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Show 238 FOWLS. CIIAP. Vll. bird of Africa, it 1. s not pro1m .b l c t 11 a t G a1 111·8 1's 'a.n A.f rica. n \ V e need not look to th(~ western parts of Mna, for g nus. 1 1 tt d d to this sub- M<'Sst-. ·. Blyth and Urn.wfnrd, w 10 1avc a en . · j , ·t, doubt whcth r GalluH ever exist d in a wJld state ~vo n as far w st as Persia. Although the earliest Greek wr~tol:s speak of tho fowl as a Persian bircl, this probably merely JtH.h- cates I. ts 1m. e of n. npor t a tw' n. F· 01. tile d1'scover.y of nnlmow. n spe •J·C S we mu t loo 1\: to I I1(1 ·J a, t 0 tl1 e lndo-Chm. csc countrn es 1 ' an<l to the north 'rn parts of the Malay Arelupelago. Ihc souther· n portt·o n of Cl u·n a J·S tl 10 most lih\. ly country·' but. as Mr. Blyth informs me, skin· have be n exported from Clnna durm· g a long pen·o c1, an d 11· vm· g bu' ·ds ."...l 'C h<r rbr ly kept there in aviaries, so that any native . ·pec io. of Gallus wonld probably have become Jcuown. 1\Ir. Birch, of the 13riti ~:dll\luscum, has translated for me pn.ssnrr s from a Chin so Encydoprodia p.ublisl~ed in 1G09, but compiled from more anci nt documents, lll ':hwh it is said that fowls nrc creatures of the W c. t, and were mtroducod into the East (i.e. Chinn) in a clyna ty 1400 B.c. Whatever may be thought of so ancient a date, we sec ~hat the .IndoChinese and lmlian regions w rc formerly cons1dered by the Chinese as the source of the domestic fowL :U rom these several considerations we mu .. t look to the present metropolis of the genus, namely, to the south-eastern parts of_ Asia, for the discovery of species which were formerly dome tJCat~d, but are _now unknown in the wild state; and the most expen enced ormthologists do not consider it probable that such species will be discovered. ln considering whether the domestic breeds arc descended from one species, namely, G. banlciva, or from several, we must 11 vessel wTeckml there mn ny yc11rs ngo ; they w rc ext.remoly wild, and l1ad "a cry quite difl' •reni to t.l1at of the dom ·tic fowl,' ' 1\nd th ·ir appcnmncc was som wl1 n.t chnng('U. lienee it is n ot 11 little doubtful, notwithstn.nding tho ~t11tcmont of the nati.vos, whether these birds really were fowls. 'l'hat tho fowl hns be ·om0 fera l on sevl'ml islnnds is certoin. Mr. Fry, a very eapl1ulo juuge, informed Mr. La yard, in 11 letter, that tho fowls whi ch have run wild on Ascension " had nearly all got bode to their primitive colours, red and bl ack cocks, and smoky-grey hens." But unfortunat ly we tlo nut know tho colour of tho poul try which woro tul'llCd out. F owls lmvo bocomo fora! on tl1 Nicoufu !~;lands (lllyth in t l10 •Indian lTiohl,' 1R58, p. 62), and in the I,a<lrmlcs (Anson's Voyoge). 'l'hoso found in the Pellow I slands (Crawfurd) 11r0 believed to bu feml ; and la ' tly, it i~ nssertou that they have IJcoomo feral in Now Zealand, but whether this is cor· rcct I know not. C IIAP. vu. REVERSION AND ANALOGOUS VAlUATION. 239 not quite overlook, though we muRt not exaggerate, the importance of tho t est of fertility. Most of our domestic breecls 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 he •n det ·cted. On the other hand, tho four known species of Gallus when erossed with eaeh other, or when crossed, with the exception of G. banlciva, with tho domestic fowl, produce infertile hybrid!:!. Finally, we have not such good cvidcuce with fowls as with pigeon , of all the breeds having descended fi·om a single primitive stock. In both cases the argument of fertility must go for omAthing; in both we have the improbability of man having succeeded in ancient times in thoroughly domesticating several supposed specios,-most of these suppo eel species being extremely abnormal as compared with their natural allies,all being now eitl1er unlmown or extinct, though tho parentform of scarcely any other domesticated bird hns been lost. Bnt in searching fOT the supposed parent-stocks of the mrious breeds of the pigeon, we wore eilabled to confine our search to species having peculiar ha.Lits of lifo; whilst with fowls there is nothing in their habits in any marked manner diBtinct from those of other gallinaceous birds. In the case of pigeons, I have shown that pmely-bred birds of evCl'y 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 vVith fowls we have facts of a similar nature Lut less strongly pronounced, which we will now discuss. ' R eve1·sion and Analogous Variation.-Purely-bred Game, Malay, Cocbin, Dorking, Bantam, and, as I bear from :Mr. Tegotmeier, Silk fowls, may frequently or occnsionally be met with, which are almost identical in plumage with the wild G. banlciva. This is a fact well deserving attention, when we reflect tl1at these breeds rank amongst the most distinct. Fowls thu coloured arc called by amateurs black-breasted 1·cds. Hamburghs properly have a very different plumage ; nevertheless, a;:; Mr. 'l'egetmeier informs me, "the great difficulty in breeding cocks of the golden-spangled variety is their t endency to haYo black breasts aud red backs." Tlw mules of white Bantams and |