136 



THE AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



THE EUMVLES8 FOWL. 



of the ordinary character. They are tender, 

 and more difficult to rear than the other va- 

 rieties, owing probably to their destitution of the 

 common feathers. 



THE RUMPLESS FOWL. 



This is the "Rumpless or Persian cook" of 

 Latham, and the "Rumpkin or Tailless fowl" 

 of others. 



Among the monstrosities of the domestic fowl 

 which are particularly curious, and worthy the 

 attention of the student of nature, may be men- 

 tioned the Rumpkin or Tailless cock, believed 

 at present to be found in its wild state in the 

 Island of Ceylon. 



Some writers, among whom is Temminck, 

 consider this bird a distinct species rather than 

 a variety ; that it is a wild breed, a native of the 

 Ceylon forests, and is called by the natives Wal- 

 likUcilli, or " Cock of the Woods." But Mr. Lay- 

 ard, writing from Ceylon in 1850, says, "The 

 Rumpless Fowl is not a wild inhabitant of this 

 island, in spite of M. Temminck. It is a rather 

 rare tame introduction from Cochin, I am told. 



It may appear like boasting, but I can confi- 

 dently say I am more acquainted with the Cey- 

 lon Fauna than any man living, and if the bird 

 had existed wild I must have seen it. Walli- 

 kikilli is the name for the female of gallus Stan- 

 leyi, meaning literally, Walli, jungle, and kakillL 

 hen." 



This bird is looked upon by some to be a 

 native of Persia. Buffon thinks, on the contra- 

 ry, that Virginia is the place whence it sprung. 

 He grounds his opinion on the one hand, on 

 what is reported by the Philosophical Transac- 

 tions of 1693, that when fowls are led to that 

 country they seem to lose their rumps ; and on 

 the other, on naturalists having only begun to 

 mention fowls without tails after the discovery 

 of America. " I am not of that opinion," says 

 Main, "which appears not admissible. In fact 

 modern travelers have not confirmed the loss 

 of the rump which the English experience in 

 Virginia, and it is positively known, that in the 

 wild parts of America, in the hottest even, this 

 privation does not take place." 



Elaine, in his "Rural Sports," says, "Of the 



