds the legs had become from any cause reduced in weight,
this would give the false appearance of the wings having increased in
relative weight. Now a reduction of this nature has certainly occurred
with the Burmese Jumper, in which the legs are abnormally short, and in
the two Hamburghs and Silk fowl, the legs, though not short, are formed
of remarkably thin and light bones. I make these statements, not
judging by mere eyesight, but after having calculated the weights of
the leg-bones relatively to those of _G. bankiva_, according to the
only two standards of comparison which I could use, namely, the
relative lengths of the head and sternum; for I do not know the weight
of the body in _G. bankiva_, which would have been a better standard.
According to these standards, the leg-bones in these four fowls are in
a marked manner far lighter than in any other breed. It may therefore
be concluded that in all cases in which the legs have not been through
some unknown cause much reduced in weight, the wing-bones have become
reduced in weight relatively to the leg-bones, in comparison with those
of _G. bankiva_. And this reduction of weight may, I apprehend, safely
be attributed to disuse.
To make the foregoing table quite satisfactory, it ought to have been
shown that in the eight first birds the leg-bones have not actually
increased in weight out of due proportion with the rest of the body;
this I cannot show, from not knowing, as already remarked, the weight
of the wild Bankiva.[434] I am indeed inclined to suspect that the
leg-bones in the Dorking, No. 2 in the table, are proportionally too
heavy; but this bird was a very large one, weighing 7 lb. 2 oz., though
very thin. Its leg-bones were more than ten times as heavy as those of
the Burmese Jumper! I tried to ascertain the length both of the
leg-bones and wing-bones relatively to other parts of the body and
skeleton; but the whole organisation in these birds, which have been so
long domesticated, has become so variable, that no certain conclusions
could be reached. For instance, the legs of the above Dorking cock were
nearly three-quarters of an inch too short relatively to the length of
the sternum, and more than {273} three-quarters of an inch too long
relatively to the length of the skull, in comparison with these same
parts in _G. bankiva_.
In the following Table II. in the two first columns we see in inches
and decimals the length of the sternum, and the extreme depth of its
crest to which the pectoral muscles are attached. In the third column
we have the calculated depth of the crest, relatively to the length of
the sternum, in comparison with these same parts in _G. bankiva_.[435]
TABLE II.
+-----------------------------+-----------+------------+----------------+
| | | | Depth of Crest,|
| | | | relatively to |
| | Length | Depth of | the length of |
| Names of Breeds. | of | Crest | the Sternum in |
| | Sternum. | of Sternum.| comparison with|
| | | | G. bankiva. |
+--+--------------------------+-----------+------------+----------------+
| | | Inches. | Inches. | |
| |Gallus bankiva male | 4.20 | 1.40 | 100 |
| 1|Cochin male | 5.83 | 1.55 | 78 |
| 2|Dorking male | 6.95 | 1.97 | 84 |
| 3|Spanish male | 6.10 | 1.83 | 90 |
| 4|Polish male | 5.07 | 1.50 | 87 |
| 5|Game male | 5.55 | 1.55 | 81 |
| 6|Malay female | 5.10 | 1.50 | 87 |
| 7|Sultan male | 4.47 | 1.36 | 90 |
| 8|Frizzled hen male | 4.25 | 1.20 | 84 |
| 9|Burmese Jumper female | 3.06 | 0.85 | 81 |
|10|Hamburgh male | 5.08 | 1.40 | 81 |
|11|Hamburgh female | 4.55 | 1.26 | 81 |
|12|Silk fowl female | 4.49 | 1.01 | 66 |
+--+--------------------------+-----------+------------+----------------+
By looking to the third column we see that in every case the depth of
the crest relatively to the length of the sternum, in comparison with
_G. bankiva_, is diminished, generally between 10 and 20 per cent. But
the degree of reduction varies much, partly in consequence of the
frequently deformed state of the sternum. In the Silk-fowl, which
cannot fly, the crest is 34 per cent. less deep than what it ought to
have been. This reduction of the crest in all the breeds probably
accounts for the great variability, before referred to, in the
curvature of the furcula, and in the shape of its sternal extremity.
Medical men believe that the abnormal form of the spine so commonly
observed in women of the higher ranks results from the attached muscles
not being fully exercised. So it is with our domestic fowls, for they
use their pectoral muscles but little, and, out of twenty-five sternums
examined by me, three alone were perfectly symmetrical, ten were
moderately crooked, and twelve were deformed to an extreme degree.
Finally, we may conclude with respect to the various breeds of the fowl,
that the main bones of the wing have probably been shortened in a very
slight degree; that they have {274} certainly become lighter relatively to
the leg-bones in all the breeds in which these latter bones are not
unnaturally short or delicate; and that the crest of the sternum, to which
the pectoral muscles are attached, has invariably become less prominent,
the whole sternum being also extremely liable to deformity. These results
we may attribute to the lessened use of the wings.
_Correlation of Growth_.--I will here sum up the few facts which I have
collected on this obscure, but important, subject. In Cochins and
Game-fowls there is some relation between the colour of the plumage and the
darkness of the egg-shell and even of the yolk. In Sultans the additional
sickle-feathers in the tail are apparently related to the general
redundancy of the plumage, as shown by the feathered legs, large crest, and
beard. In two tailless fowls which I examined the oil-gland was aborted. A
large crest of feathers, as Mr. Tegetmeier has remarked, seems always
accompanied by a great diminution or almost entire absence of the comb. A
large beard is similarly accompanied by diminished or absent wattles. These
latter cases apparently come under the law of compensation or balancement
of growth. A large beard beneath the lower jaw and a large top-knot on the
skull often go together. The comb when of any peculiar shape, as with
Horned, Spanish, and Hamburgh fowls, affects in a corresponding manner the
underlying skull; and we have seen how wonderfully this is the case with
Crested fowls when the crest is largely developed. With the protuberance of
the frontal bones the shape of the internal surface of the skull and of the
brain is greatly modified. The presence of a crest influences in some
unknown way the development of the ascending branches of the premaxillary
bone, and of the inner processes of the nasal bones; and likewise the shape
of the external orifice of the nostrils. There is a plain and curious
correlation between a crest of feathers and the imperfectly ossified
condition of the skull. Not only does this hold good with nearly all
crested fowls, but likewise with tufted ducks, and as Dr. Guenther informs
me with tufted geese in Germany.
Lastly, the feathers composing the crest in male Polish fowls resemble
hackles, and differ greatly in shape from those in the crest of the female.
The neck, wing-coverts, and loins {275} in the male bird are properly
covered with hackles, and it would appear that feathers of this shape have
spread by correlation to the head of the male. This little fact is
interesting; because, though both sexes of some wild gallinaceous birds
have their heads similarly ornamented, yet there is often a difference in
the size and shape of feathers forming their crests. Furthermore there is
in some cases, as in the male Gold and in the male Amherst pheasants (_P.
pictus_ and _Amherstiae_), a close relation in colour, as well as in
structure, between the plumes on the head and on the loins. Hence it would
appear that the same law has regulated the state of the feathers on the
head and body, both with species living under their natural conditions, and
with birds which have varied under domestication.
* * * * *
{276}