THE DORKING FOWL. 197 



solutely conclusive, evidence to the contrary. It seems to me 

 that Columella's favourite sort of Hen could not differ much 

 from our Speckled Dorkings. He says, " Let them be of a 



reddish or dark plumage, and with black wings Let 



the breeding Hens, therefore, be of a choice colour, a robust 

 body, square built, full breasted, with large heads, with upright 



and bright red combs those are believed to be the best 



bred which have five toes," &c. Except that there is no men- 

 tion of speckles, (and he never describes minute markings,) the 

 whole description almost exactly tallies with our birds of the 

 present day. Pliny's account agrees with this : " Superiority 

 of breed in Hens is denoted by an upright comb, sometimes 

 double, black wings, ruddy visage, and an odd number of toes." 

 Lib. x. c. Ixxvii. It appears that Columella had the White sort, 

 but he rejected them ; for he advises, "Let the White ones be 

 avoided, for they are generally both tender and less vivacious, 

 and also are not found to be prolific" faults which are still 

 attributed to them. I cannot, therefore, avoid believing that 

 from the robust, dark-coloured, five-toed Fowl, white indivi- 

 duals have been from time to time produced and propagated, 

 exactly as we see in other species of Gallinaceous birds that, 

 have long been in domestication Pea Fowl, Turkeys, and 

 Guinea Fowl, for instance ; and as the white variety of these is 

 mostly smaller and more delicate than birds of the normal 

 plumage, so the White Dorkings are inferior in size, and per- 

 haps in hardihood. I think also that there is no instance of 

 any white species of Cocks and Hens having been found wild, 

 (except the Silky Fowls, and those are separated by Temminck 

 into a distinct species;) which is some argument that dark and 

 gaudy colours are the hues originally characteristic of the 

 genus. 



17* 



