62 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRD LIFE 



the fowl some time between 1200 and 800 b. o. 



When the domesticated bird was at last firmly 

 established in India, it spread rapidly westward. 

 By 700 B. c. it was to be seen figured on Babylon- 

 ian cylinders. A century or so later it had 

 reached Europe, though, strange to say, not Italy. 

 When the Romans conquered Ganl and later 

 Britain, they found the fowl already naturalized 

 in those two countries. They believed it to be 

 a native of Gaul, and called it gaUus. 



From China these domesticated jungle-birds 

 quickly spread to what is now Siberia and were 

 utilized by the nomadic tribes which roamed 

 there. Their first foothold in Africa was ob- 

 tained through the Egyptians. To America the 

 first birds were brought by the Spaniards, to-r 

 gether with the horse. American breeds have 

 since been introduced into the East ; and thus the 

 domestic fowl has completed its westward cycle 

 from the region of its birth. 



3 

 Breeds of Fowl 



If any wild species of animal or bird is held 

 in domestication for a snflfiicient number of genera- 

 tions, abnormal characteristics, such as albino- 

 ism, changes in color-pattern, or almost any non- 

 conformity to the original type, are sure to crop 

 out in some individuals. Some species, however, 



