410 
ON THE ORIGIN OF 
much more secure ground in our present reasoning, than 
were the naturalists of the preceding century. The jungle 
cock is not only no longer the only claimant to the honour 
of having so greatly benefited the human race, but other 
species have become known which bear a resemblance so 
much closer to certain standard varieties among the domes- 
tic breeds, that his claims may fairly be considered as alto- 
gether set aside. In fact, several characters of the jungle 
cock have never been traced in any of the domestic varie- 
ties, and many of these latter present features which, if not 
incompatible with, at least bear no resemblance to any of 
the attributes of the supposed original. 
It may be observed, that the natural form and structure 
of any portion of the animal organization are much less 
easily altered or effaced than the more superficial and tran- 
sitory character of colour ; and hence if a particular species 
of bird be naturally distinguished by a pecuhar consistence, 
as well as colour of plumage, the influence of those cavises 
which produce variation more seldom affect the former 
than the latter. Reasoning, therefore, a priori, it would 
be more natural to expect that, if the jungle cock were the 
parent of our domestic breeds, such breeds, however they 
might vary in the colouring of their plumage, would at 
least at times exhibit those marked and peculiar characters 
of form and structure by which the feathers of the supposed 
original are distinguished. This, hov>^ever, is not the case. 
Amid the infinite varieties which occur among our domestic 
poultry, the plumage of none is found characterized by 
those horny laminae or expansions of the quill, which form 
so marked a feature in the plumage of the jungle cock, and 
which assuredly would have either continued a permanent 
feature, or been occasionally manifested in one or other of 
our domestic breeds, had these been mainly derived from 
the species in question. It is chiefly on account of this dif- 
