1837.J 



FARMERS' RE'GISTER. 



657 



From the British Quarterly Journal of A';riculture. 



Oy THE SPECIES AND VARIETIES OF DOMES- 

 TIC FOWLS. 



The varietips in the sizes, Hjrms, and colors, of 

 our doinostic linvls, are sulficieiuly stril<inir to at- 

 tract the notice of the most indilftM-ent observer; 

 while, to those who can fiml suhjects of" reflection 

 in every production oC nature, ilu-y may be made 

 an ample source of interestinir remark, as well as 

 of amusino^ experiment. " If people," says M. 

 Reaumur, "are atiected with the kind of pleasure 

 so transitory to the most enthusiastic florists, who 

 procure it but for a lew days by a world of care 

 and toil coniinued through a whole year — if they 

 are ati'ected by the variety and fine combination of 

 colors in their favorite flowers, the puulirv-yard, 

 when well manatjed, may b(> made to offer i hem 

 endless pleasures of the same de^;cripIiou.'" 



The greater number of cocks, even those of the 

 commonest breeds, when exposed to the play of 

 the sun's rays, exhibit the briirhtest colors; and 

 with the flossy brilliancy, beauty, and varied 

 mixture, we are the more struck in proportion to 

 our minute observation of th^m. The hens, on 

 the other hand, if the breeds have been select, are 

 often no le^s worthy of admiration. Some, for 

 instance, have spots distributed with (jreat reffu- 

 larity, and so' brii^htly white as to look silvery; 

 others are termed ijolden, because they are spotted 

 orspeckled with a fine cjolden oranore color ; while 

 the more common colors are varied in a manner 

 almost endless — and, upon the whole, domestic 

 fowls offer a multitude of colors, the several shades 

 of which would be found with difficulty, if they 

 were sou<rht for among the birds of the woods or 

 the waters. 



It is no less worthy of notice, with regard to 

 colors, that, amontJ: the (owls in a poultiy-vard, 

 they not unfrequently chan.u-e in a surprir^in"<T man- 

 ner from the time vvhe!i the chicks cast their down, 

 to the annual moult of the fuH-irrown fowls. It 

 is no doubt the recjular process, at least after the 

 second and followini^ moults, for the colors to con 

 tinue nmch the same. I have at present a hen of 

 the Spanish breed, which has been of a uniform 

 black for two successive moults, but has now her 

 neck, winiTs, and tail-t(?athers, tipped with pure 

 white. I have another which was all over of' sil- 

 ver-trrey color, hut has now her head and neck 

 coal-black, with a ring ol'fine white at the base of 

 the neck, while the rest of the body is finely 

 speckled with black and snow-white. It is re- 

 markable also, that this chanire took place in a 

 few weeks, without any obvious moult, so as to 

 cause her to appear anywhere bare of feathers. 



M. Reaumur tells us, that in one of his hens 

 which his poultry-woman distinguished from the 

 rest by a crooked claw, when her coat began to 

 be taken notice olj had feathers of the ruddy co- 

 lor, mixed with brown, so common amnntr dunir- 

 hill fowls. A year after, this hen was observed to 

 become almost black, with here and there '■•ome 

 large white spots. After the second moulting, 

 bHck was the predominent color on everv part of 

 the body ; but, strange to tell, upon the succeed- 

 ing moult, whi^e was the predominant color, and 

 only a few black patches about the size of a half- 

 crown piece could be observed. Upon the suc- 

 ceeding moult, all the black spots disappeared, and 

 the hen became uniformly of a pure white like that 



Vol. IV— 83 



of a swan. As she was at this time old for a 

 fowl, that is, not less than ten years, it might be 

 thought that old age, which whitens the human 

 hair, likewise whitens the finiihers of certain birds; 

 I'ut, in that case, M. Reaumur says the transition 

 from the ruddy to the while ought not lo have 

 been made, as it really was, throuirh the black, 

 and was of opinion, as the hen was still vi!rorou.<5 

 and heidthy, that she might again change her co- 

 lor, if she lived, to brown or black. 



A cock which was observerl also by M. Reau- 

 mur more carefully than the hen just mentioned, 

 afforded him some proo's that the white color of 

 the fi'athers was not, at least in that instance, 

 caused by age. The owner of the cock was 

 struck the fiisf time he moulted with the singular 

 change in his c^lor, and, for five successive moults, 

 there was always a consitlerable change of color. 

 Jn his first year, he had some of the rudd)' brown, 

 mixed with while, so common in dunghill cocks; 

 in the second, he was all over ruddy brow n, or 

 rather red, without any white ; in the third lie be- 

 came unif(irmly black ; in the fourth uniformly 

 white ; and in ihe fifth, when he was presented by 

 the Prior of Bury to M. Reaumur as a curiosity, 

 he had white feaihiM's mixed with a good deal of 

 ruddy color and brown, bordering upon chestnut, 

 his neck, back, wings and belly being ruddy, and 

 even where there were white feathers, they were 

 mingled with ruddy ones. During the vacation, 

 M. Reaumur was two months without seeing 

 him, but, in this period, he became so chanired as 

 not to be recognizable, hisfi^athers having become 

 all over of the finest white. The following year he 

 had partly white feathers, but the greater portion 

 was ruddy, or rather of a fair red. Here, then, 

 was a re-transition fi-om white to a liijht brown, 

 indicating that the whiteness of his feathers was 

 not owinfr to the number of his years. 



Such is a very small specimen of the interesting 

 observations which might be made in the poultry- 

 yard by those who choose to direct their attention 

 to the chanii'es continually occurring there. In 

 order, however, io lay some foundation for similar 

 inquiries, and what may be deemed of still greater 

 importance by most of the readers of this journ- 

 al, the comparative value, in an economicai point 

 of view, of different sorts of fowls, I shall here at- 

 tempt a sketch of the several species and varie- 

 ties, as describe! by naturalists iind practical wri- 

 ters ; and. with these views, it may be advisable 

 to begin with the wild species, nativesof the warm 

 climates of the east, supposed to he the origin of 

 the tame varieties. Of the wild there are only 

 two species. 



1. Java Cock. 



Char. Spec. — Galliis Bankiva, Temminck. Male: 

 Comb t"ot!i"di'oiiipressed ; wattled under the inotith; 

 tail som'^what sharpened at the top, and sub-hori- 

 zontal ; feathrr,=< of the neck flosiy^ated, rounded at 

 the top; head and hack t'awn-colored ; wing-coverfs 

 blown and filack ; belly and tail black. Female 

 brownish- screy and golden yellow; comb and wat- 

 tles lf?s than in the male. Inhabits Java. Comb 

 and wattles ruddy ; feet ash-grey. 



Description. — This bird is indigenous to the 

 Island of .Java, and is specifically disiinyuished by 

 a red indented comb, red wattles, and cinereous 

 legs and lijet. The male has a thin indented or 



