TUB COJniOX FOWL. 39 



(at the meetiug) were apparently identical with 

 the Kulm fowl of Dakliun, and tlie Malay 

 fowl, the G alius gig ant eus — Temm. 



Here then we have a domestic race, traceable 

 to an aboriginal stock ; and thongh it is not 

 of general distribution, still, in all probabi- 

 lity, it has at some time or other crossed with 

 a breed from one of the smaller jnngle-fowls, 

 and thereby contributed to the increase of 

 stature. That the Bankiva jungle-fowl of 

 Java, or its larger continental variety, if it be 

 not a distinct species, (and of vyhich sir W. 

 Jardine states that he has seen several speci- 

 mens,) is one of the sources of our domestic 

 breeds, cannot, we think, be for a moment 

 doubted. It would be difficult to discover 

 any difference between a clean-limbed black- 

 breasted red bantam-cock, and a cock Bankiva 

 jungle-fowl. Indeed, the very term bantaiU 

 goes far to prove their specific identity : Bantam 

 is a town or city at the bottom of a bay on the 

 northern coast of Java ; it was first visited by 

 the Portuguese, in 1511, at which time a great 

 trade was carried on by the town with Arabia, 

 Hindostan, and China ; chiefly in pepper. 

 Subsequently it fell into the hands of the Dutch, 

 and was at one time the great rendezvous for 



