THE CUCKOO FOWL. 807 



THE CUCKOO FOWL. 



WE here give, by the name by which it is usually designated 

 in the Norfolk farm-yards, a variety which there is good reason 

 to believe to be something old and distinct, though they are 

 generally looked upon as mere Barn-door Fowls; i. e. the 

 mere accidental result of promiscuous crossing. But there 

 are several forms among the Barn-door Fowls, so called, that 

 are seen to be repeated generation after generation, the 

 counterparts of which are to be met with scattered here and 

 there over the country. So constant a repetition of corre- 

 sponding features would seem to declare, that there are several 

 unnoticed and undistinguished varieties of Fowl, which deserve 

 to be regarded and treated as we do other distinct sorts. The 

 objection to the adoption of this view and mode of practice is, 

 that it would inconveniently multiply the number of species, 

 and give additional trouble to naturalists and poultry fanciers. 

 But the multiplicity of Nature's works always has been infinite, 

 in reference to man's power of understanding them. The 

 only wonder, if we reflect, is, that he has had the courage to 

 grapple with them at all. At any rate, the investigation of a 

 few families of Cocks and Hens, is a less laborious work than 

 the arrangement of a "Systema Naturae," or the writing of a 

 " Kosmos." The subject is certainly deserving of considera- 

 tion, and may be the means of affording important service to 

 natural history. Dr. Bechstein seems to have been not far 

 from suspecting that several distinct varieties might be detected 

 among the ordinary Fowls of the farm-yard. It might answer 

 the purpose of the dealer to rear a pure stock of some of the 

 handsomest and most useful of these, and send them forth 

 with appropriate names, determined by competent persons, 

 fixing the appellation of the variety. 



