THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 25 



domestic state generation after generation for several 

 thousand years, in one country or another, should have 

 branched out into many varieties, will not be surpris- 

 ing perhaps rather it is surprising that it has not 

 undergone more changes. The varieties, however, are 

 sufficiently numerous, every country having some pecu- 

 liar to itself, and every breeder founding crosses accord- 

 ing to his own fancy to say nothing of those resulting 

 from accidental intermixture in Europe and in our 

 own country. It is to the principal of these varie- 

 ties only, in their 



VALUE IN AN ECONOMICAL POINT OF VIEW, 



that I shall pay any further attention ; nor from the 

 limits of this little treatise, shall I be able to dwell at 

 much length upon them at that. 



In the size of our domestic fowls ; in the color and 

 quality of their skin and plumage ; in the form of the 

 tail, or its utter absence ; in the form of the comb ; 

 in the presence or absence of a plume or crest on the 

 head ; in the number of the toes ; in disposition ; and 

 in the qualities of the hens as layers or sitters, differ- 

 ences more or less striking are universally to be found. 

 Yet, amidst all these modifications, the characters of 

 the genus are rigidly preserved. 



Let us take, then, the serrated upright fleshy comb, 

 to be the typical distinction of the cock a feature 

 which Aristotle has pointedly indicated, as well as 

 Columella and others of more modern date. The sickle 

 feathers of the tail are perhaps equally characteristic 

 of the genus, but they differ little in the respective 

 varieties. Neither mark nor distinction has, it is true, 

 any functional office in the organization of the animal ; 

 but it would be difficult to find one which had. In the 

 Spanish fowl, the comb is more developed than in any 

 other breed ; we will therefore take that bird as our 

 type, and suggest, with diffidence, the following pro 

 tempore arrangement : 

 2 



