DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 333 



of India, Pavo cristatus. The turkeys trace their ancestry to 

 the wild Mdeagris gallopavo of North America. The swans are 

 really only tamed wild kinds. Common species are the white 

 swan of Europe, Cygnus olor, the black swan of New Holland, 

 Cygnus atratus, and the black-necked swan of South America, 

 Cygnus nigricollis. The pheasants also are so far practically 

 only partially tamed wild species, whose eggs are usually 

 hatched under turkeys. Most of the kinds kept are from 

 the Orient. 



Canary birds are descended from the wild species, Fringilla 

 canariensis, of the Canary Islands. But there has been some 

 crossing of them with other species of wild birds, especially 

 certain sparrow and finch kinds. There are now numerous 

 domesticated races which vary structurally and in color-pattern 

 as well as in voice. Many of the characters resemble the ruffs, 

 crests, and other plumage eccentricities of pigeons. The prin- 

 cipal place of canary bird breeding at present is in the Harz 

 Mountains of Germany. 



Tamed cormorants are used by the Chinese and Japanese as 

 fishing birds, somewhat as falcons were used in days of old as 

 hunting birds. Indeed, in these same days cormorants were 

 used for sport. Charles I of England had a "master of the 

 cormorants." Nowadays, however, cormorant fishing is 

 a practical means of gaining food. A ring is placed about 

 the neck of each bird so as to prevent it from swallowing the 

 fish it catches. Several different species of cormorants are 

 thus used. 



The ostrich is the most recent addition to the ranks of domes- 

 ticated birds. The tamed species is derived directly from the 

 widely distributed African ostrich, Struthio camelus, 



Besides mammals and birds two or three species of fish, such 

 as the carp and goldfish, may be called domesticated. This 

 is certainly true of the goldfish, which is a product of Chinese 

 animal breeding. Some most bizarre forms have been produced 

 in the thousand or more years in which this fish has been a 

 subject of selection and hybridization. 



There are also, finally, at least two species of insects that have 

 a right to be called domesticated animals, namely, the honey- 



