ORDER GALLINiE. '2'21 



domestic ; the tube is gross, and considerably expanded ; it 

 forms a white stripe along the entire of the feather, as far as 

 the extremity, where it dilates and gives rise to an extension of 

 a cartilaginous nature, and rounded form ; this lamina is 

 whitish, thin, and very polished ; this substance is found still 

 more apparent upon the wings : the extremity, in fact, of all 

 the alar feathers forms a broad, cartilaginous plate, whose 

 substance is solid, and very thick to the touch, though, as 

 lustrous and polished as in the feathers of the neck. These 

 laminae are of a deep-red, and form by their reunion a plate 

 of a red marron, which looks as if it were varnished. 



The female is smaller than the male, and has neither crest 

 nor wattles ; the throat is covered with feathers — a marked 

 distinction from our domestic hens. The circumference round 

 the eye is naked and reddish. 



This species inhabits India ; it lives in the great forests, and 

 continues to reproduce there in the wild state. It is clearly 

 distinct from the domestic races educated by the Indians ; 

 these resemble, in all respects, the other domesticated races of 

 the cock in every quarter of the globe. 



The Negro Cock, which Latham marks as a variety, M. 

 Temminck seems to consider as a distinct species ; it is origin- 

 ally of India, and remarkable for the colour of the crest and 

 wattles, which are of a blackish violet. The skin is totally 

 black, and the periosteum is tinted with this colour. On this 

 colour of the flesh and bones, however, writers are not agreed. 

 Marsden and Freyer tell us, that the bones of these cocks 

 are of a decided black ; others tell us that even the flesh is 

 black. M. Temminck's observations present a different result. 

 According to him, the epidermis and periosteum alone are 

 black. The bones are like those of all other races, and the 

 flesh is white and well-tasted. Many travellers, who have 

 seen these birds in several parts of India, where the in- 

 habitants rear them, confirm this assertion. 



