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Show 236 FOWLS. CIIAP. \'11. hackles, as with our domestic poultry, but by short bl::wkish f~atl.lCrR.21 Mr. Brent, however, has remarked that tlt so black feathers rcmam ~n the wild bircl after the clcvclopmcnt of tho lower hackles, and am:c~r m th.o dom 'stic bircl at tho same time with them; so that tltc only cliffct·cncc 1s that the lower h::teklcs arc replaced more slowly in tho wild thn,n in tlte tame bird; bnt as c nfi n m nt is Jmown Romotimc~ to affect t~c masculine plumage, this .·light difference cannot be considered of any l~portancc. It is a significant fftct that the voice of both the malo and fom~lc 0. brmh:ivn closely rc. ·omhl . , aR Mr. Blyth and others h::tvc noted, tho vo1cc of both sexes of tho common domestic fowl; but tho laRt note of the crow of the wild bird is rather less prolonged. Captain Hutton, well known for his researches into tho natuml hi. tory of India, informs me that he has seen several crossed fowls from the wild Rpocics and the Chinese bantam; these cro s d fowls bredfreely with bantams, but unfortunately were not crossed inter se. Captain Hutton reared cruckcns from tho eggs of the Gallus ban/civet; and those, though at first very wild, afterward.<; became so tame that they would crowd round his foot. ITo did not succeed in rearing them to maturity; but, a.· he remark ·, " no wild gallinaceous bird thrives well at fir ·t on hard grain." Mr. Blyth al o found much difficulty in keeping a. banlciv(t in confinement. In tho Philippine Islands, however, tho natives must succeed bettor, as they keep wild cocks to fight with their domestic game-birds.22 Sir Walter Elliot informs me that the hen of a native domestic breed of Pcgu is llUdistinguishablo from tho hen of tho wild G. bnnlciva; and tho natives constantly catch wild cock.· by taking tame cocks to fight with them in tho woods.23 Mr. Crawfurd remarks that from etymology it might be argued that the fowl was first domesticated by the Malays and Javanese.24 It is also a curious fact, of which I have been assured by Mr. Blyth, that wild specimens of tho Gallus bcwlciva, brought from tho countries east of the Bay of Bengal, a1·c far more easily tamed than those of India; nor i. · 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. lf we suppose that tho a. brtnlciva was first tamed in Malaya and afterwards imported into India, we can und rstand <1n ob ·ervation maclc to me by Mr. Blyth, tbat tho domestic fowls of India do not rcsomhlc the wild G. banl.-iva more closely than do those of Europe. From the extremely dose re ·omLlancc in colonr, general structure, and osp cially in voiee, between Gallus banlciva and the Game fowl; from their fertility, as far as this ha. been ascertained, when cross d; from tho possil>ility of the wild spceies being tamed, and from its varying in th wild state, we may confidently look at it a the parent of the most typical of all the 21 Mr . .Blyth, in 'Annals and 1\iag. of rat. Hist.,' 2nd scr., vol. i. (1818;. 1. 455. 22 Crawfurd. 'Dcsc. Diet. of Jndinn I~ln nds,' 185G, p. Jl2. 23 In Burmah, as I hear from 1\fr. Blyth, the wild 1tnd tame poultry constantly cross togelhcr, and in{'gulnr transitional .limns may br sr rn. 1'1 ldcm, p. 11:1. CIIAI'. \ ' 11. THEIR I' A !.tENTAGE. 237 domestic breeds, namely, the Game-fowl. It is a significant fact, that almost all the naturali ·t in India, namely, f::l.ir Y.l. Elliot, J\fr. f::l. N. Ward, Mr. Layanl, Mr. J. 0. Jerclon, and Mr. Blyth,25 who arc ti.tmiliar with G. banlciva, believe that it is the parent of most or all om domestic breeds. But even if it be admitted that G. banlciva is the parent of the Game breed, yet it may be urged that other wild species have been the pal'ents of the other dom stic breeds; and that these species still exist, though unknown, iu some country, or have become extinct. The extinction, however, of . ·cveral spoeics of fowls, is an improbable hypothc is, seeing that the four known species have not become extinct in the most anciently and thickly peopled regions of the East. There i , in faet, 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 diseovery of new, or the rediscovery of old species of Gallus, we must not look, as fanciers often look, to the whole world. Tho larger gallinaceous birds, as Mr. Blyth has remarked/ 6 generally have a restricted range: we see this well illusti·ated in India, where the genus Gallus inhabits the base of the Ilimalaya, and is succeeded higher up by Gallophasis, and still higher up by Pha ianus. 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 27 as that a humming-bird should be found in the Old 'vVorld. From the character of the other gallinaceous ~.; Mr. Jordon, in tho' Madl·as Journ. of Lit. anu f::lci nee,' vol. xxii. p. 2, speaking of a. banlcivct, says, ,, unquestionably the origin of most of the varieties of onr common fowl ." For Mr. Blyth, see hi:! excellent article in 'Garden r's Chron.' 1851, p. 61!); and in 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' vol. xx., 1847, p. 388. 26 'Gurc1cncr's Chronicle,' 1851, p. G19. ;;;~ I have consulted an eminent authority, l\1r. 'clalor, on this subject, and he thinks that I have not express d myself too strongly. I am aware that one atlCioul rmlhor, Acosta, spcnks of fowls :1;; lt:tving inhabited S. America at the period of its discovery; and more recently, about 1795, Olivier do 'orres speaks of wild fowls iu tho forests of Guiana; these were probably feral birds. Dr. Daniell tells me, he believes that fowls have become wild on tho west coast of Equatorial Africa; they m11y, however, not be true fowls, but gallinaceous birds belonging to the genus Phusitlus. Tltc old voyager lJurbut says that poultry are not natural to Guinea. Capt. W. Allen (' Nanative of Niger Expedition,' 1848, vol. ii. p. 42) de-cribcs wild fowls on Ilha dos H.ollas, an island ncar St. 'fhomas's, on tho west coast of Africn,: the mttivos informed him t.h11t they had escaped (rom |