260 



FOWLS. 



Chap. VII. 



writers speak of the Spanish as one of the most distinct breeds, 

 and so it is in general aspect ; but its characteristic differences 

 are not important. The Malay appears to me more distinct, from 

 its tall stature, small drooping tail with more than fourteen 

 tail-feathers, and from its small comb and wattles ; nevertheless 

 one Malay sub-breed is coloured almost exactly like Gr. banhiva. 

 Some authors consider the Polish fowl as very distinct; but 

 this is a semi-monstrous breed, as shown by the protuberant and 

 irregularly perforated skull. The Cochin, with its deeply fur- 

 rowed frontal bones, peculiarly shaped occipital foramen, short 

 wing-feathers, short tail containing more than fourteen feathers, 

 broad nail to the middle toe, fluffy plumage, rough and dark- 

 coloured eggs, and especially from its peculiar voice, is probably 

 the most distinct of all the breeds. If any one of our breeds 

 has descended from some unknown species, distinct from Gr. 

 banhiva, it is probably the Cochin ; but the balance of evidence 

 does not favour this view. All the characteristic differences of 

 the Cochin breed are more or less variable, and may be detected 

 in a greater or lesser degree in other breeds. One sub-breed 

 is coloured closely like Gr. banhiva. The feathered legs, often 

 furnished with an additional toe, the wings incapable of 

 flight, the extremely quiet disposition, indicate a long course 

 of domestication; and these fowls come from China, where 

 we know that plants and animals have been tended from a 

 remote period with extraordinary care, and where conse- 

 quently we might expect to find profoundly modified domestic 

 races. 



Osteological Differences. — I have examined twenty-seven skele- 

 tons and fifty-three skulls of various breeds, including three 

 of Gr. banhiva : nearly half of these skulls I owe to the 

 kindness of Mr. Tegetmeier, and three of the skeletons to 

 Mr. Eyton. 



The Skull differs greatly in size in different breeds, being nearly twice as 

 long in the largest Cochins, but not nearly twice as broad, as in Bantams. 

 The bones at the base, from the occipital foramen to the anterior end 

 (including the quadrates and pterygoids), are absolutely identical in shape 

 in all the skulls. So is the lower jaw. In the forehead slight differences 

 are often perceptible between the males and females, evidently caused by 

 the presence of the comb. In every case I take the skull of Q. banhiva 

 as the standard of comparison. In four Games, in one Malay hen, in an 



