276 DOMESTIC DUCKS. Chap. VIII. 



' 



CHAPTER VIII. 



DUCKS _ GOOSE — PEACOCK — TURKEY — GUINEA-FOWL — 

 CANARY-BIRD — GOLD-FISH — HIVE-BEES — SILK-MOTHS. 



DUCKS, SEVERAL BREEDS OP — PROGRESS OF DOMESTICATION — ORIGIN OF, FROM THE 

 COMMON WILD-DUCK — DIFFERENCES IN THE DIFFERENT BREEDS — OSTEOLOGICAL 

 DIFFERENCES — EFFECTS OF USE AND DISUSE ON THE LIMB-BONES. 



GOOSE, ANCIENTLY DOMESTICATED — LITTLE VARIATION OF — SEBASTOPOL BREED. 



PEACOCK, ORIGIN OF BLACK-SHOULDERED BREED. 



TURKEY, BREEDS OF — CROSSED WITH THE UNITED STATES SPECIES — EFFECTS OF 

 CLIMATE ON. 



GUINEA-FOWL, CANARY-BIRD, GOLD-FISH, HIVE-BEES. 

 SILK-MOTHS, species and breeds of — anciently domesticated — CARE in 



THEIR SELECTION — DIFFERENCES IN THE DIFFERENT RACES — IN THE EGG, CATER- 

 PILLAR, AND COCOON STATES — INHERITANCE OF CHARACTERS — IMPERFECT WINGS 

 — LOST INSTINCTS — CORRELATED CHARACTERS. 



I will, as in previous cases, first briefly describe the chief 

 domestic breeds of the duck : — 



Beeed 1. Common Domestic Buck. — Varies much in colour and in pro- 

 portions, and differs in instincts and disposition from the wild-duck. There 

 are several sub-breeds : — (1) The Aylesbury, of great size, white, with pale- 

 yellow beak and legs ; abdominal sack largely developed. (2) The Eouen, 

 of great size, coloured like the wild-duck, with green or mottled beak; 

 abdominal sack largely developed. (3) Tufted Duck, with a large top- 

 knot of fine downy feathers, supported on a fleshy mass, with the skull 

 perforated beneath. The top-knot in a duck which I imported from Holland 

 was two and a half inches in diameter. (4) Labrador (or Canadian, or 

 Buenos Ayres, or East Indian) ; plumage entirely black ; beak broader, 

 relatively to its length, than in the wild-duck ; eggs slightly tinted with 

 black. This sub-breed perhaps ought to be ranked as a breed ; it includes 

 two sub-varieties, one as large as the common domestic duck, which I have 

 kept alive, and the other smaller and often capable of flight. 1 I presume 

 it is this latter sub-variety which has been described in France 2 as flying 

 well, being rather wild, and when cooked having the flavour of the wild- 

 duck ; nevertheless this sub-variety is polygamous, like other domesticated 

 ducks and unlike the wild duck. These black Labrador ducks breed true ; 



1 'Poultry Chronicle' (1854), vol. ii. 2 Dr. Turral, in 'Bull. Soc. d'Ac- 



p. 91, and vol. i. p. 330. climat.,' torn, vii., 1860, p. 541. 



