FAHM-YAKD FOWLS. 



135 



or Shanghai were disregarded. "Anomalies 

 have been called," says Browne, " finger-points 

 that point the way to unsuspected truths. Hence 

 the strange irregularities which we often meet 

 with in our domestic fowls better deserve the 

 attention of naturalists than any favor of poul- 

 try-keepers. They may safely be pronounced 

 worthless as a stock, and have a more appro- 

 priate place in the menagerie or museum than 

 in the poultry-yard." 



Temminck states in general terms that the 

 Silky fowl is a native of India. But Mr. Blyth 

 states more specifically, " the only Silky fowls 

 I have seen here (Calcutta) were from China, 

 or Malacca, or Singapore ; the latter with single 

 red comb and wattles ; the former with com- 

 plex rose comb, blackish, I think, and a very 

 short, stubby beak, and a quantity of glaucous 

 blue skin in place of wattles, imparting a most 

 remarkable appearance." 



By some writers on poultry, the Silky fowl 

 has been indiscriminately mixed up with the 

 Bantam, although the distinctive character of 

 their figure, no less than plumage, would sug- 

 gest the propriety of assigning them a separate 

 chapter. 



This is the breed which gave rise, in 1776, to 

 the fable of the "Eabbit fowl," which was ex- 

 hibited in Brussels, as the produce of a rabbit 

 and a common hen, which was merely a Silky 

 fowl of Japan. It is said that Buffon was for a 

 long while teased by letters from two pretended 

 naturalists of Brussels, one of whom was a preb- 

 endary, and the other a Jew merchant; they 

 were continually writing to him in order to con- 

 vince him of the existence of the Rabbit fowl. 

 Buffon had answered several times by arguments 

 that proved the impossibility of such a dispro- 

 portioned connection. Their credulous obstina- 

 cy at last put him out of temper, and he silenced 

 them by a joke too bad to be inserted here, but 

 which rid him forever of the importunity of the 

 Jew and the prebendary. 



Some of this description of fowls were import- 

 ed into England a few years since from Cal- 

 cutta, and they, with their progeny, proved equal 

 to the climate of the southwestern districts of 

 England. Some, however, which were sent 

 into Lancashire suffered so severely that the 



attempt to keep them was abandoned. From 

 the peculiar character of their plumage they arc 

 not calculated to endure a low temperature or 

 excessive moisture. 



This breed is said to be indigenous in Japan, 

 where it is much prized, and is also found in 

 China, where they are frequently offered in 

 cages for sale to foreigners. 



Description. Their most usual color is white 

 with a black skin, and their bones are also cov- 

 ered with a dark pigment. The feathers have 

 their web separated from the point of the junc- 

 tion with the shaft, so that their covering seems 

 of hair rather than that which is ordinarily al- 

 lotted to birds. The tail feathers, in good specr 

 imens, should resemble fine gauze, for here 

 their texture is closer than on any other part of 

 the body ; the tail itself is short little more de- 

 veloped, in fact, than that of the Shanghai but 

 a sickle tail, such as is represented in the figure, 

 is not unfrequent ; in these too, the comb is car- 

 ried back farther than is common. 



The comb is usually depressed, approaching 

 in form to the Malay; but variations in this re- 

 spect are frequent, and single combs with those 

 of an intermediate character are by no means 

 uncommon the one first mentioned, however, 

 is the best form ; its color, with that of the wat- 

 tles, is a dark crimson, frequently becoming i\ 

 dull leaden hue ; the face being thinly covered 

 with feathers shows his dusky complexion, which 

 is still farther brought into relief by a white ear- 

 lobe, often tinged with light blue ; of this latter 

 color are the legs, which should be heavily feath- 

 ered. Individuals of this sort differ in respect 

 to color, as in other varieties ; some are pure 

 white, and others of a dingy-brown, and all of 

 them with dark colored legs, nor are the legs 

 always feathered. 



There is another spoken of as a distinct vari- 

 ety the " Yellow Silky fowl," but its origin is 

 supposed to be a cross between the yellow Ban- 

 tam with the white Silky fowl ; chickens have 

 been bred of several colors, blue, spotted, and va- 

 rious shades of yellow. By the intermixture of 

 yellow blood, however, the bright blue leg was 

 lost, which is a good feature in the white birds. 



We have known several instances of fowls 

 of this description, having sprung from those 



