April 8, 1869. 1 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



219 



The average weight of the cock of the GalluB ferrugineufl is 

 from U lbs. to 2; lbs., generally about 2 1 lbs., or a little over, but 

 the yellow-legged larger species, 1 have hearJ, has been found 

 in the cocks to attain 3 lbs. at times, this being about their 

 extreme weight. The red colour of the cocks in the .Jungle 

 fowl is not so red as in our Black-breasted lied Game, and 

 more inclines to either a brownish or a yellowish red, and the 

 hens are of a more earthy brown than our Partridge Ijeus are 

 in general. There are five shades of colour as stated before. 

 Black-breasted Reds and Ginger Reds, willow and yellow legs 

 and rod combs, brown pnd light brown hens ; Ginger?, yellow 

 and light willow legs, yellowish combs, light ginger brown 

 hens ; and Brown Reds and Ginger Brown Reds, dark greenish 

 legs, and gipsy combs, with dark or dusky earthy-brown hens, 

 and uo further description of them is necessary. The word 

 "Bankiva" applies to .Java only, not to India, and the correct 

 general name is the Gallas ferruginous, or Red Brown wild 

 Jungle fowl of the East Indies and its islands. 



Our Game fowls and Game Bantams are clearly the nearest 

 direct descendants of these Jungle fowl, together with the 

 East Indian Game fowls, as no other breeds so closely re- 

 semble them. The Gallus furoatus, from having the unserrated 

 anlobed comb and single wattle, must, I think, certainly be a 

 descendant of the Gallua teneus, crossed, perhaps, with both 

 the Gallus Sonnerati and G. ferruginous, but certainly with 

 the former, to get the dun breast, which both G. Sonnerati 

 and G. furcatus have in common, and the Gallus wneus and 

 furoatus have the peculiar comb and wattle in common 

 also. It appears to me quite probable that South Persia, 

 Affghanistan, and south Asia Minor once had wild Jungle fowl 

 of the brown-legged white-skinned sort in the once wooded dis- 

 trict there, which have, of course, gradually become extinct as 

 the country became cleared. 



Most poultry books describe the Gallus bankiva or ferrugineus 

 as of only one colour and one size. This is, I think, too general j 

 a description, as five shades of colour are found in them on 

 close observation, and there are also two sizes, though not 

 differing greatly as to size. The late Mr. Brent's theory, that 

 the Duckwing Game fowls of England were the descendants of 

 the Gallns Sonnerati, I think is quite erroneous, as our Duck- 

 wings are known to have been produced from our Black-breasted 

 Beds, which undoubtedly descend from the Gallus ferrugineus 

 or Bankiva, and the difierence of the structure of feathers in 

 the cock of the Gallus Sonnerati, and absence of comb and 

 wattles in the hen clearly demonstrate against Mr. Brent's 

 theory. Our Game fowls, however, maij have been produced 

 by the mixture of all the four or five wild species, but by far 

 the most resemble the Gallus ferrugineus, which must be ac- 

 counted their originals, as well as the direct originals of all 

 our dark-tailed Red breeds of Game fowls. In the hens of the 

 Black-breasted Red, Ginger Red, and Ginger shades of colour 

 of this bird, yellow shafts in the feathers of back and wings 

 are discernible in general, but not in the hens of the two 

 darker shades of colour. 



The idea that no country except India ever had any wild 

 breeds of poultry at any time, is, I think, erroneous, as ail the 

 wooded southern countries of Asia may have once possessed 

 their wild breeds, which, as the population increased and the 

 country became cleared and settled, either died off or were 

 brought into a state of domestication by slow degrees, and 

 then gradually increased in size and varied in colour, from the 

 original red brown type of their wild originals once there 

 found. In South America wild Jungle fowl are said to have 

 been found by travellers, but most people consider these to 

 have been the small South American Pheasant, called there 

 the " Chiaccalacca," but it has been positively stated by old 

 travellers in the districts near the Amazon and in the Brazils, 

 that they have heard the crowing of the wild Jungle cocks there. 



The hybrids between the Gallus ferrugineus and the other 

 wild sorts in India are in general believed to be sterile, and 

 this, if invariably true, would mark the Gallus ferrugineus as 

 the only original species, or only true progenitor of our Enghsh 

 breeds. Our common breeds in England, if ever wild in their 

 original type, were probably wild in the upper and wooded 

 tablo lands of southern Asia, and not in India. It is not, 

 however, quite certain that our English breeds may not be 

 derived from the mixture of two or more once wrild breeds, 

 though the sterility of the known hybrids militates against 

 this. The theory of old poultry books that the supposed wild 

 Gallus gigantcus was one of the two original sorts with Gallus 

 Bankiva, appsars to have become exploded now, as no record 

 at all exists of so large a breed as this ever having been found 



in a wild state at any time, and probabilities are against such 

 ever having been the case. — Trevoh. 



FEATHER EATING FO'WXS. 



None of your correspondents can have had their hens de- 

 nuded of feathers worse than mine were for some years. After 

 many inellactual attempts I at length discovered the cause ; 

 and though it is impossible for any fowls to be in better 

 plumage than mine always aro now, I can at any time make 

 them as bad as ever by giving them scraps of moat ; too many 

 worms have the same effect. Mine are confined in a very 

 small space, but are in good health and lay well ; I refer to 

 Houdans and Spanish only. Brahmas and other sorts have 

 no such bad habits. 



I have eleven pullets now laying which I hatched in an in- 

 cubator, and they began in December. The Houdans were 

 seven months old. — An ENTnususna Aiuiedu. 



An old hen of mine last autumn took to feather-eating. She 

 was especially fond of the soft rump feathers, and when she 

 had cleared these all off she devoted her attention to those of 

 the neck. Only three or four hens in the run were thus treated. 

 I do not know why she spared the others. In order to break 

 her of the habit I took her away from the others, and placed 

 her under a coop for a while ; when returned to the run she 

 was received as a stranger, the hens treating her to a taste of 

 their bills instead of their feathers, and thus she was cured of 

 her propensity. — M. S. 



PRODUCE OF EGGS. 



I SEND yon an account of the eggs produced by my poultry 

 during March, the stock comprising thirty hens — namely, three 

 BuS Cochins, four Houdans, thirteen Hamburghs, ten half-bred. 

 They laid in the month lOG eggs ; the hens have been fed 

 upon stewed rice mixed with bran and Indian corn. During 

 the first eight days of the month they laid only sixty eggs, or 

 seven and a half per day; but since that time 406 eggs in 

 twenty-three days, or about seventeen and three-quarter eggs 

 per day. — C. B., Warrimjlon. 



ACCRINGTON POULTRY SHOW. 



This was held on the 1st and 3rd inst. The following were the 

 awards : — 



Game (Black or Brown EedB).— 1, H. M; Julinn, Hnll. 2, C. W. Brierley, 

 Middleton. 3, W. Gilliver, Tamworth. he, L. Biney, Manchester; E. 

 Aykroyd, Bradford; W. Gilliver. 



Game (Any other variety).—', W. Gilliver. 2, B. Jarvis, Mansfield. 

 8, E. Aykroyd. he, C. W. Brierley ; G. & C. Fumoss, Accrington. 



DoRKtNOS (Any colour).— 1, J. Stott, Healey. 2, J. H. Motfat, Rochdale. 

 8, T. Bryden, Earby, near Skipton. he, H. Pickles, Earhy, near Skipton ; 

 J. Partington. 



Cochins (Boff or Cinnamon).—! and 3, W. A. Taylor, Manchester. 

 2, H. Mapplebeck, Woodfleld, Moseley, near Birmingham, he, J. O. 

 Broxap, Burnley. 



Cochins (Any other variety).— 1, W. A. Taylor. 2, T. & C. Hawortb, 

 Henfleld, Haslingden (White). 3, W. Harvey, Sheffield, he, T. Stretch. 



Spanish (Black).— 1 and 3, F. & C. Haworth. 2, H. Beldon. he. T. C. 

 and E. Newbitt, Epworth ; H. Wilkinson, Earby, near Skipton ; W. & F. 

 Pickard, Thomer, near Leeds, c, J. T. Sykes, Rochdale. 



Beahmas (.Any colour).- 1 and 2, E. Leech, Rochdale. 3, C. W. Brierley. 



Hambueghs (Golden-pencilled).— 1, J. Walker. Knaresborough. 2, H. 

 Beldon, Goitstock, Bingley. 8, H. Pickles, he, H. Beldon. 



Hamborghs ( Silver- pencilled).— 1 and 2, H. Beldon. 3, H. Pickles, 

 ftf, J. Walker; J. Smith, Opcnshaw Iron Foundry, c, Mason & Walker. 



Hambueghs (Golden-spangled).- 1, H. Beldon. 9, J. Walker. 8, N. 

 Marlor. he, W. McMeUon, Glossop ; N. Marlor ; J. Newton, Silsden. 



Hambcteghs (Silver-spangled).— Cnp for best pen of Hambnrghs, J. 

 Fielding, Newchurch, near Manchester. 2, J. Fielding, Newchorch, 

 Rossendale. 3, H. Beldon. he. H. Beldon ; W. A. Taylor. 



Hamborghs (Black).— 1, D. Lord, Stacksteads. 2, N. Marlor, Denton, 

 Manchester. 8, Mason & Walker, he. Rev. W. SerjeantBon, Acton Bur- 

 nell ; J. Smith, Openshaw, near Manchester. 



French Fowl (Any variety).—!, W. R. Park, Abbott's Meadow, Melrose 

 (Cri-ve-Cojur). 2, W. Harsey, Sheffield. 3, L. Binev. he. E. Leech. 



PoLANDS (Any colour).—!, W. Harvey. 2 and 3, H. Beldon. he, J. 

 Heath, Nantwich, Cheshire, c. 3. Partington, Bury Lane, Leigh 



Any other Varietv.— 1,R. Loft, Woodmansey, nearBeverley Sultans). 

 2, R. Loft, Woodmansey, near Beverley (White Sultans). 3, J. Hinton, 

 Hinton, near Bath (Malay). 



Selling Class (Any varietv).—!, C. W. Brierley. 2, J. T. Sykes, Roch- 

 dale (Spanish). 3, W. A. Taylor, he, H. Hargreaves, Burnley (Black 

 Reds); J. Berry, silsden (Spanish); E. Greenhalgh, Middleton ; G. & C. 

 Fomess (White Sultans). 



Game Bantams (Black Reds).- 1. J. W. Morris, Rochdale. 2, L. Biney. 

 8, W.F. Entwistle, Leeds, he, W. Griffiths, Nantwich. 



Game Bantams (Any other colour).—! and 2. T. Sharpies, Rawtenstall. 

 Extra 2. J. G. Pearson, Market Drayton, he, G. Birtwistle, Haslingden ; 

 J. R. Robinson ; L. Biney ; Bowman & Fearon, Whitehaven (Pile Game) ; 

 C. W. Brierley. 



Bantams (Any variety except Game).—!, S. & R. Ashton, Mottram 



