86 BIRDS OF THE WORLD 



careful breeding for centuries man has produced from 

 this bird many remarkable varieties. Indeed, the 

 Leghorn and the Game-fowls retain much of the 

 original character of the Jungle-foVl, although in 

 them, as well as in most other domestic breeds, the 

 comb and wattles are much more developed. The 

 cocks of the Game-fowls are used for fighting, and 

 for many years, in England and in other countries, 

 they were regularly bred and trained for this pur- 

 pose. The largest of the domestic Fowls are the 

 Brahmins and the Cochin Chinas. The latter breed 

 was introduced into England about 1850, and soon 

 was in great demand, the eggs bringing very high 

 prices. Perhaps the best-known breed in this country 

 is the Plymouth Rock, a large, heavily made fowl, 

 curiously mottled with grey and white. Among the 

 most beautiful are the silver-speckled and golden- 

 speckled Hamburgs. Polish-fowls are distinguished 

 by their large topknot of long feathers, which fall 

 down over the eyes like the hair of a sky-terrier, in 

 some cases almost blinding them. In Japan for many 

 hundreds of years has been bred a curious species 

 called the Long-tailed Fowl, in which the abnormally 

 lengthened tail-feathers sometimes measure as much 

 as twenty feet. These feathers are sometimes kept 

 carefully wrapped in paper to protect them from in- 

 jury. See Plate 27, Fig. 156. 



Domestic Fowls have a great variety of calls, or 

 notes, which any one may soon learn to interpret. 

 The cluck of the mother hen when she takes her chicks 

 out to hunt for food; the peculiar sound known as 

 "singing," in which she indulges after having been 



