540 A Chapter on Fowls. 
All the hoccos or careasowi, [cmx,) for example, which are de- 
rived from their native forest of Guiana, readily unite with each 
other, giving rise to a progeny that is reproductive without end. 
" It is probable," observes a judicious ornithologist, " that if the 
intercourse were repeated in a variety of ways, it would be pos- 
sible to cultivate, by suitable care, many different races of these 
birds, whose descendants might be susceptible of multiplying, ad 
infinitum, and branching out into a number of singular varieties, 
under the superintendence of man. 
In fact the Dutch menageries have already obtained the prolific 
hybrids of these species, [crax, aledor, c. rubra and c. globicera,) 
of this species; and it has been observed that these mixed birds 
have their plumage more varied, and far more agreeable to the 
eye, than the uniform livery of the adult individuals of the pure 
race. — Griffeth's Curv. 
Here then we have a family of wild birds, recently reclaimed 
from their native forests, so as to leave us no possible question of 
their origin and specific diversity; and by intermixing these spe- 
cies in a state of domestication, we have passing under our eyes, 
as it were, the identical series of phenomena, those very same 
changes which are so remarkable and familiar in the common 
fowl. 
" We have met," says Dr. Morton, " with two hybrid gallinaci- 
ous birds, between the common fowl and the Guinea fowl, {numi- 
dia meleagris.) They were bred in the state of Delaware, and 
possess, in a remarkable and unequivocal manner, the exterior 
charaqter and the habits of both parents. One of them looks 
more like the common fowl; the other on the contrary, has a much 
stronger resemblance to the Guinea fowl. The sounds which 
they utter are intermediate, often analagous to those of the Guinea 
fowl, but occasionally having the cluck of the other parent. 
These birds are yet living, (1846,) and their sex has not been 
positively determined, but the male characters appear to predomi- 
nate." 
" Since they came under my notice," continues the doctor, " I 
have heard of three other examples of similar hybrids, occurring 
indifferent parts of the United States; but no progeny has re- 
sulted from them." 
Beckstein states that the cock of the wood, {tetrao urogallus,) 
will breed with the black grouse, [t. tetrex,) and even with the 
domestic fowl and turkey. White of Selbourn, (Nat. Cal. for 
1795,) gives a plate and description of a wild hybrid, between 
the pheasant and domestic fowl; and a bird of the same kind was 
preserved in the Levarian Museum at Oxford. A similar exam- 
ple is again recorded by Mr. Eyton, in his History of the Rarer 
