266 FOWLS. Chap. VII. 



I have remarked in my ' Origin of Species ' that secondary 

 Bexiial characters are apt to differ much in the species of the 

 same genus, and to be unusually variable in the individuals 

 of the same species. So it is with the breeds of the fowl, as 

 we have alread}'' seen, as far as the colour of plumage is con- 

 cerned, and so it is with the other secondary sexual characters. 

 Firstly, the comb diifers mach in the various breeds,^" and its 

 form is eminently characteristic of each kind, with the 

 exception of the Dorkings, in which the form has not been as 

 yet determined on by fanciers, and fixed by selection. A single, 

 deeply- serrated comb is the typical and most common form. 

 It differs much in size, being immensely developed in Spanish 

 fowls ; and in a local breed called Eed-caps, it is sometimes 

 " upwards of three inches in breadth at the front, and more 

 than four inches in length, measured to the end of the peak 

 behind." ^^ In some breeds the comb is double, and when the 

 two ends are cemented together it forms a " cup-comb ; " in 

 the " rose-comb " it is depressed, covered with small pro- 

 jections, and produced backwards ; in the horned and creve- 

 coBur fowl it is produced into two horns ; it is triple in the 

 pea-combed Brahmas, short and truncated in the Malays, 

 and absent in the Guelderlands. In the tasselled Game a few 

 long feathers rise from the back of the comb : in many breeds 

 a crest of feathers replaces the comb. The crest, when little 

 developed, arises from a fleshy mass, but, when much deve- 

 loped, from a hemispherical protuberance of the skull. In 

 the best Polish ibwls it is so largely developed, that I have 

 seen birds which could hardly pick up their food; and a 

 German writer asserts ^^ that they are in consequence liable 

 to be struck by hawks. Monstrous structures of this kind 

 would thus be suppressed in a state of nature. The wattles, 

 also, vary much in size, being small in Malays and some 

 other breeds ; in certain Polish sub-breeds they are replaced 

 by a great tuft of feathers called a beard. 



The hackles do not differ much in the various breeds, but 



»» I am much indebted to Mr. Brent *' The ' Poultry Book,' by Teget- 



for an account, with sketches, of all meier, 1866, p. 234:. 



the variations of the comb known to *" ' Die Huhner- und Pfauenzuchty 



him, and likewise with respect to the 1827, s. 11. 

 lail as presently to be given. 



