OCR Text |
Show 244 FOWLS. CHAP. VII. 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 intellig~ble on the law of analogous variation, as neither the wild rock-p1geon nor any closely-allied species has such feathers. 1'he frequent appe.arance of pencilling in crossed birds probably acconuts for t~1e existen.ce of "cuckoo" sub-breeds in the Game, Polish, Dorkmg, Cochm, 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. lt is· a singular fact, considering that the· male of no species of Gallus is in the least barred, that the cuckoolike plumage has often been transferred to t~1e 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 crescentshaped, on their tips; whilst pencilled feathers have several transverse bars. The spangling cannot be due to reversion to G. banlciva; 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 instan e, 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.31 The editor of the ' Poultry Chronicle ' 32 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 31 Dixon,' Omo,mental and Domestic Poultry,' pp. 253, 324, 335. For game fowls, see Ferguson on 'Prize Poultry,' p. 260. 32 ' Poultry Chronicle,' vol. ii. p. 71. CHAP. VII. REVERSION AND .ANALOGOUS VARIATION. 245 G. banlciva; 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. banlciva, 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 lmow that all the breeds are most closely allied, as shown bv their similarity in most points of structure and in habits, and by the analogous manner in which they vary. We have also see~ that several of the most distinct breeds occasionally or habitually closely resemble in plumage G. banlciva, and that the crossed offspring of other breeds, which are not thus coloured, show a stronger or weaker tendency to revert to this s~m: plumage. Some of the breeds, which appear the most d1stmct and the least likely to have proceeded from G. banlciva, such as Polish fowls, with their protuberant and little ossified skulls, and Cochins, with their imperfect. tail and small wino-s b . 1 b' ear m t 1ese characters. the plain marks -of their artificial origin. We know well that of late years methodical selc ·tion has greatly improved and fixed many characters ; and we have every reason to believe that unconscious selection, carried on for ~a~y generations, will have steadily augmented each new pecuhanty and thus have given rise to new breeds. As soon as two ~r three b~·eeds had once been . formed, crossing would come mto play m changing their character and in increasino- their b ~urn ber: Brah~a Pootras, according to an account lately pub-hshed m Amenca, offer a good instance of a breed, lately formed by a. cross, which can be truly propagated. The wellknown Sebr1ght Bantams offer another and similar instance Hence it may be concluded that not ~nly the Game-breed but that all our breeds are probably the descendants of the |