SALTER ON THE FERTILITY OF HYBRIDS. 
277 
In the spring of 1861 a healthy cock Indian Jungle Fowl (G. Son- 
nerattii) was associated with several bantam hens. A profusion of 
eggs resulted ; these were very prolific, and yielded chickens in nearly 
as large a proportion as the eggs of an ordinary poultry yard. The 
chickens produced from these eggs were numerous and healthy. 
There appeared nothing in this first cross to militate against the idea 
of its continuance. One point in reference to the plumage of these 
birds is worthy of note. The hen birds were all exactly alike, and 
so were the cocks, but neither could be considered to exhibit the 
mean average plumage of the two parent stocks—the hen birds 
most closely resembled those of their male parent; the young cocks 
were most like the males of their female parent. The pullets, indeed, 
were so closely similar to hens of true G. Sonnerattii as to be 
scarcely distinguishable from them. The cockerels certainly differed 
from the bantam cocks of their maternal race, but still only slightly 
in plumage. The voice, however, was very different, the crow being 
short, harsh, and discordant. All these hybrids were exceedingly 
wild. These birds were so numerous that many were disposed of, but 
sufficient were kept to follow out further the question of hybridising 
and the fertility of the hybrids. So much for the Sonnerat-bankiva 
hybrids in 1861. 
In the spring of the same year the Zoological Society became 
possessed of a fine hybrid cock, in which the Jungle-fowl element 
was that of the species furcatus. This bird was evidently bred 
between G. furcatus and domestic Bankiva of the variety known as 
the “ Duckwing game.” G alius furcatus is very seldom met with in 
zoological collections, and I was anxious if possible to perpetuate 
this hybrid as nearly as could be managed by continuing him as the 
progenitor, and gradually bringing the hens, by successive generations, 
nearer and nearer to the simple and direct cross. For this purpose 
I associated some game hens with him, so as to obtain, in the 
first generation, chickens j- furcatus and f Bankiva , in the next 
generation a progeny nearer the jungle-fowl, being -f furcatus and f 
bankiva , and so on till in effect the disproportion in favour of bankiva 
was bred out or rather reduced to a very small element. This 
attempt answered fairly in the first season: two small broods were 
hatched, and the chickens were reared without much difficulty. As 
the hens roamed at large and made their nests in some secluded spot 
in a shrubbery, the number of eggs laid, the proportion hatched, and 
the condition of the unhatched eggs, were not ascertained. The 
progeny varied much in plumage. The cocks were destroyed, and 
three of the most evenly-marked hens were retained for association 
in the next year, with the half-bred cock, their sire. 
The proceedings of 1862 in regard to these hybrid Galli , though 
conducted with the greatest care and attention, led to results quite 
upsetting all hopes that these races could be practically continued; 
though at the same time they showed that in a few exceptional 
instances progeny could be obtained by the breeding of these hybrids 
