THE OLD ENGLISH GAME FOWL. 



CHAPTBE I. 



ORIGIN AND HISTOEY. 



T what time the game fowl was first kept in a state of 

 domestication is not known. As in the case of the horse 

 and the dog, the past is silent on that point, and we are 

 left to conjecture. As to the origin of the game cock, many writers 

 have aired their pet theories ; nearly all, however, attribute his 

 origin to four varieties of jungle fowl, viz., Gallus ferruginous, Gallus 

 Sonneratii, Gallus furcatus, and the Ceylon jungle, fowl. We are 

 bound, however, to add that, although these wild varieties are game 

 in the wild state, yet the crosses that have been tried in India with 

 the jungle fowl have been failures in point of courage, and while it 

 was the opinion of one of our ablest authorities on game fowls, and 

 in which I entirely coincide, that the yellow-legged and yellow- 

 fleshed varieties were introduced from India at a comparatively 

 later date, and are descended from some of the wild jungle fowls 

 still in existence there, the older white-legged and white-fleshed 

 birds are not of that origin, but have been in England from the 

 earliest times, and are probably descended from some species now 

 extinct. The opinion expressed by Trevor Dickins, Esq., was that 

 the original wild varieties of game fowls were— 



1. Black breasted reds, with fawn partridge hens. 



2. Brown breasted reds, with dark brown hens. 



3. Eed breasted ginger reds, with yellow legs and light partridge 

 hens. 



