The Glory Hole 179 



as in the case of the fowl. The Muscovy duck is far dis- 

 tantly related to all the rest of its kin. This bird is found in 

 a wild state tlirough the tropical lowlands of Central and 

 South America. By this I mean, of course, the forested areas. 

 It was domesticated in Mexico, and possibly by other In- 

 dian tribes than the Aztecs. When it was brought to Eu- 

 rope, the tradition of its origin was apparently lost, but 

 just why it should have been considered to be of Muscovite 

 origin I can't remember, although I have been told. Except 

 for albino and pied individuals, most of the Muscovy ducks 

 are essentially the same as their wild ancestors. This is also 

 true of the guinea hens which came to America on the 

 slave ships from West Africa. As everybody knows, these 

 can hardly be called domesticated. They have a tendency 

 to run wild, and indeed in many localities in Haiti and 

 Cuba they afford good sport with a shotgun, being strong, 

 fast flyers. 



Look at the pigeons on Boston Common and you will 

 be struck by the fact that the vast majority of them are 

 essentially hke the blue rock dove, which is their wild 

 ancestor. Man has produced an extraordinary number of 

 bizarre and curious types of pigeon, but let them become 

 feral, as they have in Boston or Venice, and they revert 

 to the ancestral type, at least in a vast majority of cases. 

 And the accidental additions which come from escaped 

 fancy pigeons are soon bred out and absorbed into the 

 essentially blue rock mass of the population. But I don't 

 want to crowd our museum at Salem to where it appears 

 to overstress the exhibition of domesticated animals. This 

 aspect has been treated elsewhere. There is a wonderful 

 collection of all sorts of domesticated types at the British 



