ORDER GALLIN.E. 171 



which is still the nurse of its purity and independence — to 

 establish the characters proper to the primitive stock — to 

 indicate the different alterations which ages of domestication 

 have produced in this primeval species — to assign to the 

 various races their genuine origin — to illuminate the chaos of 

 darkness with which time and human caprice have obscured 

 the history of their propagation in almost every country of 

 the globe — these are problems in the science of nature, to the 

 solution of which the highest interest is attached. 



It is difficult, if not impossible, to resolve all these ques- 

 tions. The domestication of the cock ascends to times of 

 such remote antiquity, that it is hopeless to determine its 

 era, and more than probable that the primitive species will 

 never be ascertained. 



We shall cite, however, the various opinions of the prin- 

 cipal writers on this subject, confront them together, refer 

 their descriptions to primitive species which are known, and 

 thus endeavour to throw some light on the darkness in which 

 the origin of the races of this bird is involved. We shall 

 notice new species in the genus, and mark the generic charac- 

 ters, according to the forms proper to all the species which 

 compose this family. 



M. Temminck separates the cocks from the genus Phasi- 

 amtSf and forms them into a separate and isolated genus. 

 He considers the characters of phasianus little applicable 

 to the great majority of the cocks : the caudal feathers 

 of the pheasants are long, narrow, and vaulted ; the two 

 intermediate quills are constantly more elongated than the 

 lateral ; the cheeks are covered with a tissue composed of 

 small feathers exceedingly short, and resembling velvet. The 

 pheasants have also a very delicate constitution, equally sen- 

 sible to the casual variations of the weather, and to the in- 

 fluence of a cold climate. It is only by the most assiduous 



