THE GIGANTIC COCK. 173 



vated, and is esteemed in proportion as the colours 

 of the hody and crest can be got most conspicuously 

 contrasted, a black body with white crest, and the 

 reverse, &c. Other fancy breeds are also frequent- 

 ly seen in the Dutch Pencilled Fowl, pure white 

 spotted with black, the Siberian Fowl, having long 

 tufts of feathers springing from the lower jaws and 

 hanging down, arid the Barbary Fowl, of a pale dun 

 colour, and having the feathers of the neck very am- 

 ple and spotted with black. A more singular anomaly 

 occurs in those with five toes, generally called Dork- 

 ing Fowls from being found and bred in most abun- 

 dance in the neighbourhood of Dorking in Surry. This 

 race is easily continued, and seems analogous either 

 to the six-fingered of six-toed individuals of man- 

 kind, or to the dogs with the additional claws. They 

 are much esteemed, are generally pure white, and 

 grow to a large size ; Dr Latham records one which 

 weighed almost fourteen pounds. A still more ano- 

 malous race occurs perhaps in those without a tail, 

 the Rumpless or Persian Cock, but we have also 

 races analogous to them in the tailless races of dogs 

 and cats. 



There are three races of cocks, however, whose 

 claim to actual distinction of species is not very well 

 or satisfactorily ascertained, the G. morio, having 

 the periosteum of the bones black, and the comb, 

 wattles, and skin of a dull purple. It has received the 

 name of Negro and Blackamoor Cock, but I believe 

 is scarcely to be seen in the poultry-yards of this 



