290 DOMESTIC DUCKS. Chap. VIII. 



CHAPTER Till. 



DUCK— (IOOSE — PEACOCK TURKEY GUINEA-FOWL — CANARY- 

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



DUCKS, SEVERAL BREEDS OF — PROGRESS OF DOMESTICATION— ORIGIN OF 

 FROM THE COMMON WILD-DUCK — DIFFERENCES IX 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-M4 >THS. SPECIES AND BREEDS OF — ANCIENTLY DOMESTICATED — 

 « ABE IN THEIR SELECTION — DIFFERENCES IN THE DIFFERENT RACES — IN 

 THE EGG, CATERPILLAR. AND COCOON MATES — INHERITANCE OF CHA- 

 RACTERS —IMPERFECT WINGS— LOST INSTINCTS — CORRELATED CHARACTERS. 



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

 domestic breeds of the duck: — 



Breed 1. I .— Varies much in colour and 



in proportions, 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 dermal 



sack largely developed. (2) The Rouen, of great size, coloured like 

 the wild duck, with green or mottled beak; dermal sack largely 

 developed. (3) Tufted Duck, with a large top-knot of fine downy 

 leathers, 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, (-i) 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 ; never- 



1 'Poultry Chronicle ' (1854). vol. 2 Dr. Turral. in « Bull. Soe. d'Ac- 



Li. p, 91, aud vul. i. p. 33c. cliniat.,' torn. vii. 18ti0, p. 541. 



