Ornithological and Other Oddities 



at length replaced in their turn by hackles 

 again. So rare is this change in the tame 

 fowl that I have only seen it once, and then 

 in a highly-modified breed, the Langshan ; one 

 would certainly have expected to find it in the 

 little-changed common fowls of India, inhabiting 

 the same country as their progenitor. It is true 

 I saw this Langshan in India, but he had been 

 imported from China. 



Although, however, Chanticleer under the pro- 

 tection of man sees no need to go into undress, 

 the case is otherwise with the drake, which still 

 continues to undergo his double moult, losing 

 all his glory of green-plush head and curled 

 tail feathers when he sheds his quills, and then 

 bearing till the autumn the sober dress of his 

 partner, or at least a close approximation to it. 

 This change, as is well known, befalls most 

 males of the anatine family when they wear a 

 much more conspicuous dress than their con- 

 sorts ; it obviously makes for protection, and it 

 is rather significant that the most striking ex- 

 ceptions to it occur in South America and 

 Australia, the rosy-billed duck (Metofiiana pepo- 

 saca) and upland goose of the former continent 

 being examples among familiar fancy water-fowl. 

 But these zoological regions are believed to be 



the scene of a less rigorous struggle for existence 



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