66 GEOGRAPHICAL AND LOCAL 



scarcely be able to supply themselves with a 

 sufficiency of food. 1 



Amongst the birds there is one tribe peculiarly 

 domesticated, which likewise is subject to nu- 

 merous variations (it will be readily seen that I 

 allude to our common poultry), but the diffe- 

 rences that obtain in them are chiefly confined 

 to their plumage ; some are crowned with a tuft of 

 feathers ; others, as the Friesland-hen, have the 

 feathers on their body recurved ; another breed, 

 as the rumplets, have no tail ; the generality 

 have their legs naked, but the bantams have 

 them covered with feathers ; and, to name no 

 more, the silk-hens, instead of feathers, are 

 clothed with a kind of silken hair. 



We cannot state the object of all these diffe- 

 rences, but probably it is connected with the 

 climate and other circumstances of the country 

 in which they were produced. India and its 

 islands appears to be the metropolis of this 

 valuable species of fowl, and the jungle fowl is 

 supposed to be the original breed ; but this is one 

 of those animals which will live and thrive in 

 every climate except the Polar ; and when we 

 consider the benefits we derive from them, we 

 shall be disposed with grateful hearts to adore 

 and glorify our Almighty benefactor, who fitted 

 them, as well as so many other useful animals, 



1 Many of the North American Indians, Esquimaux, &c. 



