BIRDS 



Poultry 



Semi-wild. 



Pood. 



Common 

 Fowl. 



Origin of. 



Crosses of Wild 

 and Domestic 

 Stock. 



Indian Fowls 

 of to-day. 



Chittagong 

 Fowls. 



Burma Jumper. 



Cochin-China 

 Fowls. 



Game-cocks and 

 Cock-fighting. 



THE ECONOMIC BIRDS OF INDIA 



at the present day. The kokah pigeon, the voice of which sounds like the call 

 to prayer, and the baghah, which utters a peculiar sound in the early morning, 

 as also the yahu-yahu, may have been trumpeters and laughers. The lotan was 

 doubtless a ground tumbler. One of the special and much-prized features of 

 Indian pigeons is the remarkable way they return to the dovecote on a certain 

 signal being given. 



In some Hindu towns, such as Jaipur in Rajputana, pigeons exist in a semi- 

 wild condition. A race of the blue rock has simply been allowed to breed un- 

 disturbed for countless ages. This bird seems to differ from the English stock 

 in having the lower part of the back ashy, instead of pure white, hence its separa- 

 tion as CofitiMbn i,,t< , nx-tiiii. Baber speaks of the Indian rock-pigeons as 

 being smaller and more slender than the Central Asiatic bird, and as having a 

 sharper cry. 



Pigeons are much valued by many classes of people as FOOD, and the traffic 

 in them all over India must be exceedingly great. They are usually brought to 

 market alive, and fed from day to day by the traders. In Calcutta they are 

 stored in large flat baskets, the owner feeding them by squirting from his own 

 mouth into the gullets of the birds, one by one, a small quantity of grain and 

 water. [Cf. Settl. Rept. Jhelum, 1883, 20 ; E. H. A., in Times of India, May 1899.] 



(/) Poultry and Eggs. This may be accepted as embracing the 

 Domestic or Common Fowl, the Guinea-fowl, the Turkey, Ducks, Geese, 

 Pigeons, etc. Since some of these birds are discussed in this article under 

 their respective names, the present remarks may be restricted to the FOWL. 

 It is fairly generally accepted that all the Domestic Fowls of the world 

 have been derived from Gall us ferruf/ineus, a bird met with in its 

 wild condition throughout the lower Himalaya from Kashmir to Assam, 

 and from the mountains of Burma to the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, 

 Siam and Cochin-China. It would seem probable that it was first domesti- 

 cated in the Malay and introduced into India in that condition. It is 

 mentioned in the Institutes of Manu, and appears to have reached Europe 

 about 600 B.C. The wild bird, it has been observed, when reared in 

 captivity or when crossed with the domestic fowl, is more fertile when 

 procured from the east than from the west of the Bay of Bengal. A 

 few special breeds may have originated in India, such as the Chittagong 

 and the Sooty Fowl. Examples of the Frizzled Fowl (a bird with the 

 feathers curled backwards) and of Jumpers are not uncommon, the 

 latter more especially in Burma. 



Considering the importance of the subject, remarkably little of a trustworthy 

 nature has been published regarding the Indian domestic fowls. Ibn Batuta, 

 Marco Polo, Varthema, Linschoten, Dampier and many other early travellers 

 make special reference to the quality, size, and abundance of Indian fowls. 

 Hove (Tours in Gujarat, etc., 1787, 80) says: "In this country fowls are 

 prodigiously large, and are called by the Europeans Colomb fowls. They breed 

 them now about Surat in abundance. . . . Some of them are so large that they 

 are often mistaken by strangers for turkeys." It is difficult to conceive why the 

 early travellers in India so uniformly speak of the fowls seen by them as " large." 

 The ordinary fowl of India to-day is a very small and very inferior representative 

 of the fowl of Europe. 



Mention has been made of Chittagong fowls, and it may be added that it 

 is customary to read of them as a peculiar and valuable race, characteristic of 

 Eastern Bengal. In the Bengal Administration Report (1901-2), for example, 

 the observation occurs that " the best poultry comes from Chittagong and the 

 hill tracts, and are short-legged, large-bodied birds, much resembling English 

 fowls." The " jumper " of Burma is an exceptionally short-legged bird, derived 

 doubtless direct from the Chittagong breed. Further to the east, the Cochin- 

 China breed would appear to have originated. Game-cocks have from time 

 immemorial been specially reared in many districts of India, and in some 

 localities cock-fighting has, from the most ancient times, been a favourite 

 pastime. Sonnerat (Voy. aux Ind. Or., 1782, v., 113) says he thinks the birds 

 specially reared for cock-fighting are derived from the indigenous wild species, 



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