G A L L I N I D JE. 



575 



year, that is to say, in the course of this period she 

 will produce about 200 eggs. No hen can rear above 

 one-tenth that number of chickens, which shows the 

 advantage of those artificial means of hatching which 

 are resorted to in countries where human labour is 

 not too valuable for being devoted to such purposes. 



Numerous conjectures have been formed as to the 

 species of India, which is the parent stock of the 

 common fowls ; but these are, of course, very vague, 

 and indeed the wild ones are almost as much varied 

 in the different parts of the south east of Asia, and 

 the eastern islands, as the tame ones are in Europe. 

 Tcmminck is of opinion, that the common domestic 

 breed (some of the more striking varieties are under- 

 stood to be from other sources) are hybrids, between 

 two species still found in the eastern islands, and 

 which agree more in the females with our domesti- 

 cated ones, than is the case with any others of the 

 wild ones. There are the Jago cock found in Su- 

 matra and Java ; and the Bankiva cock, found in 

 the woods of the latter island. In both of these the 

 females have rudimental combs and wattles as ours 

 have, and this is said not to be the case with the other 

 wild ones. 



THE JAGO COCK (G. gigantcus) is at least double 

 the size of the common cock of Europe, with the comb 

 and wattles red, as in the common cock. The colours 

 are rich, not unlike those of the finer specimens of 

 the common one. It stands very high on the legs, 

 and inarches in a very stately and majestic manner. 

 The Europeans in India, call this magnificent species 

 the Kulm cock, but the common belief in India is, 

 that it is not indigenous in that country, and we be- 

 lieve that it is not. found in the wild state there, unless 

 under circumstances which lead to the conclusion, 

 that it had strayed into the woods, as animals are apt 

 to do in such climates. Some of these great cocks 

 are highly valued as game birds ; and the true game 

 are known by having the irides white or pale straw 

 yellow. A cock of this variety in the possession of 

 Colonel Sykes, stood twenty-six inches in height, 

 and measured twenty-three inches from the point of 

 the bill to the insertion of the tail. The hen is a 

 third smaller. When tired, this species rests itself 

 on the iirst joint of the leg, in which position it is as 

 high as the common species. Colonel Sykes brought 

 a hen and two cocks to England in 1831. They bore 

 the voyage and the climate very well, and by Septem- 

 ber, 1832, the hen had reared two broods. There is not 

 the least doubt that they would agree with the climate 

 of Britain quite as well as the common variety ; and 

 it is known that they have for some time been intro- 

 duced into different parts of Italy and France, where 

 they have succeeded very well. 



THE BANKIVA COCK (G.bankiva) is a much smal- 

 ler species, only about ten or eleven inches from the 

 point of the bill to the insertion of the tail. The 

 feathers on the nape, the neck, the back, the coverts 

 of the wings, with the exception of the greater ones, 

 are of a purplish maroon brown ; the greater coverts 

 of the wings black, with metallic reflections ; the tail- 

 coverts Ions:, arched, and of a yellowish colour, with 

 bright metallic reflections of reddish, the quills of the 

 wings black, margined with red ; and all the under 

 part black, with metallic reflections. The naked parts 

 red, of a bright tint ; the bill and feet grey, and the 

 irides of a straw yellow. 



THE BANTAM COCK (G. pusUtus) is originally from 

 the same parts of the world with the Bankiva cock ; 



resembles that one much in size, and is supposed to 

 be a mere variety of it, inhabiting more elevated 

 places, as it is found in the allied genus of the phea- 

 sants, that the mountain species even under the equa- 

 tor, and where they are understood to perch for the 

 night, have the tarsi feathered, which is the chief ex- 

 ternal distinction between the Bantam cock and the 

 Bankiva. The exterior sides of the tarsi in the Ban 

 tarn are covered with very long feathers, which reach 

 down as far as the toes. The Bantam thrives well in 

 a state of domestication, and is a valuable little breed, 

 the male being exceedingly bold and pugnacious in 

 proportion to its size. 



THE JUNGLE COCK (G. Sonneratii) is very abundant 

 in the woods of the higher jungles in the south of 

 India, especially in those of the Western Ghauts on 

 the Malabar coast. There are two species or varie- 

 ties. The one is long-legged, and inhabits the thick 

 woods in the mountain valleys, to the height of about 

 2000 feet above the level of the sea. The comb is 

 very much toothed, the lower mandible furnished with 

 wattles ; the feathers of the neck produced, and spot- 

 ted with white, furnished with membranous or carti- 

 laginous tips, which appendages occur also in the 

 female. Along with the white spots, these feathers 

 in the male are mottled with black and dull reddish 

 brown. The breast, abdomen, and back, are grey, 

 streaked with white ; the coverts of the wings are red- 

 dish chestnut, with the feathers terminating in carti- 

 laginous discs of a fulvous colour ; and the quills and 

 tail-feathers are deep black. The female is smaller 

 than the male, and is wholly destitute of the comb 

 and wattles. The head in this sex is completely co- 

 vered with feathers, and the colours of the body are 

 duller, and marked with brown and red. This appears 

 to have been the first species or variety which was 

 found very abundantly in the wild state in the woods 

 of India, and hence it was considered as the parent 

 stock of the domestic fowl ; but the difference in the 

 primal, and the first (we believe) of this species being 

 rarely domesticated in India, are against the suppo- 

 sition ; and if the parent stock is still to be found in 

 that country, it must in all probability be sought in 

 one, or other, or both, of those to which Temminck 

 has referred it. 



It must not be forgotten, however, that the com- 

 mon fowl apparently is a distinct species, and in many 

 varieties, is, perhaps, more abundant in India than in 

 any other country. In those parts of the country 

 where there are few Europeans, they can be bought 

 for about twopence each. They often resemble the 

 jungle fowl in colour, but they are uniformly without 

 the cartilaginous discs on the feathers of the neck and 

 coverts. 



The other variety of Indian wild fowl is found in 

 nearly the same localities, but at a much greater ele- 

 vation, occurring in the scattered plantations as high 

 up as 4000 feet above the level of the sea. The male 

 in this one has a great deal of red on the plumage ; 

 and the female is brownish red, and without any car- 

 tilaginous spots. The eggs are shaped like those of 

 the common fowl, but smaller in size ; the crow and 

 call of the cock have no inconsiderable resemblance 

 to those of the Bantam. 



THE NEGRO COCK (G. morion) is very probably 

 nothing more than an accidental variety, at all events 

 it is met with only accidentally. The comb and 

 wattles, and also the skin and periosteum are quite 

 black ; and this gives the bird a dull and rather un- 



