24 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 



sole origin of the domestic race. The Bankiva 

 and the great Malay present stronger claims to our 

 notice, nor can we doubt they contribute the ground- 

 work of some of our most remarkable varieties. 

 Those writers, who, by a pleasant legerdemain, so 

 easily transform one of the wild Indian cocks into a 

 barn-door fowl who put the jungle cock, the Bankiva 

 cock, or the gigantic jago bird under a bushel, hocus 

 pocus a little, lift up the cover, and then exhibit a 

 veritable chanticleer write as if they had only to 

 catch a wild bird in the woods, turn it into the yard 

 for three or four weeks, and make it straightway 

 become as tame as a spaniel. On such a notion com- 

 ment is now supererogatory. 



There are several other species of jungle fowl, to 

 which I shall here only briefly allude, as they are 

 not likely to have contributed to the establishment of 

 the domestic race. One of these is the " bronzed 

 cock" of Sumatra, (Gallus cenus^) a fine species, remark- 

 able for a large comb, smooth along the ridge. The 

 neck is not covered with true hackles. Another is the 

 "Ayam-alas jungle fowl or fork-tailed cock of Java 

 (Gallus fur catus). This species has no true hackles 

 on the neck, and the throat is adorned with a single 

 large wattle only, springing from a central line. An 

 intermediate form between the genera phasianus and 

 gallus, is presented by the fire-backed pheasant of 

 Sumatra (Euplocamus Ignitus). It is a very splen- 

 did bird, and might perhaps be domesticated. 



So much, then, for the remote history of the domes- 

 tic fowl, as far as obscure hints, notices, or delineations 

 enable us to decipher it ; and it has been shown to 

 what wild species its origin is, in all probability, to be 

 attributed. It is evidently the oldest, and perhaps the 

 most important of man's acquisitions from among the 

 feathered tribes, its flesh and its eggs being in all coun- 

 tries regarded partly as delicacies always acceptable, 

 and partly as staple articles of food, at once nutritious 

 and digestible. That a bird which has passed in a 



