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Show !<'OWLS. (;HAl'. v ll. U may naturo.lly ho asked whether these remarkable modi:ficati_ons in thu form of t.ho bmin ntr •cl, tho inl<•ll • ·t of Poli sh fowls; some wnters h~vc Hhtll.'cllhat th('Y ru·• exlr moly stupid, but Bochstoin and 1\fr. Tcgotmewr h:w Hhown Uw.t tl1iH iH by no mean.· gcncmlly tho case. Nevcrthele~s H •e hHtcin r.n sl:ttcs that ho hn,d n, I oli ·h hen which "was crazy, and ~n:xlonHly wundorecl :tbout n,ll d:ty long." A hen in my P?sses:ion wa sohtary in h(•r h:tbits and wa. often so ab orbed in rovono that ~he could be IIHH'hetl; sh was n,lso ddkiont in tho roo t singular maml_cr m the fac~lty of !indin•r hC'r w:ty so I hat, if she Rtrayod a h1mili·od yanb from her feoding-place, Rh t"' was cmnpl I ly loRt, an d wou ld tl1 on o b t' tely try to })rocecd illft. . . in :t wrong d_ire•lion. I have received other and s1m1lar accounts of Polish fnwl npt •n,ring Rtnpid or half-idiotic.i0 . . To r tmn to tho )cull. Tho po terior part, vwwcd _externally, differs little from th:tt of a. baukiua. ln root fowls tho postenor-lateral process of th frontal bon and tho proce of the quamosal bone run together and arc os:o.ifi.cd near th ir xtremitic : tlri union of the two bone. , howt'\" er, is not constant in any breed; and in_ clcv~n. out of fourteen skull!f of crested br cdR, the c pro cs were qmte di. t~nct. T~cse proce · s, wh1•n not nuit •d, instcnd of being inclined antenorly a .. m ~11 common breeds, desc •nd at right angle to the lower jaw; and ill thi~ case the loW'l'r n..'l:is oft ho bony cavity of the car is lili:ewi c more perpendicular thau in other lJr eds. When tho quu.mo&'tl procc is free, in tcud of expanding at the lip, it i rcdnc d to an extremely fine and pointed . t~·le, of variable kup;th. The pterygoid and quadrate bone present no_ differen~e. The palatine bone.<; tU', a little more cmYcd upward at the~· po te~·wr ends. Tho frontal bon , , :mtcriorly to the protuberance, are, a ill Dorking , very br ad, hut in :t yari:thlo dcgrc . The nasal bon e~th r . t~ncl far arart, as in 1:I:nuhur~h1', or :limo. t touch each other, and ill o~e m. tance were ::;siticd togctht•r. Each na:-;al bone 11roperly cn<L out 111 front two long proccssc, of equal lC'ngth ', forming a ~ork; but in ~11 the ~oli h kulJ,, l'Xccpt one, tho inner procc::;.' was con 1d ra!Jly, but m a var1allle derrree, :-;]10rtencd and somewhat uptmnod. In all the 1--ulL, ex.CC'pt one, the two asccndino- bnmches of the pr maxillary, in. tead of runnino- up IJetwc>en tho pro cs:;;c' of the nasa.l l: n and r tin "' on the tbmoid 1 ne, are much shortened and t rminatc in a blunt, ~om what upturned point. In 1 hose , kulls in which the n:t.."-3.1 hon approach quit.e clo, ' to each other or arc os-i!1ed h ~other it would be impo ::-ilJle for tb as~nding braneb of the prcma.'l:ill;ry to reach the thmoid and frontal l nc · hence we sec that even tht' rl'laJivc conm:ction of tJ1e bon . ha. l n chan~Gd. A ppm·cntly in consequcnc<.' of the branche of the premaxillary and of the inner proce,:::;es of the na,·"tl bone, being , m what upturned, tbe external oritke. of the no:.tril::< an' upmi~cd and a ,lillle a ere ecntic outline. I nm::·J till &ly :t few words on .orne of th forcirrn re ted breeds. Tbc ::;lmll of :t rrc:.h.d, rnmpk&, white Turki-h fowl i:.> \ cry ticrhtly protuberant, and but little perforated; tJJC <' ending branchc, of the premaxillary ~9 ' }laturgrschichh• n~.-u t ·ll:ul!ls,' lland iii . ( 17~l:~ s. 400. 7•' Tlw • .l!'icld; l\by llth, 1 '61. I b::r\e rec<:-i od rc,mmuni«.;ation a ,imils.r < ff<ct from _1cs::.rs. Brent and Tr.:,d.mcicr. C ll Al'. Vll. OSTEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES. 265 arc well developed. In another Turkish breed, called Ghoondooks, the skull is cons~dorably protuberant and perforated; tho ascending branches of tho prema~ llary arc so much aborted that they project only ~3th of an inch; and the mncr processes of the nasal bono are so completely aborted, that tho smfaco where they should have projected is quito smooth. Hero then wo see these two bonos modified to an extreme degree. Of Sultans (another Turkish breed) I examined two skulls ; in that of the female tho protuber·· ance was m~1ch larger tb~n in the malo. In both skulls the ascending branches of tho premaXJ llary WC'ro very short, and in both tho basal portion of the inner processes of the nasal bones were ossified. together. These Sultan skulls differed from those of English Polish fowls in tho frontal bones, anteriorly to tho protuberance, not being broad. Tho l~st s~11l which I need describe is a unique one, lent to me by Mr. Tcgotmcwr: Jt resembles a Polish skull in most of its characters, hut hns not tho great frontal protuberance; it has, however, two ro1mdcd knobs of a different nature, which stand more in front, above the laclll'ymal bones. Fig. 36.-Skull of Horned Fowl, of natural size, viewed from above, a little oblif[uely. (In the possession of Mr. Tcgetmelcr.) ~hose ~urious knobs, into which the. brain does not enter, aro sepamted from _each other by a deep mcdml fmrow; and this is perforated by ~ ~ow mmute pores. Tho nasal bonos stand mthor wide apart, with then· lllllor processes, and the a ccndi11g branches of tho premaxillary uptmno~ and ~hor~enod. The two knobs no doubt supported the two ~rcat horn-like pro.Jcctwns of the comb. From tho foregoing facts we sec in how a ··tonisl:Ung a manner some of tho bones of t~o skull vary in Crested fowls. Tho protuberance may certainly be .c~llod. 111 one sense a :n:onst.r?sity, as being wholly 1mliko anything obsCivo~ I~ nat~_ro: ~uta~ 111 o~·dinary cases it is not injurious to tho bird, :d ~s. 1t. IS stnctly _mhonted, 1t can hardly in another sen ·o be called. a _onstws1ty. . A sorws may be formed commencing with tho black-boned Silk fowl, whic~ has a ~?ry small ?rc t with tho skull beneath penetrated ~nly by~ few m111utc onficcs, but w1th no other change in its structure · and ro~ this first stage we may proceed to fowls with a moderately lftro-c ~rest which rests, according to Bcchstein, on a fleshy mass, but without ~ny pro~ |