530 



RASORES OR SCRAPERS. 



and, like the game cock, cannot bear a rival. They are all 

 natives of the East Indies, but when introduced into Europe is 

 uncertain ; nor is it certain what the species is in its original 

 state. It was in Britain before the Eoman Invasion ; and when 

 the South Sea Islands were first visited by Europeans, it was 

 there in the domestic state. Cock-fighting was a fashionable 

 amusement of the savage natives, as well as with the Greeks 

 and Romans, also of the Chinese and Malays and other nations 

 of the present day. The cock was sacred to Apollo, Mercury, 

 Mars, and to iEsculapius, figured on Grecian and Roman coins 

 and gems. The ancient Greeks called itjfoe Persian bird, but 

 there is no proof it came from Persia. The jungle fowl of 

 India was the first species of gallus known in its wild state — at 

 one time thought to be the original, but more recently the 

 Bankiva fowl — Gallus Bankiva — and other species found in 

 Java and other islands of the Eastern Archipelago more nearly 

 resemble them, especially the bantam breeds. Sir William 

 Jardine says — " Many bantams so nearly resemble this bird that 

 there would be great difficulty in distinguishing them." Some 

 naturalists think they may be derived from intermixture with 

 different wild species ; we have so many varieties — such as the 

 game, the dorking, the Polish, the Spanish, the Malay, the 

 Hamburg, the Cochin China, and the various bantams, besides 

 countless crosses. Our larger breeds may be sprung from the 

 jungle fowl ; the bantams from Gallus BanMva. 



