CHAPTER I. 



Origin and History of the Domestic Fowl 



With regard to the origin of the domestic fowl, Charles Darwin, in his Vari- 

 ation qf Animals a/nd I'lants under Domestication, says, in speaking of the various 

 s ; >ccies of Gallus : " The G. SonneratU does not range into the northern parts of 

 Tiidia; according to Col. Sykes it presents at different heights on the Ghauts 

 two strongly-marked varieties, perhaps deserving to be called species.. It was at 

 oue'lime thought to be the primitive stock of all our domestic breeds, and this 

 shows that it closely approaches the common fowl in general structure ; but its 

 hackles partially consist of highly peculiar, horny laminae, transversely banded 

 with three colors, and I have met with no authentic account of any such char- 

 acter having been observed in any domestic breed. This species also differs 

 greatly from the common fowl, in the comb being finely serrated, and in the 

 loins being destitute of true hackles. Its voice is utterly different. It crosses 

 readily in India with domestic hens, but the hybrids thus produced are almost 

 absolutely sterile when crossed among themselves or with either parent. • * From 

 these facts we may reject this species as being the parent of any domestic breed. 



"Ceylon possesses a fowl peculiar to this island; namely, Q. Stamleyii. This species 

 approaches so closely (except in coloring of the comb) to the domestic fowl, that 

 Messrs. E. Layard and Kellaert would have considered it, as they inform me, 

 as one of the parent stocks, had it not been for its singularly different voice. 

 This bird, like the last, crosses readily- with tame hens, but the produce is sterile, 

 and inherits the peculiar voice of G. StamXeyU, This species may then, in all 

 probability, be rejected, as one of the primitive stocks of the domestic fowl. 



" Java, and the islands eastward, as far as Flores, are inhabited by G. variua 

 (or fwrcalw), which differs in so many characters — green plumage, unserrated 

 comb, and single median wattle — that no one supposes it to have been the parent 

 of any one of our breeds ; yet, as I am informed by Mr. Crawfurd, hybrids are 

 commonly raised between the male G. vamusandL the common hen, and are kept 

 for their great beauty, but are invariably sterile. 



"The last species to be mentioned ; namely, G. baaihiva, has a much wider geo- 

 graphical range than the three previous species; it inhabits northern India as far 

 west as Sinde, and ascends the Himalaya to a height of four thousand feet; it in- 

 habits Burmah, the Malay peninsula, the Indo-Chinese countries, the Philippine 

 Islands, and the Malayan archipelago as far eastward as Timor. This species 

 varies considerably in the wUd state. Mr. Blyth informs me that the specimens, 

 both male and female, brought from near the Himalaya, are rather paler colored 

 than those from other parts of India ; whilst those from the Malay peninsula and 

 Java, are brighter than the Indian birdsi I have seen specimens from these coun- 

 tries, and the difference of tint in the hackles was conspicuous. The Malayan 



