WILD FOWL. 



line grayish color, lighter in the middle part, 

 and fringed on the edges, some with grayish- 

 white, others with various shades of yellow. The 

 tail is of a shining greenish-black, the smaller 

 feathers near its root being a rich refulgent pur- 

 ple-green, and some of them are laced with yel- 

 low ; the legs are of a red color. 



" ' As in mankind we often see true courage 

 united with a gentle and amiable disposition, so 

 it is in my hybrid Sonnerat, and that in a most 

 remarkable degree. He is not only of a truly 

 courageous but even of pugnacious disposition 

 with other male poultry; but to hens, of what- 

 ever breed, even the Shanghais, he is kind and 

 courteous, and to his own mate lavishly so. It 

 is, however, in the extraordinary attentions to 

 his chickens that his amiable and considerate 

 conduct shines so peculiarly forth. Last year 

 when his chickens were half-grown, and had 

 long been discarded by their mother, he might 

 be observed daily offering them in his beak all 

 the delicacies he could select from the general 

 food; nay, on occasions of a slight shower, or 

 in cold winds, he freqxiently might be found with 

 a pair of huge chickens hiding under his wings, 

 which, by their size, were nearly lifting him oif 

 his legs. At night, one or more would invaria- 

 bly so nestle ; keeping his wings apparently in 

 no very comfortable position. 



" * In recording the good qualities of the hy- 

 brid Sonnerat according to my own experience, 

 I should state them to be, the unequaled rich- 

 ness of the eggs, their abundance, and the great 

 beauty of the cock bird ; and in this example at 

 least his amiability. 



" ' The eggs laid by the hen (his own grand- 

 daughter through a game hen) are decidedly 

 smaller than those of the game, and weigh less 

 by rather more than a quarter of an ounce. The 

 loss in size is. however, well compensated for 

 by quality ; they possess a richness and flavor 

 unequaled, and which is at once recognized by 

 every one. 



"'Mr. Hunt informs me that he considers 

 (here are but two cock birds in England really 

 l>red direct from the Sonnerat Jungle fowl, and 

 which exhibit the peculiar golden plate on the feath- 

 ers the one at present (1853) in the Regent's 

 Park Gardens, and my own. He also warns 



me of the difficulty of rearing chickens bre<, 

 "in-and-in." I have accordingly added a game 

 hen as a companion. Though the old birds ex- 

 hibit considerable wildness in their look, yet a 

 cockerel, raised last year, will daily take his food 

 from my fingers, and his look is docile. 



" ' My hybrid hen is less than the common 

 game hen, and is of more delicate shape. She 

 exhibits much of the color of the duck-wing va-> 

 riety, probably from her game parentage. The 

 neck and breast are of very pale ochre.' 



" Mr. Blyth also states that he found the prog- 

 eny between the Sonnerat cock and a domestic 

 hen decidedly infertile." 



THE BANKIVA JUNGLE FOWL. 



This beautiful species is the most diminutive 

 of its genus, and the stock to which our own 

 bantams are generally and with much probability 

 assigned. It is a native of the Island of Java ; 

 but a bird nearly allied to this, though some- 

 what larger, is found on the continent of India. 

 Writers, however, in the natural history of these 

 countries, limit the designation Bankiva to the 

 smallest fowl. " An account has been given of 

 an imported pair of Bankiva fowl, from which, 

 however, no progeny was obtained, either pure 

 or from bantam hens, that were introduced into 

 their aviary ; they retained their unsociable de- 

 meanor to the last ; and after slaughtering sev- 

 eral bantams that had been thus placed with 

 them, they themselves at last fell victims to the 

 superior strength of a game hen." Many c.pec- 

 irnens have been seen in the gardens of the 

 Zoological Society in Regent's Park, London. 



" Specimens of these fowls, male and female," 

 says Dickson, " were brought from the Island of 

 Java, by M. Leschenaust, and deposited in the 

 Museum of Paris. They inhabit the forests and 

 borders of woods, and are exceedingly wild. On 

 examining the species, it will be found to ex- 

 hibit many points of resemblance with our com- 

 mon barn-yard fowls of the smaller or middling 

 size. The form and color are the same, the 

 comb and wattles are similar, and the hen so 

 much resembles the common hen, that it is diffi- 

 cult to distinguish it, except by the less erect 

 slant of the tail. The rise of the tail is much 

 more apparent in the male ; , but it may be ob- 



