126 



and when cultivated land is near its 

 haunts, it may be seen in the fields, after 

 the crops are cut, in straggling parties of 

 from ten to twenty." 



This wild species closely resembles the 

 breed of poultry fanciers called the "Black- 

 breasted Game." but the crow of the wild 

 cock is not as loud or prolonged as that of 

 the tame one. 



All the evidence that wt possess seems 

 to indicate that this wild fowl was first 

 domesticated in Burmah. The Chinese, 

 as indicated by tradition, received their 

 poultry from Burmah as early as 1400 B. 

 C. Records show that about 1200 or 800 

 B. C, as some authorities hold, the eat- 

 ing of the tame fowl was forbidden, 

 though the use of the wild fowl as food 

 was permitted. 



It seems evident that the fowl reached 

 Europe, after domestication, about the 

 sixth century before the time of Christ. 

 It continued westward, for Julius Caesar 

 found it in Britain at the time of his con- 

 quests. Both the wild and the tame 

 fowls are mentioned by the early Latin 

 and Greek writers. Homer writing about 

 900 B. C. does not refer to the fowl, but 

 it is mentioned by Aristophanes at a date 

 near 500 B. C. It is of interest to know- 

 that the domesticated, form is not men- 

 tioned in the Old Testament. 



It is said that some of the pagan tribes 

 living at the present time on the east coast 

 of Africa have a marked aversion to the 

 domestic fowl. This may account for the 

 absence of any representation of the fowl 

 on the ancient Egyptian monuments, 

 though it was represented on the Baby- 

 lonian cylinders about the sixth or sev- 

 enth century before Christ. In this con- 

 nection it should be mentioned that many 

 other people, notably the natives of the 

 islands adjacent to the Australian contin- 

 ent and some of the Indian tribes of 

 South America, show a strong dislike to 

 this domestic bird as a food. 



By selection, both natural and by man, 

 many breeds have been produced. Dr. 

 Charles Darwin says : "Sufficient ma- 

 terials do not exist for tracing the history 

 of the separate breeds. About the com- 

 mencement of the Christian era, Co- 

 lumella mentions a five-toed fighting 

 breed, and provincial breeds ; but we 



know nothing about them. He also al- 

 ludes to dwarf fowls; but these cannot 

 have been the same with our Bantams, 

 which were imported from Japan into 

 Bantam in Java. A dwarf fowl, probably 

 the true Bantam, is referred to in an old 

 Japanese Encyclopedia, as I am informed. 

 In the Chinese Encyclopedia published in 

 1596, but compiled from various sources, 

 some of high antiquity, seven breeds are 

 mentioned." 



The number of breeds is very indefinite. 

 Darwin enumerates thirteen, including 

 many sub-breeds. The American Poul- 

 try Association recognizes more than 

 thirty, with several varieties of some of 

 them. The game or fighting breed more 

 closely resembles the wild form of India 

 than do any of the others. 



The Japanese, so noted for their won- 

 derful development of dwarfed trees, are 

 also the originators of the smallest fowls 

 — the Bantams. Another interesting 

 breed is called "Jumpers" or "Creepers." 

 Their legs are so short that they are com- 

 pelled to move by jumping. 



The wild hen lays from eight to twelve 

 white eggs in nests, seldom of better con- 

 struction than a few dried leaves or grass 

 scratched together in a secluded spot. It 

 is said that "to every hen belongs an in- 

 dividual peculiarity in the form, color, 

 and size of her egg, which never changes 

 during her life-time, so long as she re- 

 mains in health, and which is as well 

 known to those who are in the habit of 

 taking her produce, as the hand-writing 

 of their nearest acquaintance." We are 

 told that the tame hen raises a brood of 

 physically stronger offspring when al- 

 lowed to select her own nesting place in 

 some locality with natural surroundings. 



The wild and the tame fowl alike eat a 

 variety of foods, both animal and vegeta- 

 ble, but prefer the latter. 



With reference to the habits and char- 

 acteristics of this interesting domestic 

 bird of our farm yards and orchards no 

 words can describe them more aptly than 

 those so delightfully written by Gail 

 Hamilton, when she says : "A chicken is 

 beautiful and round and full of cunning 

 ways, but he has no resources for an 

 emergency. He will lose his reckoning 

 and be quite out at sea, though only ten 



