254 FOWLS. Chap. VII. 



old, one of them assumed yellowish-white hackles, and thus 

 resembled in a considerable degree the cross from the Ham- 

 burgh hen; the other became a gorgeous bird, so much so 

 that an acquaintance had it preserved and stuffed simply from 

 its beauty. When stalking about it closely resembled the 

 wild Gallus bankiva, but with the red feathers rather darker. 

 On close comparison one considerable difference presented 

 itself, namely, that the primary and secondary wing-feathers 

 were edged with greenish-black, instead of being edged, as in 

 G. bankiva, with fulvous and red tints. The space, also, 

 across the back, which bears dark-green feathers, was broader, 

 and the comb was blackish. In all other respects, even in 

 trifling details of plumage, there was the closest accordance. 

 Altogether it was a marvellous sight to compare this bird 

 first with G. bankiva, and then with its father, the glossy 

 green-black Spanish cock, and with its diminutive mother, 

 the white Silk hen. This case of reversion is the more ex- 

 traordinary as the Spanish breed has long been known to 

 breed true, and no instance is on record of its throwing a 

 single red feather. The Silk hen likewise breeds true, and 

 is believed to be ancient, for Aldrovandi, before 1600, alludes 

 probably to this breed, and described it as covered with wool. 

 It is so peculiar in many characters that some writers have 

 considered it as specifically distinct ; yet, as we now see, 

 when crossed with the Spanish fowl, it yields offspring 

 closely resembling the wild G. bankiva. 



Mr. Tegetmeier has been so kind as to repeat, at my 

 request, the cross between a Spanish cock and Silk hen, and 

 he obtained similar results ; for he thus raised, besides a 

 black hen, seven cocks, all of which were dark bodied with 

 more or less orange-red hackles. In the ensuing year he 

 paired the black hen with one of her brothers, and raised 

 three young cocks, all coloured like their father, and a black 

 hen mottled with white. 



The hens from the six above-described crosses showed 

 hardly any tendency to revert to the mottled- brown plumage 

 of the female G. bankiva : one hen, however, from the white 

 Cochin, which was at first coal-black, became slightly brown 

 or sooty. Several hens, which were for a long time snow- 



