Chap. VII- REVERSION AND ANALOGOUS VARIATION. 257 



on their wings. 31 The editor of the ' Poultry Chronicle ' 32 

 remarks that all the breeds which properly have red ear- 

 lappets occasionally produce birds with white ear-lappets. 

 This remark more especially applies to the Game breed, 

 which of all comes nearest to the G. bankiva ; and we have 

 seen that with this species living in a state of nature, the 

 ear-lappets vary in colour, being red in the Malayan countries, 

 and generally, but not invariably, white in India. 



In concluding this part of my subject, I may repeat 

 that there exists one widely-ranging, varying, and common 

 species of Gallus, namely, G. bankiva, which can be tamed, 

 produces fertile offspring when crossed with common fowls, 

 and closely resembles in its whole structure, plumage, and 

 voice the Game breed ; hence it may be safely ranked as the 

 parent of this, the most typical domesticated breed. We 

 have seen that there is much difficulty in believing that 

 other, now unknown, species have been the parents of the 

 other domestic breeds. We know that all the breeds are 

 most closely allied, as shown by their similarity in most 

 points of structure and in habits, and by the analogous 

 manner in which they vary. We have also seen that several 

 of the most distinct breeds occasionally or habitually closely 

 resemble in plumage G. bankiva, and that the crossed offspring 

 of other breeds, which are not thus coloured, show a stronger 

 or weaker tendency to revert to this same plumage. Some of 

 the breeds. whieh appear the most distinct and the least likely 

 to have proceeded from G. bankiva, such as Polish fowls, with 

 their protuberant and little ossified skulls, and Cochins, with 

 their imperfect tail and small wings, bear in these characters 

 the plain marks of their artificial origin. We know well that 

 of late years methodical selection has greatly improved and 

 fixed many characters ; and we have every reason to believe 

 that unconscious selection, carried on for many generations, 

 will have steadily augmented each new peculiarity, and thus 

 have given rise to new breeds. As soon as two or three 

 breeds were once formed, crossing would come into play in 



31 Dixon, « Ornamental and Do- < Prize Poultry,' p. 260. 

 mestic Poultry,' pp. 253, 324, 335. 32 ' Poultry Chronicle,' vol. ii. 



For game fowls, see Ferguson on 71. 



