OCR Text |
Show 260 FOWLS. CIIAP. VII. writers speak of the Spanish as one of the most ~i~tinc~ breeds, and so it i in general aspect; but its cbaraetenstiC. d~fferences are not important. The Malay appears to me more chstmct, from its tall stature, small drooping tail with more than fourteen tail-feathers and from its small comb and wattles; nevertheless one Malay s~b-breod is coloured almost exactly like. G: bankiva. Some authors consider tho Polish fowl as very d1 tmct; but this is a semi-monstrous brood, as shown by the protuberant and irregularly perforated skull. The Cochin, with its deeply furrowed frontal bonos, peculiarly shaped occipital foramen, short wing-feath rs, short tail containing more than fourteen feathers, broad nail to ti1e middle too, fluffy plnmage, rough and darkcoloured eggs, and especially from its peculiar voice, is probably the mo ·t distin t of all the breeds. If any one of our breeds has d scended from some unknown species, distinct from G. bankiva, it is probably the Cocbin; but the balance of evidence does not favom this view. All the characteristic differences of the Cochin breed arc more or less variable, and may be detected in a great r or ] sser degree in other breeds. One sub-breed is coloured closely like G. bankiva. Tho feathered legs, often furni heel with an additional too, the wing incapable of flight, the extremely quiet disposition, indicate a l~ng course of domestication ; and these fowls come from Cbma, where we know that plants and animals have been tended from a remote period with extraordinary care, and where consequently we might~ expect to find profoundly modified domestic races. Osteolo,rJical D~fferences.-1 have exan_tined twenty-seven skele-tons and fifty-three skulls of various breeds, including three of G. bankiva: nearly half of these sknlls I owe to the J\jmlness of Mr. Tegetmoier, and three of the skeletons to Mr. Eyton. The Slrnll differs greatly in size in di:ll'crcnt breeds, being nearly twice as long in the largest Cochins, but not nearly twice as broad, as in Bantams. 'rho bones at the base, from the occipital foramen to tl1c anterior end (including the quadJ:atcs and pterygoids), arc absolutely identical in shape in aU tho skulls. So is the lower jaw. In tho forehead slight differences are often perceptible between tho males and females, evidently caused by the presence of the comb. In every case I take tho skull of G. banlciva as the standard of comparison. In four Games, in one Malay hen, in llJ1 CIIAP. VJL OSTEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES. 261 African cock, in a Frizzled cock from Madras, in two black-boned Silk hens no differences occur worth notice. In three Sprtnish cocks, the form of th~ forehead bctw~cn ~he orbits differs considerably; in one it is considerably depr?s. ~d, whilst ill the two others. it is rather prominent, with a deep medial fun·ow; the sl~ll of the hen IS smooth. In three skulls of Sebright Bantnms the crown IS more globular, and slopes more abruptly to the occiput, than in U. bctnlciva. In a Bantam or Jumper from Burmah these same ch~ractcrs arc more strongly pronounced, and tho supra-occiput is mo~·c yomtcd. In. a black Bantam the skull is not so globular, and the occJ~ttal foramen JS very large, and l1as nearly the same sub-triangular outlme prcr>cntly to be described in Cocruns; and in this skull the two ascending branches of tho premaxillary arc overlapped in a singular mun:1cr by the processes ~f tho nasal bono, but, as I have seen only one specimen, r>omo of these differences may be individual. Of Cochins and Brahmas (~he latter a crossed race approaching closely to Cochins) I have oxamillcd. seven skulls; at the point where the ascending branches of the premaxillary rest on the frontal bono the surface is much dopressed, and from this depression a deep medial furrow extends backwa~ ·ds to a variable distance ;. tho edges of this fissure arc rather prominent, as IS the top of the skull behind and over the orbits. These characters arc ~ess dovcl?pcd in tho hens. The ptcrygoids, and the processes of tho lower Ja:V, ~·ol~tivc~y to the size of the head, arc broader than in G. banlciva; and this IS likewise. tho case with Dorkings when of large size. Tho tcrrninu.l fork of the hyOid bone in Cochins is twice as wide as in G. banlciva, whereas tho length of the other hyoid bonos is only as (1~ three to two. But the (c-~ most remarkable cha- G ractor is the shape of ("'\ the occipital foramen : lc::?J 1 in 0. banlciva (A) the " j breadth in a horizontal ___ . .- J 0----~/·-- ~no exceeds the height D A m a vertical line, and Fig. 33.-0ccipttal Foramen, of natuml size. A. Wild Galf;us the outline is nearly /Jan/cwa. D. Cochin Cock. circ~1lar;. whereas in Coc~ns (B) ~he outline is sub-triangular, and the vertiCal.linc exceeds the honzontal line in length. This same form likewise occurs ~ the black ~antam above referred to, and an approach to it rna be seen ill ~orne Dorlnngs, and in a slight degree in certain other breeds y 0~ Dorl•.tr<gs I have examined tlu~e skulls, one belonging to the white :b breed.' tho one character dcscrvmg notice is the breadth of tho frontal nos, whiCh arc moderately furrowed in the middle; thus in a skull which ;~~v~:: t~'tn °~~ and a half the length of that of 0. bardtiva, the breadth four skull o o\ Is was exactly double. Of Jlambw·ghs I have examined of the spa:gi:ts:b~~~c:~~~~) of the pencilled sub-breed, and one (male) but in a variabl d ' o nasal bones stand remarkably wide apart o egrce; consequently narrow b d ' are left between the tips of the two d. b mom ranc-covcrc spaces asccn rng ranches of tho premaxillary |