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Show 276 DOMESTIC DUCKS. CIIAI'. Vlll. CHAPTER VIII. \: TURKEY_ GUINEA-FOWL-DUCKS- GOOSE- PEACOOI - SILK-MOTHS. CANARY-BIRD-GOLD-FISH-HIVE-BEES-• SS 0 1~ ])01\H:STTCATION- OnTGIN OF, FROM THE DUCKS, SEVEltAL BREEDS Ob' - rnoonE . , , ERENT BREEDS- OSTEOLOGfOA 1. K- DIFFETIENOES IN 1m: DIFF, COMMON WlLl)-DUC' ' r , ,, ND DfSUSr; ON 1'DE LIMB-BONE,· DIFFEI1ENCES- mFEO'l~ 0~ ;,sl, A_ "'TLE VAlUAi'JON Ol!'- SEBASTOPOL DTIEED. GOOSE, ANCIEN1'LY DO~fESTICAIED LII ' ·pEACOCK, OHIOIN 01!' BLAC'K-SIIOULDERED BI1EhD;ED S'rATI<S SPECrES- EFl!'ECTS OF TURKF.Y, nnmms OF - cno~ ED WTTTI THE UNI , . ,. , CLIMATE ON- IRD GOLD-FISII, JIIVB-BEES. GUINJ~A-FOWL, CANARY-B ' 'F- ANCIENTLY DOME81'TC'A1'Jm- cAnE IN RU.,K-MOTHS, Sl'JWlES AND BREEDS 0 TFl'El'l'NT RACES-TN 'rliE EGG, OA'l'ER'. I'lilllR SEJ,EC'riON - D.Il'FI>HENOEB IN i'Jill D. ,OF, ~HAUAC'rEHS- IMl'ERFECi' WlNOS PILLATI, AND COCOON R'I'A'l'ES- INflElUTANCE - J,OR'l' TNS'l'INC'J\ - commr.A'rED CHARACTERS. I WILL, as in prevJ.O us cases, fi rst b n·e f l y describe the chief domestic breeds of the duck:- . D " Va 'ies much in colour and in pro- BREED l. Uo~nrnm~ D_ome~ttct uc~.d-sp:sition from tho wild-duck. There portions, and diff~I:s ~n .:(~)~~::yl:sbury, of groat sir,o, whjto, with paleare several sub-breo _s ~bdolillnal sack largely developed. (2) The Rouen, yellow boa~ and legs.' , - . tho wild-duck, with green or mottled beak; of gro~t sJzo, coloured lil~e 1 d (3) Tufted Duck, with a large topn. bdommal sack lar~oly deve ope . ted on a fleshy mass, with the skull knot of fine downy f;,athors,_:~:i: a duck which I imported from Holland perforated beneath. rho top. di t (4) Labrador (or Canadian, or was two and a halfEincthiosd~ ) _ampl::~ge entirely black; beak broader, B uono S Ayre.s ' or 'as hn m.n t' h wil'd -duck. eggs slightly tm· t e d 'th WI relatively to 1ts length, t an m e ' b d · it includes black. This sub-breed perhaps ought to be radnkod at~ ad r~ ~hich I have two sub-van.e t - large as the common omos lC uc ' ws, one as ' bl f fli<Yht 1 1 presume kept alive, and tho other smaller and often capa_ eo ·n Fra~ce 2 as flying ·t l·s this latter sub-variety which has b.oon doscnbed 1 f tl: ild- 1 11 beino- r&.ther wild, and when coo k od h avm· g the. flavour do 1et ' w ted we ' b - t . lygamous like other omes wa duck. nevertheless this sub-vane Y lS po ' ad d k b ed true. duck~ and unlike tho wild duck. These black Labr or uc s re ' 1 , Poultry Cluonicle ' (1854 ~ , vol. ii. p. 91, and vol. i. p. 330. 2 Dr. 'furral, in 'Bull. Soc. d'Acclimat.,' tom. vii, 18GO, P· 541. CHAP. Vlll. EXTERNAL DIFFERENCES. 277 bnt a case is given by Dr. '.rul'l'al of tho French sub-variety producing young with some white feathers on tho head and neck, and with an ochrecoloured patch on tho breast. BuEED 2. I!oolc-billed Due/c.-This bird presents an extraordinary appearance from tho downward curvature of tho beak. The head is often tufted. Tho common colour is white, but some arc coloured like wildducks. It is an ancient brood, having boon noticed in 1676.3 It shows its prolongeu domestication by almost incessantly laying eggs, like tho fowls wlrich arc called everlasting layors.4 BREED 3. Oalt-Dnclr.-Remarkablo from its small size, and from the extraordinary loquacity of the female. Beak short. These birds are either white, or coloured like tho wild-duck BI!.EED 1. P eu,quin Duclc.-This is tho most remarkable of all tho breeds, and scorns to have originated in the Malayan archipelago. It walks with its bouy extremely erect, and with its thin neck stretched straight upwards. Beak rather short. Tail upturned, including only 18 feathers. Femur and mota-tarsi elongated. Almost all naturalists admit that the several breeds are descended from the common wild duck ( Anas bosclws); most fanciers, on the other hand, take as usual a very different view.5 Unless we deny that domestication, prolonged during centuries, can affect even such unimportant characters as colour, size, and in a slight degree proportional dimensions and mental disposition, there is no reason whatever to doubt that the domestic duck is descended from the common wild species, for the one differs from the other in no important character. We have some historical evidence with respect to the period and progress of the domestication of the duck. It was unknown6 to the ancient Egyptians, to the Jews of the Old Testament, and to the Greeks of the Homeric period. About eighteen centuries ago Columella 7 and V arro speak of the necessity of keeping ducks in netted enclosures like other wild fowl, so that at this period there was danger of their flying away. 3 Willughby's 'Ornithology,' by Mr. B. P. Brent, in' Poultry Chronicle,' Ray, p. 381. 'I'his breed is also figured vol. iii., 1855, p. 512 . by Albin, in 1734, in his • Nat. Ilist. of 6 Uro.wfm·d on the 'Relation of Do- Birds,' vol. ii. p. SG. ruesticatcd Animals to Civilisation,' reatl 4 F. Cuvier, in' A nnales du Museum,' bufore tho Brit. Assoc. at Oxford, 18GO. tom. ix. p. 128, says that moulting and. 7 Dureau de la Maile, iu 'Annates des incubation alone stop these ducks lay- Sciences Nat.,' to~. xvii. p. 1G4; and ing, Mr. B. P. Brent makes a similar tom. xxi. p. 55. Rev. :E. S. Dixon, l'cmark in the 'Poultry Chronicle,' 1855, 'Ornamental Poultry,' p. liS. Tame vol. iii. p. 512. ducks were not known in Aristotle's 6 Rev. E. S. Dixon, 'Ornamental time, fli:l remarked by Volz, in his' Bol-and Domestic Poultry' (1848), p. 117. tr:ige zur Kultm·geschichte, ' 1852, s. 78. |