OCR Text |
Show 250 FOWLS. CHAP. VII. .t,_ · ally a IongitudiMl dark spots on the head and rump, w1 11 occaswn 1 I bavo seen only one stripe (Dixon) on tho back of tho nee c 1 t · d h d th" was obscure y s npe chicken of the silver-Rpangled Hamburg , an lS . ) f along the bn.clc Gold-spangled Polish chick ns ~Tegctmewr . arc 0 a . 1 d p 1- h cluckens are grey, some-warm ru ·Ret brown· and s1lver-spang e 0 lS . d 1 . times (Dixon) with' d1Lshes of ochre on tho hen,d wmO's, an neast. < ' 0 _ · · ) . · · the down. Tho cluckens Cuckoo and hlue-duu fowls (D1xon arc grey m hil ·t tb f of Sebright Bantams (Dixon) arc uniformly dn,rk b.rown, w ls 't osctho . black w1th some w 11 o on o tho brown-breasted red Game .Bantam arc < ' bi 1 f tl tJu·oat and breaRt. ]?rom these facts we sec that t~o c c wru: 0 :e different breeds n.nd oven of tho same mn.in breed, dJffor m~ch m th01r downy plmnn.gd; and, although longitudinal st~ipes ch~ractense t~le y.om1g f 11 'll u· , b' ·d they disappear m several domestiC breeds. o a Wl ~ ga maceous li s, . 1 'Ul th t the more the adult Perhaps 1t mn.y be accepted as a genera r o a plumage di-ffers from that of tho ad u lt G. ba nt'e •. va ' the more completely the chickens have lost their proper stripes. With respect to the period of life at which. the characters proper to each breed first appear, it i~ obvious that ~uch stru ·tures as additional toes must be formed long before buth. In Poli h fowls, the extraordinary protuberance of ~he anterior part of the skull is well developed before the chickens come out of the errrr . 40 but the crest, which is supported on the protuberance isb~~ first feebly developed, nor does it attain its full size until' the second year. The Spanish cock is pre-eminent for his magnificent comb, and this is develope~ a~ an. unusually early age; so that the young males can be distmgmshed fr~m the females when only a few weeks old, and therefore earher than in other breeds; they likewise crow very early, namely, when about six weeks old. In the Dutch sub-breed of the Spanish fowl the white ear-lappets are d~veloped earlier t~an in the common Spanish breed.41 Cochms are charactensed by a small tail, and in the young cocks the tail is de:eloped at an unusually late period.42 Game fowls are notor~ous. for their pugnacity; and the young cocks crow, clap their ht~le wings, and obstinately fight with each other, even whilst under their mother's care.43 "I have often had," says one 40 As I hour from Mr. 'l.'egetmeicr; see also 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.' 1856, p. 366. On tho late development of the crest, see' Poultry Chronicle,' vol. ii. p. 132. 41 On these points, see 'Poultry Chl'Onicle,' vol. iii. p. 166 ; and 'fcget-meier's' Poultry Book,' 1869, pp. 105 and 121. 42 Dixon, 'Ornamental and Domestic Poultry,' p. 273. 43 Ferguson on Rare and Prizo Poultry, p. 261. CnAP. VII. SEXUAL.DIFF:ERENCES. 251 author/1 "whole broods, scarcely feathered, stone-blind from fighting; the rival couples moping in corners, and renewing thoie battles on obtaining the first ray of light." With the males of all gallinaceous birds the use of their weapons and pugnacity is to fight for the possession of the females ; so that the tendency in our Game chickens to fight at an extremely early age is not only useless, but is injurious, as they suffer so much from their wounds. The training for battle dming an early period may be natural to the wild Gallus banlciva; but as man during many generations has gone on selecting the most obstinately pugnacious cocks, it is more probable that their pugnacity has been unnaturally increased, and unnaturally transferred to the young male chickens. In the same manner, it is probable that the extraordinary development of the comb in the Spanish cock has been unintentionally transferred to the young cocks; for fanciers would not care whether their young birds had large combs, but would select for breeding the adults which had the finest combs, whether or not developed at an early period. The last point which need here be noticed is that, though the chickens of Spanish and Malay fowls are well covered with down, the true feathers are acquired at an unusually late age; so that for a time the young birds are partially naked, and are liable to suffer from cold. Secondary Sexual Oharacters.-The two sexes in the parentform, the Gallus banlciva, differ much in colour. In our domestic breeds the difference is never greater, but is often less, and varies much in degree even in the sub-breeds of the same main breed. Thus in certain Game fowls the difference is as great as in the parent-form, whilst in the black and white sub-breeds there is no difference in plumage. Mr. Brent informs me that he has seen two strains of black-breasted red Games, in which the cocks could not be distinguished, whilst the hens in one were partridge-brown and in the other fawn-brown. A similar case has been observed in the strains of the brown-breasted red Game. The hen of the " duck-winged Game" is "extremely beautiful," and differs much from the hens of all the other Game sub-breeds; but generally, as with the blue and grey Game and 44 Mowbray on Poultry, 7th edit. 1831, p. 13. |