ORDER GALLING. 179 



It appears more probable that the primitive hens are 

 brown, red, or grey, indifferently, and that the black and 

 white colours are among the consequences of domestica- 

 tion. This opinion is based upon the fact, that all the 

 wild hens which have been observed, whether races or 

 species, have the intermediate colours. The greatest number 

 of our domestic hens are in the same predicament, when 

 derived from hens of all colours, and the white or black 

 varieties are perpetuated only by preserving the breed 

 unmixed. 



There are, however, races, or, to speak more correctly, 

 species of the cock, the primitive stock of which must, in- 

 dubitably, have been white. We remark in the downy hens 

 that white constantly predominates, and that when any atten- 

 tion is paid not to cross the races, this colour is easily pre- 

 served in all its purity. It may even be possible, though it 

 must be confessed that this is only conjecture, that our 

 common hens, whose plumage is entirely white or black, may 

 owe their origin to a race crossed either with the species 

 primitively white, or with those which have the plumage 

 invariably black. 



It is impossible to retrace the different original species 

 among our common hens. Chance and design have multiplied 

 and crossed them, to such a degree that it would be useless to 

 undertake the task of separating from among them the diffe- 

 rent primitive races. The impression of all races confounded 

 together, will be found in any large number of our domestic 

 hens. Some are very large, some small, others middling. 

 There are black, there are white, there are of all colours. 

 Some are to be found with double crest, some with single, 

 some without any. Some with a notched crest, some with it 

 smooth and rounded. Some display frizzled feathers, some 

 have the plumage in the ordinary style. Some are rough- 



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