GALLUS.] AVES RASORES. 165 



beneath the eye a white streak ; back and rump golden green, glossed with copper, 

 the feathers edged and tipped with velvet black ; train, or upper tail-coverts, very 

 much elongated, reaching considerably beyond the tail, capable of being erected 

 and expanded at will ; each of the feathers composing it having a conspicuous ocel- 

 lated spot at the extremity ; the true tail concealed beneath the train, consisting of 

 eighteen feathers, of a grayish brown colour: scapulars and lesser wing-coverts 

 variegated with black, and reddish cream-colour ; middle coverts deep blue, glossed 

 with golden green ; greater coverts, bastard wing, and primary quills, rufous ; the 

 other quills dusky, some of them being variegated with red, and tinged with golden 

 green : belly and sides greenish black ; thighs tawny yellow : irides yellow : bill 

 whitish : feet grayish brown. (Female.) Smaller; the train shorter than the tail, 

 and without the ocellated spots ; sides of the head with more white ; throat of that 

 colour ; neck green ; general colour of the body, and wings, cinereous brown, the 

 feathers on the breast being tipped with white : irides lead gray. White and pied 

 varieties sometimes occur in both sexes. (Egg.) Yellowish white, sparingly speckled 

 with reddish yellow : long. diam. two inches e,ight lines ; trans, diam. two inches 

 one line. 



A native of India, where it is still met with in an unreclaimed state. The period 

 of its first introduction into this country, not very well ascertained. Lays from five 

 to eight eggs. Time of incubation from twenty-seven to thirty days. The approach 

 of the breeding season announced by the loud discordant screams of the male bird, 

 first heard towards the end of March, and continued at intervals through the 

 Summer. The two sexes are similar in plumage during the first year, and the 

 train of the male does not appear till the third. 



* GEN. 55. GALLUS, Briss. 



* 144. G. domesticus, Briss. (Domestic Cock.) Caruncle on the 

 head compressed, denticulated ; throat with two pendulous wattles * 

 neck-feathers linear and elongated. 



G. domesticus, Temm. Pig. et Gall. torn. n. p. 92. and torn. in. p. 654. The 

 Cock, Bew. Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 316. 



DIMENS. Extremely variable. 



DESCRIPT. Crest or comb with eight or nine serratures, of a bright coral-red ^ 

 two long wattles beneath the lower mandible of the same colour ; throat, and space 

 round the eyes, naked, the skin on these parts red ; beneath the ears a naked white 

 spot : neck-feathers very much elongated, and linear throughout their whole length : 

 tail ascending, compressed, forming two planes inclined to one another at an acute 

 angle ; of fourteen feathers, the two middle ones considerably the longest, and 

 bending gracefully over the others : thighs strong and muscular : tarsi with long 

 bent spurs: colours of the plumage very variable; more commonly, the head, 

 neck, back, and wing-coverts, orange-red ; under parts whitish, or velvet black ; 

 the sickle-shaped feathers of the tail blackish blue : sometimes the whole plumage 

 pure white. The Hen is always smaller, with the comb and wattles less developed ; 

 the colours are also less brilliant, and the tail wants the long pendent feathers. 

 (Egg.) White; varying in size and shape according to the breed. 



Far. /3. cristatus. (Crested Cock.) Temm. Pig. et Gall. torn. n. p. 239. Distin- 

 guished by haying a tuft of feathers on the head instead of a comb. 



Far. y. pusillus. (Bantam Cock.) Temm. Pig. et Gall. torn. n. p. 242. A small 

 variety, with the feet and toes feathered. 



Far. 8. Pumilio. (Dwarf Cock.) Temm. Pig. et Gall, torn, n. p. 244. Very 

 small, scarcely larger than a pigeon : feet short, generally feathered. 



Far. e. pentadactylus. (Dorking Cock.) Temm. Pig. et Gall. torn. in. p. 658. 

 Differs from the others in having five toes on each foot, three in front, and two 

 behind. Generally considered as most abundant in the neighbourhood of Dorking, 

 in Surrey. 



Known in a state of domestication from the earliest times. The original stock 

 very uncertain ; referred by Temminck to the G. Bankiva, Temm. (Pig. et Gall. 

 torn. n. p. 87.) a species met with at the present day in a wild state in the Island, 

 of Java. In the domestic varieties, the cock is polygamous. The hen is very 

 prolific, and continues to lay during a great part of the year. Period of incu- 

 bation about three weeks. 



Besides the above, the following species are domesticated in some parts of 

 England. 



