112 BREEDING AND EXHIBITION OP PRIZE POULTRY. 



Temminck, or Gallus ferrugineus of Graelin.* To describe this 

 bird minutely is unnecessary ; it will be enough to say that, 

 except in the tail of the cock being more depressed, it resembles 

 very closely the variety known as Black-breasted Red Game. 

 The assertion that all our modern breeds should be derived 

 from one fowl may seem at first sight a large demand on our 

 credulity ; but such a fact is not more wonderful than that a 

 cart horse should have descended from the same original stock 

 as the Arabian, or that an Italian greyhound and a Newfound- 

 land should have common progenitors, about which no natu 

 ralist has the slightest doubt. 



The process is simple, and easily understood, Even in the 

 wild state the original breed will show some amount of variation 

 in colour, form, and size j whilst in domestication the tendency 

 to change, as every one knows, is very much increased. By 

 breeding from birds which show any marked feature, stock 

 is obtained of which a portion will possess that feature in an 

 increased degree ; and by again selecting the best specimens, 

 the special points sought may be developed to almost any degree 

 required. 



A good example of such a process of development may be 

 seen in the " white face " so conspicuous in the Spanish breed. 

 White ears will be observed occasionally in all fowls ; even in 

 such breeds as Cochins or Brahmas, where white ear-lobes are 

 considered almost fatal blemishes, they continually occur, and 

 by selecting only white-eared specimens to breed from, such 

 ears might be speedily fixed in any variety as one of the charac- 

 teristics. A large pendent white ear-lobe once firmly estab- 

 lished, traces of the white face will now and then be found, and 



* Personally the author does not share that opinion. In his judgment 

 there are characters in various races not derived from the Gf. Bankiva, 

 and still found in other wild races. He, therefore, believes the ancestor 

 must be sought further back, and that the G. Bankiva is only one of its 

 offshoots. But the belief in one original sour-oe remains unaffected. 



