THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



rats, mice, shrews, bats, weasels and hares. No certain indica- 

 tions of Man have yet been recognized, but it is hoped that 

 further explorations may give some definite evidence as to his 

 existence, as this would be the most conclusive proof yet fur- 

 nished of the antiquity of Man in the New World. 



w. D. M. 



THE LONG-TAILED JAPANESE FOWLS. 



[HE long-tailed Japanese fowls (see frontispiece) se- 

 cured for the Museum by Prof. Bashford Dean 

 have recently been mounted and placed on exhi- 

 bition in the Bird Hall. Professor Dean states 

 that this peculiar breed of fowls has been so long 

 established (it was known in Corea prior to a.d. iooo) that its 

 wild ancestors cannot be determined. It appears, however, to 

 have been developed solely through artificial selection by breeders, 

 from birds in which, because of failure to molt, the tail-feathers 

 continued to grow for an indefinite period. In the Province of 

 Tosa, in the Island of Shikoku (the third largest island of the 

 Japanese group) breeders were encouraged by the Daimyo of the 

 Province to produce fowls with especially long feathers which 

 were of heraldic importance and were used by the Daimyo as 

 decorations for his spear. 



The best individuals of this fowl are still grown in the Pro- 

 vince of Tosa where Professor Dean procured the specimens now 

 owned by the Museum. The industry, however, probably 

 through lack of governmental support, is now on the wane, so 

 much attention being required to produce long-feathered birds 

 that their breeding is not commercially profitable. 



The birds are given high perches as their feathers develop, 

 are fed with great care on nourishing food, and the long feathers 

 are wrapped in mulberry paper to protect them from dirt and 

 abrasion. It is said that a gro^\i:h of six inches per month has 

 been obtained by proper treatment, and the longest recorded 

 feather measured twenty feet and two inches. The tail of the 

 best developed Museum specimen measures fourteen feet. 



