498 The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 



Its real nature appears by comparison witk the feathers of the Sebastopol goose, an analogy which 

 is pointed out by Mr. Darwin himself when describing that bird. "These feathers," he says, "are 

 remarkable from the central shaft, which is excessively thin and transparent, being split into fine 

 filaments, which after running for a space free, sometimes coalesce again. It is a curious fact that 

 these filaments are regularly clothed on each side with fine down or barbules, precisely like those on 

 the proper barbs of tlie featJier : this structure of the feathers is transmitted to half-bred birds. In 

 Gallits Sonneratii the barbs and barbules blend together, and form thin horny plates of the same 

 nature with the shaft. In this variety of the goose, the shaft divides into filaments which acquire 

 barbules, and thus resemble true barbs." Hence we see that this goose presents a variation from 

 the normal type of a precisely analogous character (though in contrariety) to that of the Sonnerat ; 

 yet no one supposes it to be a distinct species. 



Regarding the Ceylon Jungle Fowl, or Galliis ^/«;?/i?j7V, there is less evidence available on either 

 side. The fact that hybrids between it and the common fowl are so common in Ceylon as scarcely 

 to excite remark, should make us cautious in concluding, on the sole evidence of the two individuals 

 mentioned by Mr. Mitford, that such hybrids are sterile; and on this point many of our observations on 

 the Callus Sonneratii, as to the difficulty of breeding from wild birds or their descendants in captivity, 

 will peculiarly apply, for it will be noted that the wild breed itself is stated never to have bred in 

 such circumstances, or even to have long survived. Hence we might expect great difficulty in 

 breeding from its hybrids, quite apart from any actual sterility. The great difference in voice is of 

 more weight, but will be thought much less of by a poultry-fancier, who is accustomed to the most 

 extraordinary differences between the voices of various domestic races, than by a naturalist. On the 

 whole, it must be admitted that there is very little evidence to show either that the Gallus Stanleyii 

 had or had not any share in the origin of the domestic fowl, though it is worthy of remark that the 

 resemblance of the bird itself is perhaps the most startling of all the wild breeds ; so that Messrs. 

 Layard and Kellaert mention the " George Joyce" crow as the sole reason for discarding it as one 

 of the parent stocks. This reason, however, as we have remarked, a fancier would consider very 

 insufficient if unsupported by others. In relation to this breed, it is also decidedly worthy of 

 remark that in most cases of reversion in colour amongst various breeds of poultry, the evident 

 tendency is towards a red or brown breast in the cock rather than to a black. This fact we have 

 already pointed out ; and, so far as it goes, it is more in favour of the present variety than of the 

 Gallus Bankiva as a possible parent of our domestic breeds. 



Of the Fork-tailed Java Cock, or Gallus furcattis, Mr. Darwin has remarked that it differs so very 

 much from the Domestic Fowl, that " no one supposes " it to have been the parent of any of our 

 breeds. The points of difference named are the green plumage, the unserrated comb, and the single 

 median wattle ; the last being, perhaps, the most marked of them all. We were, therefore, much 

 surprised and interested to see only the other day a Light Brahma hen in which this identical 

 feature was conspicuously developed. She was one of a trio of American Light Brahmas, sent by 

 Mr. J. M. Wade, of Philadelphia, to Mr. G. Wm. Fetter, of Streatham Grove, Surrey. One of the 

 hens was the grand bird drawn for our plate, from a photograph, many months before reaching 

 England, and which we found to weigh nearly fourteen pounds ; the other was the hen in question. 

 The extraordinary appearance of her head struck us at once, and is shown in Fig. 100, which is 

 drawn from life. There is not a vestige of the ordinary wattles at the sides of the base of the 

 lower mandible; but instead thereof an immense single wattle hanging in the true median line, 

 giving the whole head a most peculiar expression, which is added to by the shapeless character of 

 the comb. The feature would have struck any observer at once, as it struck ourselves ; so strongly, 

 in fact, that we at once sought and obtained a promise that the head of the bird should be pre- 



