THE RUMPLESS FOWL. 301' 



stra per defectum.) It is curious that another island under 

 the British rule should furnish a quadruped similarly defective. 

 Manx Cats are well known for the peculiarity of having no 

 tail. They are still to be met with now and then , but the 

 native race, or species of Pigs, which were wild in the moun- 

 tains a hundred years ago, appear now to be quite extermi- 

 nated from the Isle of Man. Insular tribes of animals have 

 but little chance of suvivorship, as human population in- 

 creases. In New Zealand, the wingless bird another de- 

 fective monster appears to be now a fast- vanishing apparition 

 from the face of the earth. 



I have found no mention of the Rumpless Fowl in classical 

 authors, but Aldrovandi was aware of its existence : 



" The Cock which they call the Persian, and which we have 

 here figured, differs from our own sorts mainly in having no 

 tail ; in other respects, it is very like them. The Cock, how- 

 ever, has a sort of tail. It was all black, sprinkled with yel- 

 low lines : the first quill-feathers were white, the rest black ; 

 the feet ashy : the Hen was like .our own in respect to shape 

 and carriage ; of an extremely different colour to the male, 

 whence I attach little weight to diversity of colour, in these as 

 in them. She was all over of a ferrugineous colour, except the 

 three quill-feathers, which were black. Her comb, if you com- 

 pare it with the comb of the male, was much smaller." 



Aldrovandi's Rumpless Cock is represented with a large 

 double comb, that is produced backwards, " veluti caudam," 

 like a tail. I am without information as to their laying and 

 sitting qualities. They are not small, being at least of the 

 average size of Fowls. 



" This species/' says Temminck, " has given rise to many 

 exaggerated tales. Before the domestic (race of the Rumpless 

 Fowl) was well known, and dispersed through the different 

 countries of Europe, the vulgar conceived ridiculous ideas, 

 brought forth by superstition, on the subject of these birds. 



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