HISTORICAL ASPECT 5 



the Himalayan mountains at an altitude of 4,000 feet ; high- 

 er up other species of wild fowl are found. It also inhabits 

 Burma, the Malay Peninsula and the Philippine Islands, 

 and the Island of Java. 



The evidence in support of a common origin of all races 

 of fowls comes largely from Darwin. While Darwin was 

 inclined to a belief in a common origin and saw nothing im- 

 possible in this theory, at the same time there are indications 

 in his writings that he thought it barely possible that some 

 varieties of fowls might have been descended from a dif- 

 ferent species, now possibly extinct. On the other hand, 

 some poultry fanciers took issue with Darwin and pro- 

 claimed it impossible that all domestic fowls could have been 

 descended from one parent source. 



Darwin based his conclusions largely on his own experi- 

 ments, and while, as he himself confesses, the evidence may 

 not be conclusive, it is the best evidence that we have, and 

 we give here the substance of it. The evidence pointed to 

 the Bankivus as the progenitor of all fowls, first, because 

 it mated with the tame fowl and produced offspring, while 

 the other species mentioned never or rarely crossed. Dar- 

 win dwells with considerable detail on this fact as an argu- 

 ment in favor of the Bankivus. Sometimes, however, dif- 

 ferent species of animals will mate together and produce 

 offspring, but the progeny called hybrids are barren or un- 

 fertile. The mule is usually cited in illustration of this fact. 

 He is the product of two distinct species of animals, the 

 proof of which is the fact that he is barren. The horse and 

 the ass therefore could not have had a common origin. 



Darwin, and later others, not only found that the Gallus 

 bankivus freely mates with our domestic fowl, but that the 

 offspring are fertile and breed successfully. These experi- 

 ments strongly impressed Darwin with the belief that 

 Gallus bankivus is the original progenitor of domestic fowls. 



