Origin of Domestic Fowls. 495 



The above are all the wild breeds of poultry now known to naturalists. Temminck described 

 a fifth, under the name of Galhts gigaiitais, which is generally supposed to have been the Malay, 

 though there is some difficulty in reconciling the whole of his description with that breed. The 

 Malay at all events is now extinct as a wild race, so far as is at present known. Reviewing these 

 four varieties, then, most naturalists consider the Galhis Bankiva to be the sole progenitor of the 

 domestic breeds; and Mr. Darwin sums up the arguments in favour of this view so forcibly, that 

 we may for convenience condense them from his work alone.* 



Of the Sonnerat Fowl Mr. Darwin notices the peculiar horny plates, which he has not been 

 able to find traces of in any domestic breed, and which he found in some hybrids raised in the 

 Zoological Gardens from a Red Game hen ; also the absence of distinct serrations in the cock's 

 comb, the want of true hackles on the saddle, the "utterly different" voice, and the nearly 

 sterile character of the hybrids. Of the last point especially he collects examples ; quoting 

 Mr. Blyth, who raised nearly loO hybrid chickens, which were tender, and mostly died young, those 

 which survived being absolutely sterile when crossed either inter se or with either parent. Mr. 

 Dixon, he says, inquired into some hybrids raised at the Regent's Park Gardens, and found them 

 not quite so sterile, five or six chickens being reared out of about fifty eggs, but still very unfertile. 

 In other- and more extensive experiments at the Gardens, out of some 500 eggs from various 

 hybrids and first crosses, only twelve chickens were reared, of which only three were the product of 

 hybrids inter se. " From these facts, and from the above strongly-marked differences in structure 

 between the. Domestic Fowl and Gal/i/s Sonncratii," Mr. 'Darwin concludes, "we may reject this 

 latter species as the parent of any domestic breed." 



Of the Galhis Stanlcyii he says that, like the last, it crosses readily with the tame hens, and 

 even visits farms for that purpose. But the two hybrids being found by Mr. Mitford to be quite 

 sterile, this too "may in all probability be rejected as one of the primitive stocks." 



The G alius fur catHS is said to "differ in so many characters — green plumage, unserrated 

 comb, and single median wattle — that no one supposes it to have been the parent of any one of our 

 breeds," though many hybrids have been raised from it. These hybrids are said by Mr. Crawford 

 to be invariably sterile ; but Mr. Darwin himself states that this was not the case with some bred at 

 the Gardens. He also adds the curious fact that across the tail of one of several fowls sent him by 

 Sir James Brooke from Borneo were transverse blue bands, like those which are very often seen on 

 the tails of the hybrids from Galhis furcatus ; this he thinks may denote that some of the fowls 

 of Borneo have been affected by a cross of Galhis furcatus, though the case may also possibly be 

 merely one of "analogous variation.-" 



Coming, then, to Galhis Bankiva, he finds that this variety has a much wider range than the 

 other; that it varies in its habitat; that it varies considerably even in the wild state; that it almost 

 precisely resembles the Game — the most typical of all our present breeds ; that the voice resembles 

 that of the Game cock ; and that it breeds freely with Bantams, and the progeny also breed freely 

 with Bantams, though very unfortunately Captain Hutton, who establishes this fact, did not 

 attempt breeding the hybrids inter se. This is certainly to be regretted, as the breeding of hybrids 

 amongst themselves is known universally to be the severest proof of unity of species ; we think, 

 however, it is very possible the experiment would have succeeded. Hence Mr. Darwin concludes 

 that " from the extremely close resemblance in colour, general structure, and especially in voice, 

 between Galhis Bankiva and the Game fowl; from their fertility, as far as this has been ascertained, 

 when crossed ; from the possibility of the wild species being tamed ; and from its varying in the 



• " Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication," Vol. I., pp. 233 — 237. 



