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Show 252 FOWLS. CHAr. vn. with some sub-varieties of the pile-game, a moderately. close relation may be observed between the males and ~emales 1 ~ the variation of theh· plumage.45 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, cr:st, and beard. In spangled IIamburghs, there is likewise a c~ns1derablo degree of similarity between the two sexes: .In. pe~Cilled Hamburah on the other hand there is much dissimilanty ; the pen-cillibn a ' which is characteris' tic of the hens being almost ab s ent m. the m:les 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 ;cncillcd feathers, for Cuckoo Dorkings are "remarkable from having n arly similar markings in both sexes." It is a sinaular 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,46 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 as uming 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 Ham burghs 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.47 The cocks, 4 ~ See the full description of the vnri tics of tbo Gnmc-brced, in 'fcgotmuicr's • Poultry Dook,' 1g66, p. 131. For Cuckoo DorkillgH, p. 97. 46 1\ir. Hewitt in Tcgctmoicr's 'Poul-try Book,' 1866, pp. 246 and 156. For hen-tailed game-cocks, see p. 131. <7 • 'fhe Field,' A pril20tb, 1861. The writer says he has seen half-a-dozen cocks thus sacrificed. CHAP. VII. SEXUAL DIFFERENCES. 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 48 has recorded the remarkable case of a brownbreasted 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 hencock, 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 1·ed, and in the following year he returned to the former feather." 49 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/'0 and its form is eminently characteristic of each kind, with the exception of the Dork~ngs, 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."M In some breeds the comb is double, and when the two ends are cemented 4 8 • Proceedings ofZoolog. Soc.' March, 1861, p. 102. The engraving of tho 11en-tailed cock just alluded to was exhibited at the Society. 49 'The Field,' April 20th, 1861. 50 I am much indebted to Mr. Brent for an account, with sketches, of all the variations of the comb known to him, and likewise with respect to the tail, as presently to be given. 61 The • Poultry Book,' by Tegetmeicr, 1866, p. 234. |