The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication — Volume 1

Not uncommon in India, with the feathers curling backwards, and with the primary feathers of the wing and tail imperfect; periosteum of bones black.

12. SILK FOWLS.

Feathers silky, with the primary wing and tail-feathers imperfect; skin and periosteum of bones black; comb and wattles dark leaden-blue; ear-lappets tinged with blue; legs thin, often furnished with an additional toe. Size rather small.

13. SOOTY FOWLS.

An Indian breed, having the peculiar appearance of a white bird smeared with soot, with black skin and periosteum. The hens alone are thus characterised.]

From this synopsis we see that the several breeds differ considerably, and they would have been nearly as interesting for us as pigeons, if there had been equally good evidence that all had descended from one parent-species. Most fanciers believe that they are descended from several primitive stocks. The Rev. E.S. Dixon (7/7. 'Ornamental and Domestic Poultry' 1848.) argues strongly on this side of the question; and one fancier even denounces the opposite conclusion by asking, "Do we not perceive pervading this spirit, the spirit of the DEIST?" Most naturalists, with the exception of a few, such as Temminck, believe that all the breeds have proceeded from a single species; but authority on such a point goes for little. Fanciers look to all parts of the world as the possible sources of their unknown stocks; thus ignoring the laws of geographical distribution. They know well that the several kinds breed truly even in colour. They assert, but, as we shall see, on very weak grounds, that most of the breeds are extremely ancient. They are strongly impressed with the great difference between the chief kinds, and they ask with force, can differences in climate, food, or treatment have produced birds so different as the black stately Spanish, the diminutive elegant Bantam, the heavy Cochin with its many peculiarities, and the Polish fowl with its great top-knot and protuberant skull? But fanciers, whilst admitting and even overrating the effects of crossing the various breeds, do not sufficiently regard the probability of the occasional birth, during the course of centuries, of birds with abnormal and hereditary peculiarities; they overlook the effects of correlation of growth — of the long-continued use and disuse of parts, and of some direct result from changed food and climate, though on this latter head I have found no sufficient evidence; and lastly, they all, as far as I know, entirely overlook the all-important subject of unconscious or unmethodical selection, though they are well aware that their birds differ individually and that by selecting the best birds for a few generations they can improve their stocks.

An amateur writes (7/8. Ferguson 'Illustrated Series of Rare and Prize Poultry' 1834 page 6 Preface.) as follows: "The fact that poultry have until lately received but little attention at the hands of the fancier, and been entirely confined to the domains of the producer for the market, would alone suggest the improbability of that constant and unremitting attention having been observed in breeding, which is requisite to the consummating in the offspring of any two birds transmittable forms not exhibited by the parents." This at first sight appears true. But in a future chapter on Selection, abundant facts will be given showing not only that careful breeding, but that actual selection was practised during ancient periods, and by barely civilised races of man. In the case of the fowl I can adduce no direct facts showing that selection was anciently practised; but the Romans at the commencement of the Christian era kept six or seven breeds, and Columella "particularly recommends as the best, those sorts that have five toes and white ears." (7/9. Rev. E.S. Dixon in his 'Ornamental Poultry' page 203 gives an account of Columella's work.) In the fifteenth century several breeds were known and described in Europe; and in China, at nearly the same period, seven kinds were named. A more striking case is that at present, in one of the Philippine Islands, the semi-barbarous inhabitants have distinct native names for no less than nine sub-breeds of the Game fowl. (7/10. Mr. Crawfurd 'On the Relation of the Domesticated Animals to Civilization' separately printed page 6; first read before the Brit. Assoc. at Oxford 1860.) Azara (7/11. 'Quadrupedes du Paraguay' tome 2 page 324.), who wrote towards the close of the last century, states that in the interior parts of South America, where I should not have expected that the least care would have been taken of poultry, a black-skinned and black- boned breed is kept, from being considered fertile and its flesh good for sick persons. Now every one who has kept poultry knows how impossible it is to keep several breeds distinct unless the utmost care be taken in separating the sexes. Will it then be pretended that those persons who, in ancient times and in semi-civilised countries took pains to keep the breeds distinct, and who therefore valued them, would not occasionally have destroyed inferior birds and occasionally have preserved their best birds? This is all that is required. It is not pretended that any one in ancient times intended to form a new breed, or to modify an old breed according to some ideal standard of excellence. He who cared for poultry would merely wish to obtain, and afterwards to rear, the best birds which he could; but this occasional preservation of the best birds would in the course of time modify the breed, as surely, though by no means as rapidly, as does methodical selection at the present day, If one person out of a hundred or out of a thousand attended to the breeding of his birds, this would be sufficient; for the birds thus tended would soon become superior to others, and would form a new strain; and this strain would, as explained in the last chapter, slowly have its characteristic differences augmented, and at last be converted into a new sub-breed or breed. But breeds would often be for a time neglected and would deteriorate; they would, however, partially retain their character, and afterwards might again come into fashion and be raised to a standard of perfection higher than their former standard; as has actually occurred quite recently with Polish fowls. If, however, a breed were utterly neglected, it would become extinct, as has recently happened with one of the Polish sub-breeds. Whenever in the course of past centuries a bird appeared with some slight abnormal structure, such as with a lark-like crest on its head, it would probably often have been preserved from that love of novelty which leads some persons in England to keep rumpless fowls, and others in India to keep frizzled fowls. And after a time any such abnormal appearance would be carefully preserved, from being esteemed a sign of the purity and excellence of the breed; for on this principle the Romans eighteen centuries ago valued the fifth toe and the white ear-lobe in their fowls.

Thus from the occasional appearance of abnormal characters, though at first only slight in degree; from the effects of the use and the disuse of parts; possibly from the direct effects of changed climate and food; from correlation of growth; from occasional reversions to old and long-lost characters; from the crossing of breeds, when more than one had been formed; but, above all, from unconscious selection carried on during many generations, there is no insuperable difficulty, to the best of my judgment, in believing that all the breeds have descended from some one parent-source. Can any single species be named from which we may reasonably suppose that all are descended? The Gallus bankiva apparently fulfils every requirement. I have already given as fair an account as I could of the arguments in favour of the multiple origin of the several breeds; and now I will give those in favour of their common descent from G. bankiva.

[But it will be convenient first briefly to describe all the known species of Gallus. The G. sonneratii does not range into the northern parts of India; according to Colonel Sykes (7/12. 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.' 1832 page 151.), it presents at different heights of the Ghauts, two strongly marked varieties, perhaps deserving to be called species. It was at one time thought to be the primitive stock of all our domestic breeds, and this shows that it closely approaches the common fowl in general structure; but its hackles partially consist of highly peculiar, horny laminae, transversely banded with three colours; and I have met no authentic account of any such character having been observed in any domestic breed. (7/13. These feathers have been described by Dr. W. Marshall 'Der Zoolog. Garten' April 1874 page 124. I examined the feathers of some hybrids raised in the Zoological Gardens between the male G. sonneratii and a red game-hen, and they exhibited the true character of those of G. sonneratii, except that the horny laminae were much smaller.) This species also differs greatly from the common fowl, in the comb being finely serrated, and in the loins being destitute of true hackles. Its voice is utterly different. It crosses readily in India with domestic hens; and Mr. Blyth (7/14. See also an excellent letter on the Poultry of India by Mr. Blyth in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1851 page 619.) raised nearly 100 hybrid chickens; but they were tender and mostly died whilst young. Those which were reared were absolutely sterile when crossed inter se or with either parent. At the Zoological Gardens, however, some 'hybrids of the same parentage were not quite so sterile: Mr. Dixon, as he informed me, made, with Mr. Yarrell's aid, particular inquiries on this subject, and was assured that out of 50 eggs only five or six chickens were reared. Some, however, of these half- bred birds were crossed with one of their parents, namely, a Bantam, and produced a few extremely feeble chickens. Mr. Dixon also procured some of these same birds and crossed them in several ways, but all were more or less infertile. Nearly similar experiments have recently been tried on a great scale in the Zoological Gardens with almost the same result. (7/15. Mr. S.J. Salter in 'Natural History Review' April 1863 page 276.) Out of 500 eggs, raised from various first crosses and hybrids, between G. sonneratii, bankiva, and varius, only 12 chickens were reared, and of these only three were the product of hybrids inter se. From these facts, and from the above-mentioned strongly-marked differences in structure between the domestic fowl and G. sonneratii, we may reject this latter species as the parent of any domestic breed.

Ceylon possesses a fowl peculiar to the island, viz. G. stanleyii; this species approaches so closely (except in the colouring of the comb) to the domestic fowl, that Messrs. Layard and Kellaert (7/16. See also Mr. Layard's paper in 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. History' 2nd series volume 14 page 62.) would have considered it, as they inform me, as one of the parent-stocks, had it not been for its singularly different voice. This bird, like the last, crosses readily with tame hens, and even visits solitary farms and ravishes them. Two hybrids, a male and female, thus produced, were found by Mr. Mitford to be quite sterile: both inherited the peculiar voice of G. stanleyii. This species, then, may in all probability be rejected as one of the primitive stocks of the domestic fowl.

Java and the islands eastward as far as Flores are inhabited by G. varius (or furcatus), which differs in so many characters — green plumage, unserrated comb, and single median wattle — that no one supposes it to have been the parent of any one of our breeds; yet, as I am informed by Mr. Crawfurd (7/17. See also Mr. Crawfurd 'Descriptive Dict. of the Indian Islands' 1856 page 113.), hybrids are commonly raised between the male G. varius and the common hen, and are kept for their great beauty, but are invariably sterile: this, however, was not the case with some bred in the Zoological Gardens. These hybrids were at one time thought to be specifically distinct, and were named G. aeneus. Mr. Blyth and others believe that the G. temminckii (7/18. Described by Mr. G.R. Gray 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc' 1849 page 62.) (of which the history is not known) is a similar hybrid. Sir J. Brooke sent me some skins of domestic fowls from Borneo, and across the tail of one of these, as Mr. Tegetmeier observed, there were transverse blue bands like those which he had seen on the tail- feathers of hybrids from G. varius, reared in the Zoological Gardens. This fact apparently indicates that some of the fowls of Borneo have been slightly affected by crosses with G. varius, but the case may possibly be one of analogous variation. I may just allude to the G. giganteus, so often referred to in works on poultry as a wild species; but Marsden (7/19. The passage from Marsden is given by Mr. Dixon in his 'Poultry Book' page 176. No ornithologist now ranks this bird as a distinct species.) the first describer, speaks of it as a tame breed; and the specimen in the British Museum evidently has the aspect of a domestic variety.

The last species to be mentioned, namely, Gallus bankiva, has a much wider geographical range than the three previous species; it inhabits Northern India as far west as Sinde, and ascends the Himalaya to a height of 4000 ft.; it inhabits Burmah, the Malay peninsula, the Indo-Chinese countries, the Philippine Islands, and the Malayan archipelago as far eastward as Timor. This species varies considerably in the wild state. Mr. Blyth informs me that the specimens, both male and female, brought from near the Himalaya, are rather paler coloured than those from other parts of India; whilst those from the Malay peninsula and Java are brighter coloured than the Indian birds. I have seen specimens from these countries, and the difference of tint in the hackles was conspicuous. The Malayan hens were a shade redder on the breast and neck than the Indian hens. The Malayan males generally had a red ear-lappet, instead of a white one as in India; but Mr. Blyth has seen one Indian specimen without the white ear-lappet. The legs are leaden blue in the Indian, whereas they show some tendency to be yellowish in the Malayan and Javan specimens. In the former Mr. Blyth finds the tarsus remarkably variable in length. According to Temminck (7/20. 'Coup-d'oeil general sur l'Inde Archipelagique' tome 3 1849 page 177; see also Mr. Blyth in 'Indian Sporting Review' volume 2 page 5 1856.) the Timor specimens differ as a local race from that of Java. These several wild varieties have not as yet been ranked as distinct species; if they should, as is not unlikely, be hereafter thus ranked, the circumstance would be quite immaterial as far as the parentage and differences of our domestic breeds are concerned. The wild G. bankiva agrees most closely with the black-breasted red Game-breed, in colouring and in all other respects, except in being smaller, and in the tail being carried more horizontally. But the manner in which the tail is carried is highly variable in many of our breeds, for, as Mr. Brent informs me, the tail slopes much in the Malays, is erect in the Games and some other breeds, and is more than erect in Dorkings, Bantams, etc. There is one other difference namely, that in G. bankiva, according to Mr. Blyth, the neck-hackles when first moulted are replaced during two or three months not by other hackles, as with our domestic poultry, but by short blackish feathers. (7/21. Mr. Blyth 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.' 2nd series volume 1 1848 page 455.) Mr. Brent, however, has remarked that these black feathers remain in the wild bird after the development of the lower hackles, and appear in the domestic bird at the same time with them: so that the only difference is that the lower hackles are replaced more slowly in the wild than in the tame bird; but as confinement is known sometimes to affect the masculine plumage, this slight difference cannot be considered of any importance. It is a significant fact that the voice of both the male and female G. bankiva closely resembles, as Mr. Blyth and others have noted, the voice of both sexes of the common domestic fowl; but the last note of the crow of the wild bird is rather less prolonged. Captain Hutton, well known for his researches into the natural history of India, informs me that he has seen several crossed fowls from the wild species and the Chinese bantam; these crossed fowls BRED FREELY with bantams, but unfortunately were not crossed inter se. Captain Hutton reared chickens from the eggs of the Gallus bankiva; and these, though at first very wild, afterwards became so tame that they would crowd round his feet. He did not succeed in rearing them to maturity; but as he remarks, "no wild gallinaceous bird thrives well at first on hard grain." Mr. Blyth also found much difficulty in keeping G. bankiva in confinement. In the Philippine Islands, however, the natives must succeed better, as they keep wild cocks to fight with their domestic game-birds. (7/22. Crawfurd 'Desc. Dict. of Indian Islands' 1856 page 112.) Sir Walter Elliot informs me that the hen of a native domestic breed of Pegu is undistinguishable from the hen of the wild G. bankiva; and the natives constantly catch wild cocks by taking tame cocks to fight with them in the woods. (7/23. In Burmah, as I hear from Mr. Blyth, the wild and tame poultry constantly cross together, and irregular transitional forms may be seen.) Mr. Crawfurd remarks that from etymology it might be argued that the fowl was first domesticated by the Malays and Javanese. (7/24. Ibid page 113.) It is also a curious fact, of which I have been assured by Mr. Blyth, that wild specimens of the Gallus bankiva, brought from the countries east of the Bay of Bengal, are far more easily tamed than those of India; nor is this an unparalleled fact, for, as Humboldt long ago remarked, the same species sometimes evinces a more tameable disposition in one country than in another. If we suppose that the G. bankiva was first tamed in Malaya and afterwards imported into India, we can understand an observation made to me by Mr. Blyth, that the domestic fowls of India do not resemble the wild G. bankiva of India more closely than do those of Europe.]

From the extremely close resemblance in colour, general structure, and especially in voice, between Gallus bankiva and the Game fowl; from their fertility, as far as this has been ascertained, when crossed; from the possibility of the wild species being tamed, and from its varying in the wild state, we may confidently look at it as the parent of the most typical of all the domestic breeds, namely, the Game fowl. It is a significant fact, that almost all the naturalists in India, namely Sir W. Elliot, Mr. S.N. Ward, Mr. Layard, Mr. J.C. Jerdon, and Mr. Blyth (7/25. Mr. Jerdon in the 'Madras Journ. of Lit. and Science' volume 22 page 2 speaking of G. bankiva says "unquestionably the origin of most of the varieties of our common fowls." For Mr. Blyth see his excellent article in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1851 page 619; and in 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.' volume 20 1847 page 388.), who are familiar with G. bankiva, believe that it is the parent of most or all our domestic breeds. But even if it be admitted that G. bankiva is the parent of the Game breed, yet it may be urged that other wild species have been the parents of the other domestic breeds; and that these species still exist, though unknown, in some country, or have become extinct. The extinction, however, of several species of fowls, is an improbable hypothesis, seeing that the four known species have not become extinct in the most ancient and thickly peopled regions of the East. There is, in fact, not one other kind of domesticated bird, of which the wild parent-form is unknown, that is become extinct. For the discovery of new, or the rediscovery of old species of Gallus, we must not look, as fanciers often look, to the whole world. The larger gallinaceous birds, as Mr. Blyth has remarked (7/26. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1851 page 619.), generally have a restricted range: we see this well illustrated in India, where the genus Gallus inhabits the base of the Himalaya, and is succeeded higher up by Gallophasis, and still higher up by Phasianus. Australia, with its islands, is out of the question as the home for unknown species of the genus. It is, also, as improbable that Gallus should inhabit South America (7/27. I have consulted an eminent authority, Mr. Sclater, on this subject, and he thinks that I have not expressed myself too strongly. I am aware that one ancient author, Acosta, speaks of fowls as having inhabited S. America at the period of its discovery; and more recently, about 1795, Olivier de Serres speaks of wild fowls in the forests of Guiana; these were probably feral birds. Dr. Daniell tells me, he believes that fowls have become wild on the west coast of Equatorial Africa; they may, however, not be true fowls, but gallinaceous birds belonging to the genus Phasidus. The old voyager Barbut says that poultry are not natural to Guinea. Capt. W. Allen ('Narrative of Niger Expedition' 1848 volume 2 page 42) describes wild fowls on Ilha dos Rollas, an island near St. Thomas's on the west coast of Africa; the natives informed him that they had escaped from a vessel wrecked there many years ago; they were extremely wild and had "a cry quite different to that of the domestic fowl," and their appearance was somewhat changed. Hence it is not a little doubtful, notwithstanding the statement of the natives, whether these birds really were fowls. That the fowl has become feral on several islands is certain. Mr. Fry, a very capable judge, informed Mr. Layard, in a letter, that the fowls which have run wild on Ascension "had nearly all got back to their primitive colours, red, and black cocks, and smoky-grey hens." But unfortunately we do not know the colour of the poultry which were turned out. Fowls have become feral on the Nicobar Islands (Blyth in the 'Indian Field' 1858 page 62), and in the Ladrones (Anson's Voyage). Those found in the Pellew Islands Crawfurd) are believed to be feral; and lastly, it is asserted that they have become feral in New Zealand, but whether this is correct I know not.) as that a humming-bird should be found in the Old World. From the character of the other gallinaceous birds of Africa, it is not probable that Gallus is an African genus. We need not look to the western parts of Asia, for Messrs. Blyth and Crawfurd, who have attended to this subject, doubt whether Gallus ever existed in a wild state even as far west as Persia. Although the earliest Greek writers speak of the fowl as a Persian bird, this probably merely indicates its line of importation. For the discovery of unknown species we must look to India, to the Indo-Chinese countries, and to the northern parts of the Malay Archipelago. The southern portion of China is the most likely country; but as Mr. Blyth informs me, skins have been exported from China during a long period, and living birds are largely kept there in aviaries, so that any native species of Gallus would probably have become known. Mr. Birch, of the British Museum, has translated for me passages from a Chinese Encyclopaedia published in 1609, but compiled from more ancient documents, in which it is said that fowls are creatures of the West, and were introduced into the East (i.e. China) in a dynasty 1400 B.C. Whatever may be thought of so ancient a date, we see that the Indo-Chinese and Indian regions were formerly considered by the Chinese as the source of the domestic fowl. From these several considerations we must look to the present metropolis of the genus, namely, to the south-eastern parts of Asia, for the discovery of species which were formerly domesticated, but are now unknown in the wild state; and the most experienced ornithologists do not consider it probable that such species will be discovered.

In considering whether the domestic breeds are descended from one species, namely, G. bankiva, or from several, we must not quite overlook, though we must not exaggerate, the importance of the test of fertility. Most of our domestic breeds have been so often crossed, and their mongrels so largely kept, that it is almost certain, if any degree of infertility had existed between them, it would have been detected. On the other hand, the four known species of Gallus when crossed with each other, or when crossed, with the exception of G. bankiva, with the domestic fowl, produce infertile hybrids.

Finally, we have not such good evidence with fowls as with pigeons, of all the breeds having descended from a single primitive stock. In both cases the argument of fertility must go for something; in both we have the improbability of man having succeeded in ancient times in thoroughly domesticating several supposed species, — most of these supposed species being extremely abnormal as compared with their natural allies, — all being now either unknown or extinct, though the parent-form of no other domesticated bird has been lost. But in searching for the supposed parent- stocks of the various breeds of the pigeon, we were enabled to confine our search to species having peculiar habits of life; whilst with fowls there is nothing in their habits in any marked manner distinct from those of other gallinaceous birds. In the case of pigeons, I have shown that purely- bred birds of every race and the crossed offspring of distinct races frequently resemble, or revert to, the wild rock-pigeon in general colour and in each characteristic mark. With fowls we have facts of a similar nature, but less strongly pronounced, which we will now discuss.