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Show '256 FOWLS. CHAP. YII. breeds, which, from the hen having a small crest, are called lark-or steel, "a single upright comb sometimes almost entirely takes the place of the crest in the male." M From this latter case, and from some facts presently to be given with respect to the protuberance of the sknll in Polish fowls, the crest in this br cd ought perhaps to be viewed as a feminine character which has been transferred to the male. In the Spanish breed the male, as we know, has an immense comb, and this has been partially transferred to the female, for her comb is unusually large, though not upright. In Game-fowls the bold and savage disposition of the male bas likewise been largely transferred to the female·;55 and she sometimes even possesses the eminently masculine character of spurs. Many cases are on record of hens being furnished with spurs; and in Germany, according to Bechstein,56 the spurs in the Silk-hen are sometimes very long. He mentions also another breed similarly characterized, in which the hens are excellent layers, but are apt to disturb and break their eggs owing to. their spurs. Mr. La yard 57 has given an account of a breed of fowls in Ceylon with black skin, bones, and wattle, but with ordinary feathers, and which cannot "be more aptly desc1·ibed than by comparing them to a white fowl drawn down a sooty chimney; it is, however," adds :Mr. La yard, "a remarkable fact that a male bird of the pure sooty variety is almost as rare as a tortoise-shell tom-cat." Mr. Blyth :finds that the same rule holds good with this breed near Calcutta. The males and females, on the other hand, of the black-boned European breed, with silky feathers, do not differ from each other ; so that in the one breed black skin and bones, and the same kind of plumage, are common to both sexes, whilst in the other breed these characters are confined to the female sex. At the present day all the breeds of Polish fowls have the great bony protuberance on their skulls, which includes part of the brain and supports the crest, equally developed in both sexes. 54 Dixon, • Ornamental and Domestic Poultry,' p. 320. ;;s Mr. Tegetmcier informs me that Game hens have been found so combative, that it is now generally the practice to exhibit each ben in a sepa-rate pen. 66 • Naturgoschichte Deutschlands,' Band iii. (1793 ), s. 339, 407. 57 On the Ornithology of Ceylon in 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. History,' 2nd series, vol. xiv. (1854), p. 63. C'HAP. VJT. .EXTERNAL DIFFERENCES. 257 But formerly in Germany the skull of the hen alone was protuberant: Blumenbach,~8 who particularly attended to abnormal peculiarities in domestic animals, states, in 1813, that this was the case; and Bechstein had previously, in 1793, observed the same fact. This latter author has carefully described the effects of a crest on the skull not only in fowls, but in ducks, geese, and canaries. He states that with fowls, when the crest is not much Jeveloped, it is supported on a fatty mass; but when much developed, it is always supported on a bony protuber~ ncc of variable size. He well describes the peculiarities of thiS protuberance, and he attended to the effects of the modified shape of the brain on the intellect of these birds, and disputes Pallas' statement that they are stupid. He then expres ly states that he never observed this protuberance in male fowls. Hence there can be no doubt that this remarkable character in the skulls of Polish fowls was formerly in Germany confi.ned to the female sex, but has now been transferred to the males, and has thus become common to both sexes. External Dijferences, not connected with the sexes, between the breeds and between individual birds. Tho size of tho body differs greatly. Mr. Togetmeier has known a Brahma t_o weigh 17 pounds ; a fine Malay cock l 0 pounds; whilst a firstTate Sobnght B_antam weighs haTdly more than l pound. During the last 20 yca1:s the s1z? of some of our breeds has been largely increased by methodical selectiOn, whilst that of other broods has been much diminished. We have already soon how gToatly colour varies even within tho same brood; we know t~at the_ wild_ 0 . banlciva varies slightly in colour; we lmow th~t colour ~s vanable m all our domestic animals ; nevertheless some emmont fanmors have so little faith in variability, that they have actuall! argue~ that the chief Game sub-broods, which diffel' from each other. m nothing but colour, are descended from distinct wild species ! ~rossmg often causes strange modifications of colour. Mr. Togetmeier mforms me that when buff and whito Cochins are crossed, some of tho 58 I quote Blumenbach on the authority of Mr. Tegetmeier, who gives in 'Pro~. Zoolog. Soc.,' Nov. 25th, 1856, a very mteresting account of the skulls of Polis~ fowls. Mr. Tegotmeicr, not knowmg of Bochstoin's account, disputed tho accuracy of Blumonbach's statement. For Bcchstein, see 'Natur- VOL. I. gescbiohte Deutschlands,' Band iii. (1793), s. 399, note. I may add that at the first exhibition of poultry at the Zoological Gardens, in May, 1845, I saw some fowls, called Friezln.nd fowls, of which the hens were crested, and the cocks were furnished with a comb. s |