ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL SELECTION 35 



fly. The plumage is soft and downy ; the legs thick 

 and feathered ; the comb and wattle well developed. 

 The Dorking is a large bird with a large comb 

 and wattle, and possesses an extra toe. 



The Spanish is tall and of stately carriage. The 

 comb and wattle are very large. 



The Hamburgh has a flat comb prolonged back- 

 wards, and a moderate-sized wattle. 



The Polish is characterised by a large crest of 

 feathers, the comb being either absent or very small. 

 The wattle is sometimes replaced by a tuft of 

 feathers. 



The Bantam is of small size and bold erect 

 carriage. 



The Silk-fowl is a small bird with very silky 

 feathers. 



All these birds, differing so much among them- 

 selves, are descended from Gallus bankiva, the 

 Jungle-fowl (Fig. 3), which is still found in a wild 

 state in India and the Malay Islands. This bird 

 was domesticated in India and China before 1400 B.C., 

 and was introduced into Europe about 600 b.c. 

 Several distinct breeds were known to the Romans 

 about the commencement of the Christian era. 

 3 The Ancon Sheep. — Another well-known ex- 

 ample of artificial selection, and one of the few 

 known instances in which new breeds have suddenly 

 originated, is that of the Ancon Sheep, bred by Seth 

 Wright, a farmer of Massachusetts. In 1791 one of 

 Seth Wright's sheep bore a male lamb which had 

 very short and bandy legs. Now, as Wright was 

 continually losing his sheep, owing to their jumping 



