THE DOMESTIC FOWL 



ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 



" fowls were prepared for me, and also once 



in ten days, store of all sorts of wine." 



Holt "Writ. 



The Common Fowl, as well as the pea fowl, are of 

 Indian origin, and we learn nothing respecting them 

 till within a comparatively recent epoch. It will natu- 

 rally be asked, What is the earliest date of poultry- 

 keeping ? Nobody knows. It is thought by some to 

 be coeval with the keeping of sheep by Abel, and the 

 tilling of the ground by Cain — a supposition which 

 cannot be far from probability, if there is any founda- 

 tion for the legend that G-omer, the eldest son of 

 Japhet, took a surname from the cock. Indeed, it 

 would be to him that Western Europe stands indebted 

 for a stock of fowls from the aflkitself. For, it is 

 supposed by the erudite, and shown by at least probable 

 arguments, that the descendants of Gromer settled in 

 the northern parts of Asia Minor, and then spread into 

 the Cimmerian Bosphorus and the adjacent regions, 

 and that from them the numerous tribes of the Gauls, 

 Germans, Celts, and Cimbrians descended. It is true 

 that there is no mention of fowls by name in the Old 

 Testament, except a doubtful allusion in the Vulgate, 



