4 HAROLD C. BINGHAM 



first reference to the domestic fowl is probably made in the great 

 Chinese Encyclopedia which was prepared about the fourteenth 

 or fifteenth century before Christ. This book suggests that 

 the chick was brought from the West and from India into China. 

 This would indicate that it is an old domestic animal with the 

 Chinese and Japanese. It is possible, of course, that this 

 account is based upon nothing more reliable than tradition. 



The Egyptians are also said to have had domestic chickens 

 at an early date. It is thought that they were received from the 

 Orient. It is probable that the fowls were transported from 

 Egypt or Persia to southern Europe, Greece, and Rome. The 

 chick is not mentioned by the Old Testament, Homer, and 

 Hesiod, but it was to be found in Babylonia as early as the 

 seventh and sixth centuries before Christ. It was surely known 

 to the Greeks as early as the fifth century before Christ, for 

 Socrates, after taking the poison which caused his death, re- 

 minds Crito that he owes a cock to Asclepius and asks him to 

 pay the debt. Darwin is of the opinion that the domestic fowl 

 appeared in Europe about 600 B.C. 



The early history of the chick is thus quite uncertain, despite 

 the fact that a number of students have given it their attention. 

 Numerous theories have been advanced, evidence more or less 

 convincing has been submitted in favor of them, yet the avail- 

 able facts are not conclusive. The evidence thus far furnished 

 does little more than provide a basis for theories, and in con- 

 sequence the statements which occur in the literature must be 

 accepted with caution. For the most part it seems probable 

 that Galliis bankiva is the common ancestor of the numerous 

 breeds of domestic chicks which we now possess. It is quite 

 reasonable to conclude that man caught the wild fowl, domes- 

 ticated and developed it for cock fighting, fortune telling, or 

 domestic use according to his peculiar interests. Chickens 

 used for fighting tended to remain fighters ; those accustomed to 

 domestic life tended to retain their utilitarian characteristics; 

 and from some of the deviations which have occasionally oc- 

 curred the numerous breeds w^hich we possess today have been 

 developed. 



Thus the wild fowl, after its domestication, has been per- 

 manently adopted by man. In a general way, its distribution 

 over the earth seems to have followed the migrations of the 



