56 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 



earth, may have had their origin from the mixture of a few 

 natural orders. 



"Such a promiscuous intercourse of animals is said to exist 

 at this day in New South "Wales, by Captain Hunter. And 

 that not only amongst the quadrupeds and birds of different 

 kinds, but even amongst the fish, and, as he believes, amongst 

 the vegetables. He speaks of an animal between the opossum 

 and the kangaroo, from the size of a sheep to that of a- rat. 

 Many fish seem to partake of the shark; some with a skait's 

 head and shoulders, and the hind part of a shark; others with 

 a shark's head and the body of a mullet; and some with a 

 shark's head and the flat body of a sting-ray. Many birds 

 partake of the Parrot : some have the head, neck, and bill of 

 a Parrot, with long straight feet and legs ; others with legs and 

 feet of a Parrot, with head and neck of a Sea-gull/'* Zoono- 

 mia, vol. i., p. 499. 



Again he continues, even yet more adventurously : 

 " Another great want felt by animals consists in the means 

 of procuring food, which has diversified the fonns of all spe- 

 cies. Thus, the nose of the swine has become hard for the 

 purpose of turning up the soil in search of insects and of roots. 

 The trunk of the elephant is an elongation of the nose for the 

 purpose of pulling down the branches of trees for his food, and 

 for taking up water without bending his knees. Beasts of 

 prey have acquired strong jaws or talons. Cattle have ac- 

 quired a rough tongue and a rough palate to pull off the 

 blades of grass, as cows and sheep. Some birds have acquired 

 beaks adapted to break the harder seeds, as sparrows. Others 

 for the softer seeds or flowers, or the buds of trees, as the 

 Finches. Other birds have acquired long beaks to penetrate the 



* Some of our decoy-men call the Godwit a "half-bred Curlew ; " 

 whether they have any belief in such a pedigree, they could not, 

 perhaps, themselves declare. 



