THE GIGANTIC COCK. 
173 
voted, and is esteemed in proportion as the colours 
of the body and crest can be got most conspicuously 
contrasted, a black body with white crest, and the 
reverse, be. Other fancy breeds are also frequent- 
ly seen in the Dutch Fencilled Fowl, pure white 
spotted with black, the Siberian Fowl, having long 
tufts of feathers springing from the lower jaws and 
hanging down, and the Barbary Fowl, of a pale dun 
colour, and having the feathers of the neck veiy am- 
ple and spotted with black. A more singular anomaly 
occurs in those with five toes, generally called Dork- 
ing Fowls from being found and bred in most abun- 
dance in the neighbourhood of Dorking in Surry. This 
race is easily continued, and seems analogous either 
to the six-fingered or six-toed individuals of man- 
kind, or to the dogs with the additional claws. They 
are much esteemed, are generally pure white, and 
grow to a large size ; Dr Latham records one which 
weighed almost fourteen pounds. A still more ano- 
malous race occurs perhaps in those without a tail, 
the Rumpless or Persian Cock, but we have also 
races analogous to them in the tailless races of dogs 
and cats. 
There are three races of cocks, however, whose 
claim to actual distinction of species is not very well 
or satisfactorily ascertained, the G. morio, having 
the periosteum of the bones black, and the comb, 
wattles, and skin of a dull purple. It has received the 
name of Negro and Blackamoor Cock, but I believe 
is scarcely to be seen in the poultry-yards of this 
