HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
19 
This is a veritable fairyland, but the romance 
is very quickly dispelled when one returns to our 
hot sandy camp filled with humanity of every 
race, colour, and religion, or suddenly run into a 
party of Askaris in the dense thorny bush. Of 
course, we were not alowed to fire at the game, 
but coming' back to camp — — shot a young rooi- 
bok, which succulent morsel will tone up our 
evening meal considerably. 
One has to be awfully careful with the water 
bottle on the veldt, as you never know what's 
going to happen, so I never drink unless I am 
really thirsty, and always wait until I've cooled 
down as one drinks less then; this, I may tell 
you, requires a good deal of strength of will 
sometimes. I find an excellent substitute for 
wa:er in those thirst quenchers you sent me, 
which, by the way, are nearly finished, and those 
mal: lozenges which on trek are the best things 
in the world. I would be awfully thankful if you 
can get some more up to me. 
THE PEDIGREE OF POULTRY. 
By Frank Finn. 
The original wild fowl is what sportsmen call 
in India the Red Jungle-fowl; this inhabits North- 
ern India, Burma, Malaysia, and the adjacent 
Easgt Indian islands. It is only found in hot cli- 
mates, for though it loves the foot-hills, it seldom 
goes high enough up the mountains to get into a 
temperate climate, and it frequents tree and bam- 
boo jungle, coming out into the open at times to 
feed, and roosting on trees, to which it alsqi often 
takes when alarmed. Its habits are,, in fact, very 
similar to those of the pheasant here, and like 
that bird and its own tame descendants, it will 
feed on practically any kind of food, from grain 
to young snakes, even poisonous ones. In size 
and carriage it is also much like the pheasant, 
the cock being from 1£ to 2£ lbs. in weight, and 
the hen from barely more than 1 lb. to 1£; in 
colour it is just like some tame breeds, such as 
Brown Leghorns and Black-red Game. The legs, 
however, are slate-coloured, a tint which is nol 
accepted in any tame bird having the plumage of 
jungle-fowl. 
The hen lays only once a year, and her clutch 
varies from six to twelve in number, the smaller 
clutch being the more common; the eggs are 
Cream-coloured and, of course, small in size, like 
a pheasants. The chicks are brown, striped with 
chocolate and cream-colour, like black-red game 
chicks, and the hen is a most brave and devoted 
mother to them. Jungle-fowl can be tamed, es- 
pecially .he Burmese race, which is a little more 
like a tame fowl than the Indian, not having such 
a scared, wild look, so that it is possible that it 
was East of India that the taming of fowls began. 
They are commonly shot in India, and are fine 
eating if killed when in season, especially if they 
have had a chance to get at grain. Their notes 
are just like those of our bantams. 
There are three other kinds of wild fowls, 
one in South India, the Grey or Sonnerat's; 
another red kin din Ceylon; and the Green Jungle- 
cock of Java and the adjacent islands. These are 
quite distinct birds, and have never betn fully 
tamed, though they are obviously fowls, resem- 
bling the red Indian bird and its tame descendants 
such as zebras and donkeys resemble horses and 
ponies; in all the notes are unlike those of tame 
fowls. 
Wherever it was first tamed, the fowl was 
passed on by the Persians to' the Greeks; it was 
well known, to the Romans, who had bantams and 
a five-toed breed; and they found our ancestors 
keeping it when Caesar invaded Britain, though 
the ancient Britons did not eat their fowls, he 
says, but kept them for pleasure only. 
Now-a-days this bird Lsi kept nearly all over 
the world, even in Iceland and in the missionary 
settlements in Greenland; in the Pacific Islands 
it has run wild and no doubt elsewhere, but never 
except in a hot climate. Jungle-fowl, however, 
will live wild in our woods like pheasants, but 
would not probably survive long without artificial 
feeding in winter. 
We see then, how we are fighting against 
Nature in endeavouring to> get our hens to lay 
hundreds of eggs yearly; in raising fowls of six 
to ten pounds' weight; and in getting them to 
lay in winter. We also understand how it is that 
when two very distinct breeds are crossed, red 
and brown colurs often crop up; it is a reversion 
or throw-back to the original type. Similarly, 
when two non-sitting breeds are crossed, the 
cross-bred hems are as ready to sit as the ordinary 
breeds, going back to the instinct of the wild 
hen. 
The wild fowl is often found in pairs, only, 
and very rarely in large flocks, though a flock of 
thirty, cocks and hens mixed, has at least once 
been seen. This helps us to understand how it is 
much easier to keep a small group of fowls in 
good and productive condition than a large one; 
and it is quite against the nature of the bird to 
l'\c in packed colonies. The love of warmth and 
at the same time dislike of scorching sun, also 
take us back to the forest haunts, hot yet shady, 
of the original bird. 
The lirsi descendants of the jungle-fowl are 
common or barn door fowls, which have no special 
points, but very much in colour; these are still 
the common poultry of many countries, but in 
England have been so much crossed of late years 
with special breeds that they mostly show traces 
of seme breed or another ■ f the cultivated breeds, 
the fighting or Old English game is far the most 
like the wild bird, courage having been attended 
to without selection for other points. 
