RUMPLESS FOJVLS. 447 



differed from those which we have seen in having a black plumage variously marked with yellow. 

 Sonhii and Temminck state that it is a native of the Ceylon forests, and is called by the natives 

 Wallikikilli, or Cock of the Woods. This however is denied by Mr. E. L. Layard, brother of the 

 explorer of Nineveh. Writing from Ceylon in 1850, he says, 'The Rumpless fowl is not a wild 

 inhabitant of this island, in spite of Temminck. It is a rather rare tame introduction from China, 

 I am told. It may appear like boasting, but I can confidently say I am more acquainted with the 

 Ceylon fauna than any man living, and that if the bird had existed wild I must have seen it. 

 Wallikikilli is the name for the female of Gallus Stanlcyi, meaning literally, Walti, "jungle," and 

 kikilli, "hen." The name of the Rumpkin is Choci-hikullo, literally Cochin fowls' (Gardeners' 

 Chronicle, 1S51, page 619). The Rev. J. Clayton, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1693, page 

 992, says that he observed in Virginia that the hens and cocks were for the most part without tails ; 

 adding that he was assured that our English hens after some time lose their rumps. Buffon 

 inconsiderately accepted this as truth, and even Dr. Latham seems not to have felt certain of its 

 being untrue." 



The illustration on the preceding leaf represents a pair of Rumpless birds which were exhibited, 

 under the name of Wallikiki fowls (evidently a corruption of the Ceylon word mentioned above), at 

 the Zoological Gardens of Paris some years ago. 



We have seen in the chapter on Polish fowls that Mr. Hewitt found a hen which was deficient 

 in a toe perpetuate this physical pecularity in all her progeny without exception, exactly like 

 the occasional examples met with in the human race of six-fingered families. There can be hardly 

 any doubt that Rumpless fowls originated in a similar way ; but it is somewhat strange that this 

 should not only have been the case in widely-separated regions of the earth, but that certain 

 localities should have become marked for the abundance of fowls thus singularly distinguished. 

 Absurd as Mr. Clayton's tale was of English fowls losing their appendages after a while, there is no 

 reason whatever to doubt that he was correct in his account so far as regarded the mere abundance 

 of rumpless fowls in Virginia, and we met ourselves very recently with strikingly similar testimony ; 

 for returning from the Crystal Palace Poultry Show of 1872, in company with a West Indian 

 gentleman who had been down to see it, he informed us that the greater number of the fowls in his 

 neighbourhood had no tails. The tailless feline race of the Isle of Man is well known, and furnishes 

 a strikingly analagous case in point.* 



Rumpless fowls are not only destitute of tail-feathers, but it is found on plucking that the 

 caudal projection irreverently denominated by many carvers " the parson's nose," and from which 

 the tail grows, is utterly wanting ; while on still further investigation by dissection it is discovered 

 that even the spine itself is deficient in the final vertebrae. These peculiarities have become so 

 strongly fixed by long descent, that a Rumpless fowl crossed with any other almost always 

 produces a vast majority of Rumpless chickens. Hence, given a purely-bred Rumpless fowl, and 

 it is easy to establish a Rumpless breed of any character which may be desired ; and by this means 

 Rumpless Polish, Rumpless Bantams, &c., have been produced. These cross-bred birds, however, 

 are far less certain to reproduce their kind. 



The true Rumpless fowl itself, however, does not appear to have any fixed type beyond the 

 peculiarity from which it takes its name. Both rose and single combs are met with, and all colours. 

 The size is generally rather small, averaging perhaps some five pounds in the cocks and four pounds 

 in the hens, but still smaller are very common. The cocks possess true hackles both in neck and 



* Tlie many reports from various sources, not easily explained or laughed away, of a race of tailed men in Borneo, furnish an 

 example analogous by contrariety, which may suggest some curious reflections. 



