5°6 
The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 
though the triple character was well marked, there was not a vestige of serration. The Rev. James 
Ellis, of Bracknell, Berks, once sent us a fine cock expressly to have our opinion upon a comb of 
this sort. And, lastly, it has been proved that all the great Asiatic races, when crossed, have been 
known to produce the pea-comb by reversion ; showing, on Mr. Darwin s own principles, that this 
feature almost certainly had a place somewhere in the ancestry of the Asiatic stocks. 
Passing finally to Gallns Bankiva , we find this fowl more largely distributed tho.n the others , 
that it almost precisely resembles an existing breed ; that it varies in colour and somewhat in size 
(these two being perhaps the strongest points of all in favour of its claims) ; and that its hybrids 
appear to breed freely with either of the parent stocks. On the other hand, the crow of the cock, 
though very similar to that of the Game, is admitted to be shorter, as if the last note weie broken 
off. It remains to be proved if the hybrids would breed among themselves ; and what deseives 
particular mention — the neck-hackles when first moulted are replaced, not by the true hackles, but 
by short dark grey or black feathers, which remain for two or three months before they are replaced 
by the new hackles. It is true Mr. Darwin quotes Mr. Brent as stating that these black feathers 
appear in the domestic cock also, but in his case contemporaneously with the hackles ; remaining 
in both after the hackles have grown. We think, however, that Mr. Brent must have examined 
Game Fowls chiefly ; for we have examined many other breeds at the moulting season, and been 
utterly unable to find these black feathers at any stage of the process, except in some (not all) 
Game Fowls ; and it is worthy of note that this is the breed which most closely resembles the 
Gallus Bankiva in other respects. 
Summing up the whole, it appears that the barrenness of the hybrids of Gallus Sonneratii 
is at best exceedingly doubtful, having more than probably resulted in great part from injudicious 
treatment, and disappearing in a great degree under more natural conditions ; while the peculiar 
plates quickly disappear, and the wild blood is readily absorbed into the domestic ; we find also 
that the crow, though peculiar, is described by one of the most experienced breeders as “ not so 
very unlike a Bantam’s while Colonel Sykes also compares it to that of a Bantam. We find the 
barrenness of hybrids of Gallus Stanleyii rests entirely on the evidence of two specimens ; while 
we also find that this race is apparently the most of all impatient of confinement, and has “ never 
yet bred in captivity,” even when pure ; and we further find that the symptoms of reversion in 
domestic breeds point to the colour of this variety rather than to the one usually regarded as the 
parent. We find a strong tendency to approach more or less to every peculiar point of the Gallus 
furcatus in a domestic Asiatic breed ; while this latter breed also possesses a feature — the triple 
comb — to which other Asiatic races show a strange tendency still to revert. And of the Gallus 
Bankiva , it is found that the voice differs in some degree ; that it has a peculiar feature — the 
temporary black hackle — which only appears to be found in the domestic breed most closely 
resembling it, and not always even in that ; whilst the perfect fertility of its hybrids still remains 
to be ascertained, and for all that appears is in no respect greater than that of the Sonnerat. 
What are we then to suppose ? That the Gallus furcatus, for instance, was the progenitor of 
the Brahma, just as the Gallus Bankiva almost unquestionably was of the Game ? By no means : no 
naturalist would come to any such conclusion. What we think is clear, is simply that there are 
tendencies in some of our domestic breeds which certainly are not due to the Gallus Bankiva, and 
which, as they are found in the Gallus furcatus, are probably the result of natural rather than 
artificial development ; a conclusion which is strengthened by the fact that another feature of 
Gallus fitreatus, not usually found in the domestic breed most resembling it, still appears occasionally 
by reversion in that same breed. Hence, we are disposed to think the original type can only be 
found still further back ; that it diverged into various sub-types, including the four wild breeds 
