500 The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 



though the triple character was well marked, there was not a vestige of serration. The Rev. James 

 Ellis, of Bracknell, Berks, once sent us a fine cock expressly to have our opinion upon a comb of 

 this sort. And, lastly, we saw (see p. 247) that all the great Asiatic races, when crossed, have been 

 known to produce the pea-comb- by reversion ; showing, on Mr. Darwin's own principles, that this 

 feature almost certainly had a place somewhere in the ancestry of the Asiatic stocks. 



Passing finally to Callus Bankiva, we find this fowl more largely distributed than the others; 

 that it almost precisely resembles an existing breed ; that it varies in colour and somewhat in size 

 (these two being perhaps the strongest points of all in favour of its claims) ; and that its hybrids 

 appear to breed freely with either of the parent stocks. On the other hand, the crow of the cock, 

 though very similar to that of the Game, is admitted to be shorter, as if the last note were broken 

 off. It remains to be proved if the hybrids would breed among themselves ; and — what deserves 

 particular mention^the neck-hackles when first moulted are replaced, not by the true hackles, but 

 by short dark grey or black feathers, which remain for two or three months before they are replaced 

 by the new hackles. It is true Mr. Darwin quotes Mr. Brent as stating that these black feathers 

 appear in the domestic cock also, but in his case contemporaneously with the hackles ; remaining 

 in both after the hackles have grown. We think, however, that Mr. Brent must have examined 

 Game Fowls chiefly ; for we have examined many other breeds at the moulting season, and been 

 utterly unable to find these black feathers at any stage of the process, except in some (not all) 

 Game Fowls ; and it is worthy of note that this is the breed which most closely resembles the 

 Callus Bankiva in other respects. 



Summing up the whole, it appears that the barrenness of the hybrids of Callus Sonneratii 

 is at best exceedingly doubtful, having more than probably resulted in great part from injudicious 

 treatment, and disappearing in a great degree under more natural conditions ; while the peculiar 

 plates quickly disappear, and the wild blood is readily absorbed into the domestic ; we find also 

 that the crow, though peculiar, is described by one of the most experienced breeders as " not so 

 very unlike a Bantam's ;" while Colonel Sykes also compares it to that of a Bantam. We find the 

 barrenness of hybrids of Callus Staulcyii rests entirely on the evidence of two specimens ; while 

 we also find that this race is apparently the most of all impatient of confinement, and has " never 

 yet bred in captivity," even ivlien pure ; and we further find that, the symptoms of reversion in 

 domestic breeds point to the colour of this variety rather than to the one usually regarded as the 

 parent. We find a strong tendency to approach more or less to every peculiar point of the Callus 

 furcatus in a domestic Asiatic breed ; while this latter breed also possesses a feature — the triple 

 comb — to which other Asiatic races show a strange tendency still to revert. And of the Callus 

 Bankiva, it is found that the voice differs in some degree ; that it has a peculiar feature — the 

 temporary black hackle — which only appears to be found in the domestic breed most closely 

 resembling it, and not always even in that ; whilst the perfect fertility of its hybrids still remains 

 to be ascertained, and for all that appears is in no respect greater than that of the Sonnerat. 



What are we then to suppose .' That the Callus furcatus, for instance, was the progenitor of 

 the Brahma, just as the Callus Bankiva almost unquestionably was of the Game .? By no means : no 

 naturalist would come to any such conclusion. What we think is clear, is simply that there are 

 tendencies in some of our domestic breeds which certainly are not due to the Callus Bankiva, and 

 which, as they are found in the Callus furcatus, are probably the result of natural rather than 

 artificial development ; a conclusion which is strengthened by the fact that another feature of 

 Callus furcatus, not usually found in the domestic breed most resembling it, still appears occasionally 

 by reversion in that same breed. Hence, we are disposed to think the original type can only be 

 found still further back ; that it diverged into various sub-types, including the four wild breeds 



