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Show 232 FOWLS. CIIAI'. Yll. that have :five toes and white cars." 9 In the fifteenth centu~y l d :1 d in Europe · and m several breeds were known anc e. CJ 1 :lO ' China at nearly th same period, seven kinds were nam_c:l. . A ' . . . t · e of the Phl11ppme more stnkmo- case 1s that at prcsen , m on . . . I lauds thor- semi-barbarous inhabitants have distmct nattve names 'for no less than nino sub-breeds of the Game Fowl. 10 Ar.m·a 11 who wrote towards the close of the last century, states that m. ' tho m. ten.o r parts of S ou th A m 0 -1·c" where I should not l "'' · have expected that the least care would have b_eon taken of poultry, a black- ]~inned and black-boned breed Is. kept, from bem• g cons1• dereoJ fc rtl·1 e an d 't flesl1 good for siCk persons. 1 s Now every one wh o 11 as ),.e p t pou lt1 · y ]r~ nows how impossible it is to keep several breeds distinct unless the utmost care 1e taken in separating tho sexes. Will it then ?e. ~r~tended th~t those per. ons wJ 1o in ancient times and in semi-CLVIhz~d countnes took pains to keep tho broods distinct, and wh~ the~·efor~ valued them, would not occasionally have destroyed mfonor bmls and occasionally have pre ervdd their best birds? 'l'l~is is ~ll th~t is required. It is not pretended that an~ one m anctent ttmes intended to form a new breed, or to modify an old breed according to some ideal standa.rd of exc~llence. ~e who cared for poultry would merely wish to obtam, _and af~ ·~rwards to re_ar, the best birds which he could; but this occa'IOnal preservation of the best birds wonld in the course of time modify the breed, as surely, though by no means ai:l rapidly, as does methodical selection at the present day. If one person out of a hundred 01" out of a thousand attended to the breeding of his uirds, this would be sufficient; for the . birds thus tended would soon become superior to others, and would form a new strain ; and thi.· strain would, as explained in the last chapter, slowly have it. characteristic differences augmented, and at last be converted into a new sub-breed or breed. But breeds would often be for a time ueglected and would deteriorate; they would, however, partially retain tlwir character, and afterwards might again come into fashion and be rai ·eel to a standard of perfection n Rc•v. R. A. Dixon, i.n his 'Ornnmmt. al Poullry,' p. 203, givu; an accotmt of Columella·~:~ work 10 1\'Tr. Crnwfmd 'On the Relation of thr Uonwst irnte<l Animals to Ci.vili· 7.[\,tion,' ;;c•pnrntdy printed, p. G; first l'C:.tcl b<>forl) tho Brit. Assoc. f\,t Oxford, I SuO. 11 'Qnndrupecl<'s dn Paragmty,' tom. ii . p. ~21. CrrAP. VIr. TTIEIR PARENTAGE. 233 higher than their former standard; as has actually occurred quite recently with Polish fowls. If, however, a breed were utterly neglected, it would become extinct, as has recently happened with one of the Polish sub-breeds. ·whenever in the course of past centuries a bird appeared with some slight abnormal structure, such as with a lark-like crest on its head, it would probably often have been preserved from that love of novelty which leads some persons in England to keep rumpless fowls, and others in India to keep frizzled fowls. And after a time any such abnormal appearance would be carefully preserved, from being esteemed a sign of the purity and excel- 1cnce of the breed; for on this principle the Romans eighteen centuries ago valued the fifth toe and the white ear-lobe in their fowls. Thus from the occasional appearance of abnormal characters, though at first only slight in degr e; from th(~ effects of the use and the disuse of parts; possibly from the direct effects of changed climate and food ; from correlation of growth ; from occasional reversions to old and long-lost characters; from the crossing of breeds, when more than one had once been formed; but, above all, from unconscious selection carried on during many generations, there is no insuperable difficulty, to the best of my judgment, in believing that all the breeds have descended from some one parent-source. Can any single species be named from which we may reasonably suppose that all have descended? The Gallus banlciva apparently fulfils every requirement. I have already given as fair an account as I could of the arguments in favour of the multiple origin of the several breeds; and now I will give those in favour of their common descent fi·om G. bankiva. But it will be convenient fhst briefly to describe all the known species of Gallus. Tho U. 8onnentlii docs not range into the northern parts of India; according to Colonel Sykos,l2 it presents at different heights on the Ghauts, two strongly marked varieties, p01·haps deserving to be called species. It was at one time thought to be tho primitive stock of all our domestic broods, and tbis shows that it closely approaches the common fowl in general _ structme; but its hackles partially consist of highly pecubar, h~rny lammro, transversely banded with three coloms; and I have met w1th no authentic account of any such character having been observed 1 ~ 'Proc. Zuolog. Soc.' 1832, p. 151. |