THE BANKIVA COCK. 177 



On the lower part of the back, rump, and part of the 

 tail-coverts, the hackles are broad, the centres solid 

 deep black, glossed with green, steel-blue, and pur- 

 ple, none of them very lengthened or pendulous. 

 The quills and secondaries black, glossed with steel- 

 blue, the greater coverts chestnut on the outer webs. 

 Belly and vent black. Tail nearly like that of the 

 common fowl, perhaps a little more horizontal, centre 

 feather longest, curved and bending out. The larger 

 tail-coverts steel-blue, broad, curved, and bending 

 outwards. 



To this we refer the Gallus Turcicus of Brisson, 

 or Cock of Turkey. The true Bantams, so called 

 from the name of the town in Java, are distin- 

 guished by the plumed legs, a variation incident on- 

 ly to cultivation and domestication. A still more 

 dwarf race is known under the title of the Gallus 

 pumilo ; this is extremely diminutive, but nearly of 

 the same colours, and is much cultivated among 

 cock-fanciers. There is a club in the vicinity of 

 London who compete and give prizes to those who 

 succeed in producing the smallest breed. 



These seem to be the principal cultivated races of 

 these useful birds. Innumerable crosses are, how- 

 ever, made according to the taste of fanciers, re- 

 markable both for their beauty and deformity. The 

 origin of them all, and the claim of some to distinc- 

 tion, is however still in a certain obscurity, and will 

 probably continue so. 



