no 
The Australasian Book of Poultry. 
into a greyish-white on the breast and under-parts of the body. The Sonemlii will breed freely with the 
Domestic Fowl. 
Galliis Fiuratiis, or Javanese Jungle Fowl, is one of the most strongly-marked and peculiar varieties of 
Wild Poultry. The head is long and narrow ; the comb of the cock is bluish at the base, merging into a 
violet at the top, and is very small and without serrations. The face is red, and the eyes are very prominent, 
and a distinctly-marked characteristic is the wattle, which is in the form of a single piece of skin hanging 
down from the centre of the lower mandible. The colour of this single wattle is yellowish towards the 
ear-lobes, merging into a dark crimson or purplisli shade towards the front. The neck hackle feathers are 
broad and rounded on the lower edge, and are of a brilliant green colour, banded with black ; these reach 
well down the back. The saddle feathers of the cock are similar in colour, but laced with yellow. The 
shoulder coverts and wing-bows are also similar, but edged with golden-green. The wing secondaries are 
orange-red, and the primaries black. The breast, thighs, and under-parts are almost black, with a bluish 
sheen, and the tail glossy greenish-black. The two top feathers of the true tail, and also the two main 
sickles, branch out laterally, from which the bird derives the name of the fork-tailed cock. The hen of this 
variety has neither comb nor wattles. The neck hackle is a greenish colour ; the back, wings, and tail are 
brownish-drab ; and the throat, breast, and under-parts are of a greyish colour. The colour of the legs in 
both sexes varies from a bluish-grey to a pinky-flesh colour. 
In reviewing the four wild varieties mentioned, it seems probable that the original type is still further 
back, and tlmt it may have diverged into various sub varieties, of which these form a part, and, later on, 
developing into some of the more prominent breeds with which we are now familiar ; but it is evident that 
tlie wild breed classified by Temminck as Gallus Gigantens must have been allied to the progenitor of some 
of the Asiatic tribes, as these breeds distinctly exhibit peculiarities and possess latent characteristics quite 
independent of either G.jIIiis Baiikiva, Gallus Stanlcxii, Gallus Soueratii, or Gallus Furcatiis, and, in 
summing up the various theories brought forward as to the origin of our Domestic Poultry, it seems feasible 
enough that the Gallus Banhiva is the progenitor of ouc section of the Game, it being proved that they 
closely resemble that most typical of all breeds^ and, though another characteristic trait quite foreign to 
Gallus Bankiva — the fork-tail of Gallus Furcatus — is present in many specimens recognised as descendants 
of the former, it rather strengthens the theory that the Gallus Furcatus is a sub-variety of Gallus Bankiva, 
breeding freely with the latter, and thus by this means tlie characteristic trait is perpetuated, and, owing to 
the tendency to reversion present in a more or less degree in every variety of Poultry, this point is 
occasionally cropping up and asserting iiself. 
Taking Gallus Furcatus, it will be found that, although this breed varies to a great extent with the 
Domestic Fowl, there is sufficient evidence that strongly-marked characteristics of the former are frequently 
met with in specimens of the various breeds of Poukry. 
The tendency to the single or median wattle is found in some strains of Brahmas. The fork-tail is a 
pronounced feature in the same breed, and also in some strains of Game Prowls, more especially the modern 
type; the presence of transverse bands of purple on the cock's green-black sickle feathers of some breeds, 
such as Brahmas, Malays, and Indian Game, and some strains of Modern British Game ; the purplish-blue 
comb, wanting serrations, found in the Silky Fowl ; the purplish or gipsy face, comb, and wattles in Black 
and Brown-Red Game Fowls ; and the crowning fact, that if any of the Asiatic breeds are crossed with 
almost any variety, some proportion of the progeny will exhibit the pea or triple comb, thus clearly proving 
that these are latent characteristics which will assert themselves by reversion to the original type of Gallus 
Furcatus. 
The startling resemblance of the Gallus Staulcyii to the Domestic Fowl is, perhaps, the most striking 
of all, the chief difference being the peculiar crow of the cock, though breeders are well aware what a vast 
gulf lies between the crow of the Cochin and that of the Hamburg. One strong feature in favour of Gallus 
.SA^/zAm/V being at least the progenitor of some of our Domestic breeds lies in the undisputed fact that, in 
the latter, reversion in colour invariably tends towards the red or brown breast in the cock rather than to the 
