310 GUINEA FOWL. Chap. VIII. 



Egerton, though precluded from crossing with, common 

 turkeys, occasionally produced much, paler-coloured birds, 

 and one that was almost white, but not an albino. These 

 half-wild turkeys, in thus differing slightly from each other* 

 present an analogous case with the wild cattle kept in the 

 several British, parks. We must suppose that such differences 

 have resulted from the prevention of free intercrossing 

 between birds ranging over a wide area, and from the 

 changed conditions to which they have been exposed in 

 England. In India the climate has apparently wrought a 

 still greater change in the turkey, for it is described by Mr. 

 Blyth 43 as being much degenerated in size, "utterly in- 

 capable of rising on the wing.'"' of a black colour, and "with 

 the long pendulous appendages over the beak enormously 

 developed." 



The Guinea Fowl. 



Thf: domesticated Guinea fowl is now believed by some 

 naturalists to be descended from the Numida ptilorhynca, which 

 inhabits very hot, and, in parts, extremely arid districts in 

 Eastern Africa ; consequently it has been exposed in this 

 country to extremely different conditions of life. Nevertheless 

 it has hardly varied at all, except in the plumage being either 

 paler or darker- coloured. It is a singular fact that this bird 

 varies more in colour in the West Indies and on the Spanish 

 Main, under a hot though humid climate, than in Europe. 44 

 The Guinea fowl has become thoroughly feral in Jamaica and 

 in St. Domingo, 45 and has diminished in size; the legs are 

 black, whereas the legs of the aboriginal African bird are 

 said to be grey. This small change is worth notice on 

 account of the often-repeated statement that all feral animals 

 invariably revert in every character to their original type. 



43 E. Blyth. in 'Annals and Mag. singular pale-coloured varieties inr- 

 ofNat. Hist./ 1847, vol. sx. p. 391. ported from BarbaJoes and Demerara. 



44 Boulin makes this remark in 43 For St. Domingo, see M. A. 

 ; Mem. de divers Savans, TAcad. des Salle, in ' Proc. Zoolog. Soc' 1857, p. 

 Sciences.' torn. x'i., 1835, p. 349. Mr. 236. Mr. Hill remarks to me, in his 

 Hill, of SpanUh Town, in a letter to letter, on the colour of the legs ofth« 

 me, describes rive varieties of the feral birds in Jamaica. 



Guinea fowl in Jamaica. I have seen 





