DOMESTIC POULTRY. 
409 
as that the test itself, not being of universal apphcation, is 
defective and improper. The test is this : Naturalists as- 
sert that if particular animals breed together, and their de- 
scendants continue to an indefinite period to produce fer- 
tile young, then they are one and all of the same species ; 
as, for example, the canine race, all of which produce with 
each other a fertile progeny, and are therefore regarded as 
specifically the same ; whereas the horse and the ass, though, 
under certain circumstances, they also breed together, pro- 
duce animals called mules, incapable of continuing their 
kind, and the parents of which are, on that account, re- 
garded as specifically distinct. Now, it is certain, that if 
this rule, after being established as true in fact, were to be 
applied to the various races of our domestic poultry, which, 
however different in appearance, certainly breed together, 
and produce fertile descendants, it might then be inferred 
that they were specifically the same. But, as the rule is 
not by any means established, as holding universally 
throughout the animal kingdom (of which the fertile hybrid 
between the ferret and polecat, and that between the dog 
and wolf, narrated by Buffon himself, in his Supplement, 
are familiar examples), I confess I would rather discard it 
altogether, than force facts to bend beneath so vague a 
generality. 
In regard, however, to the origin of our domestic poul- 
try, the first approximation to the truth (and I esteem it 
but an approximation), resulted from the discovery by 
Sonnerat, of a species of wild poultry, native to the Moun- 
tains of the Gates, in India. This is the Gallus Sonneratii 
of systematic naturalists, better known to the British resi- 
lents by the now familiar name of Jungle Cock. Our 
knowledge, however, of gallinaceous birds has so greatly 
increased during recent years, and so many additional spe- 
cies have been discovered, that we are able to proceed upon 
