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Show 248 FOWLS. CHAP. vn. Breeds: Irzdw·z · a uaz T"ar rz•a bz ·z z·t y.-F ow 1s ]1ave been exposed to diversified conditions of life, and as we have jn ·t seen there has been ample time for much van·a b 1T J tY an d for the slow action of unconsci.O us se 1e c t1' on. A s there arc good grounds .f or uelieving that aU the breeds are descended fro:n Gallu~ banlc_wa, it will be worth while to describe in some detml th_e chwf pom:s of difference. B egm. nm· g WI' th the eroroo- s and chickens, I will pass on to the secondary sexua1 ch a1·a cters ' and then to the differences in external structure and in the sl{~leton. I enter on the following details chiefly to shm: h~w vanable almost every character has become under domesticatiOn. Ec. s.-Mr. Dixon remarks au that "to every hen belo~gs an individual pecugl~i an·t y m· the f·o rm, colour, an d s1·,z e of her egg ' wh1ch _n e.v er . changes d nn·n g h or 1I·LcG - tl'i DO, so 1o n gas ·s he remains .i n health, an-d wh1ch 1s as wedl l known to those who are in the habit of taking ~er produce~ a~ the han - writing of their nearest acquaintance." I believe that th1s IS generally true and that if no great number of hens be kept, the . eggs of each can alm~st alway; be recognised. The eggs of differently ~1zed .breeds _natu- 11 d.ff. 1 · · ra y I er muc 1 111 s1z 0 ,· but' apparently ' not al.w ays 111 stncSt rela·t ihO nb to tho size of the hen : thus tho Malay is a larger bn·d than the pu.ms ~ ut r;enerally she produces not such large eggs; whit~ Bantams are smd to iay smaller eggs than other Bantams_; 36 white Coclnns, on the ot~cr ba_nd, as I bear from Mr. 'l'egotmeicr, certamly lay larger e~gs than ?uff Cocluns. The egg. however, of tho different breeds vary cons1dembly 111 character; for insta~ce, Mr. Ballance states 37 that his Malay "pullets of last year laid eggs equal in size to those of any duck, and other Mala! hens, two ~r three years old, laid eggs very little larger than a good-s1zccl Banta1:1 s egg. Some were as white as a Sp~nish hen's egg, and ot.hers ,var~ed from a light cream-colour to a deep nch buff, or even to a brown. 'I~e shape also varies, tho two ends being much more equally rounded m Cochins than in Games or Polish. Spanish fowls lay smoother eggs than Cochjns, of which the eggs arc generally granulate~. The shell in this latter breed, and more especially in Malays, IS apt to be thicker than in Game& or Spanish; but the Minorcas, a sub-breed of Spanish, arc said to lay harder eggs than true Spanish.38 The colour differs considcrably,-thc Cochins laying buff-coloured eggs; the Malays :la 'OrnnmcntoJ and Domestic Poultry,' p. 152. 3G Ferguson on ' Rare Prize Poultry,' p. 297. This writer, I am informed, cannot gencrnJly be tru ted. He gives, however, figur s and much information on eggs. See pp. 34 aud 235 on the eggs of the Game fowl. ~7 See ' Poultry Book,' by Mr. Tegctmcicr, 18G6, pp. 81 and 78. us • The Cottage Gardener,' Oct. 1855, p. 13. On tho thinness of tho eggs of Game-fowls, see Mowbray on Poultry, 7th edit., p. 13. CHAP, VII. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TilE BREEDS. 249 a paler variable buff; and Games a still paler buff. It would appear that darker-coloured eggs characterise tho breeds which have lately come from the East, or are still closely allied to those now living thoro. Tho coloUl' of the yolk, according to Ferguson, as well as of the shell, diftcrs slightly in the sub-breeds of the Game, and stands in some degree of correlation with the colour of tho 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 HambUl'gh hens have lost the incubating instinct. Ohiclcens.-As tho young of almost all gallinaceous birds, even of tho black curassow and black grouse, whilst covered with down, are longitudinally striped on tho back,-of which character, when adult, neither sex l'otains a trace,-it might have been expected that the chickens of all OUl' domestic fowls would have been similarly striped.39 This could, however, hardly have been expected, when the adult plumagA in both sexes has undergone so great a change as to be wholly white or black. In white fowls of various breeds the chickens arc 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 Ham burghs, which can hardly be distinguished from each other (Brent) in the clown, both having a few 39 My information, which is very far from perfect, on chickens in the down, is derived chiefly from Mr. DLxon's • Ornamental and Domestic Poultry.' Mr. B. P. Brent has also communicated to me many facts by letter, as has Mr. Tegctmeier. I will in each cose mark my authority by the name within brackets. For tho chickens of white Silk-fowls, see Tegetmeier's ' Poultry Book,' 1866, p. 221. |