THE GIGANTIC COCK. 
171 
It is from these birds that we are indebted for the 
domestic poultry of our farm-yards. Many native 
species are at the present time known, and we con- 
sider it very difficult to determine which is the di- 
rect origin of our reclaimed fowls. They may have 
reached their present state from a mixture of many, 
but with Temminck we are inclined to give the pre- 
ference to two species, the Gallus giganteus and 
Bankiva, both natives of Java, on account of the do- 
mestic females bearing the greatest resemblance to 
those in a wild state, by the similarity of the form 
and structure of the feathers, and by the males of 
those possessing the greatest development of comb 
and wattles. The first of these birds may be now 
described : 
GIGANTIC COCK. 
Gallus giganteus, — Temminck. 
The description of M. Temminck is founded up- 
on the notices which have been given by Dampier 
and Marsden, the only portion of the bird which he 
had seen being the leg and foot, of which he gives a 
plate in his Natural History of Gallinaceous Birds. 
There is a specimen in the Edinburgh Museum said 
to he wild from Sumatra, of a large size, and to 
which, in several particulars, the large breed of cocks 
in this country bear considerable resemblance, par- 
ticularly in the comb, which extends backwards in a 
