Chapter VII: Fowls (2)

_Chickens._--As the young of almost all gallinaceous birds, even of the
black curassow and black grouse, whilst covered with down, are
longitudinally striped on the back,--of which character, when adult,
neither sex retains a trace,--it might have been expected that the
chickens of all our domestic fowls would have been similarly
striped.[399] This could, however, hardly have been expected, when the
adult plumage in both sexes has undergone so great a change as to be
wholly white or black. In white fowls of various breeds the chickens
are uniformly yellowish white, passing in the black-boned Silk fowl
into bright canary-yellow. This is also generally the case with the
chickens of white Cochins, but I hear from Mr. Zurhost that they are
sometimes of a buff or oak colour, and that all those of this latter
colour, which were watched, turned out males. The chickens of buff
Cochins are of a golden-yellow, easily distinguishable from the paler
tint of the white Cochins, and are often longitudinally streaked with
dark shades: the chickens of silver-cinnamon Cochins are almost always
of a buff colour. The chickens of the white Game and white Dorking
breeds, when held in particular lights, sometimes exhibit (on the
authority of Mr. Brent) faint traces of longitudinal stripes. Fowls
which are entirely black, namely Spanish, black Game, black Polish, and
black Bantams, display a new character, for their chickens have their
breasts and throats more or less white, with sometimes a little white
elsewhere. Spanish chickens also, occasionally (Brent), have, where the
down was white, their first true feathers tipped for a time with white.
The primordially striped character is retained by the chickens of most
of the Game sub-breeds (Brent, Dixon); by Dorkings; by the partridge
and grouse-coloured sub-breeds of Cochins (Brent), but not, as we have
seen, by all the other sub-breeds; by the pheasant-Malay (Dixon), but
apparently not (at which I am much surprised) by other Malays. The
following breeds and sub-breeds are barely, or not at all,
longitudinally striped; viz. gold and silver pencilled Hamburghs, which
can hardly be distinguished from each other (Brent) in the down, both
having a few {250} dark spots on the head and rump, with occasionally a
longitudinal stripe (Dixon) on the back of the neck. I have seen only
one chicken of the silver-spangled Hamburgh, and this was obscurely
striped along the back. Gold-spangled Polish chickens (Tegetmeier) are
of a warm russet brown; and silver-spangled Polish chickens are grey,
sometimes (Dixon) with dashes of ochre on the head, wings, and breast.
Cuckoo and blue-dun fowls (Dixon) are grey in the down. The chickens of
Sebright Bantams (Dixon) are uniformly dark brown, whilst those of the
brown-breasted red Game Bantam are black, with some white on the throat
and breast. From these facts we see that the chickens of the different
breeds, and even of the same main breed, differ much in their downy
plumage; and, although longitudinal stripes characterise the young of
all wild gallinaceous birds, they disappear in several domestic breeds.
Perhaps it may be accepted as a general rule that the more the adult
plumage differs from that of the adult _G. bankiva,_ the more
completely the chickens have lost their proper stripes.

With respect to the period of life at which the characters proper to each breed first appear, it is obvious that such structures as additional toes must be formed long before birth. In Polish fowls, the extraordinary protuberance of the anterior part of the skull is well developed before the chickens come out of the egg;[400] but the crest, which is supported on the protuberance, is at first feebly developed, nor does it attain its full size until the second year. The Spanish cock is pre-eminent for his magnificent comb, and this is developed at an unusually early age; so that the young males can be distinguished from the females when only a few weeks old, and therefore earlier than in other breeds; they likewise crow very early, namely, when about six weeks old. In the Dutch sub-breed of the Spanish fowl the white ear-lappets are developed earlier than in the common Spanish breed.[401] Cochins are characterised by a small tail, and in the young cocks the tail is developed at an unusually late period.[402] Game fowls are notorious for their pugnacity; and the young cocks crow, clap their little wings, and obstinately fight with each other, even whilst under their mother's care.[403] "I have often had," says one {251} author,[404] "whole broods, scarcely feathered, stone-blind from fighting; the rival couples moping in corners, and renewing their battles on obtaining the first ray of light." With the males of all gallinaceous birds the use of their weapons and pugnacity is to fight for the possession of the females; so that the tendency in our Game chickens to fight at an extremely early age is not only useless, but is injurious, as they suffer so much from their wounds. The training for battle during an early period may be natural to the wild _Gallus bankiva_; but as man during many generations has gone on selecting the most obstinately pugnacious cocks, it is more probable that their pugnacity has been unnaturally increased, and unnaturally transferred to the young male chickens. In the same manner, it is probable that the extraordinary development of the comb in the Spanish cock has been unintentionally transferred to the young cocks; for fanciers would not care whether their young birds had large combs, but would select for breeding the adults which had the finest combs, whether or not developed at an early period. The last point which need here be noticed is that, though the chickens of Spanish and Malay fowls are well covered with down, the true feathers are acquired at an unusually late age; so that for a time the young birds are partially naked, and are liable to suffer from cold.

_Secondary Sexual Characters._--The two sexes in the parent-form, the _Gallus bankiva_, differ much in colour. In our domestic breeds the difference is never greater, but is often less, and varies much in degree even in the sub-breeds of the same main breed. Thus in certain Game fowls the difference is as great as in the parent-form, whilst in the black and white sub-breeds there is no difference in plumage. Mr. Brent informs me that he has seen two strains of black-breasted red Games, in which the cocks could not be distinguished, whilst the hens in one were partridge-brown and in the other fawn-brown. A similar case has been observed in the strains of the brown-breasted red Game. The hen of the "duck-winged Game" is "extremely beautiful," and differs much from the hens of all the other Game sub-breeds; but generally, as with the blue and grey Game and {252} with some sub-varieties of the pile-game, a moderately close relation may be observed between the males and females in the variation of their plumage.[405] A similar relation is also evident when we compare the several varieties of Cochins. In the two sexes of gold and silver-spangled and of buff Polish fowls, there is much general similarity in the colouring and marks of the whole plumage, excepting of course in the hackles, crest, and beard. In spangled Hamburghs, there is likewise a considerable degree of similarity between the two sexes. In pencilled Hamburghs, on the other hand, there is much dissimilarity; the pencilling which is characteristic of the hens being almost absent in the males of both the golden and silver varieties. But, as we have already seen, it cannot be given as a general rule that male fowls never have pencilled feathers, for Cuckoo Dorkings are "remarkable from having nearly similar markings in both sexes."

It is a singular fact that the males in certain sub-breeds have lost some of their secondary masculine characters, and, from their close resemblance in plumage to the females, are often called hennies. There is much diversity of opinion whether these males are in any degree sterile; that they sometimes are partially sterile seems clear,[406] but this may have been caused by too close interbreeding. That they are not quite sterile, and that the whole case is widely different from that of old females assuming masculine characters, is evident from several of these hen-like sub-breeds having been long propagated. The males and females of gold and silver-laced Sebright Bantams can be barely distinguished from each other, except by their combs, wattles, and spurs, for they are coloured alike, and the males have not hackles, nor the flowing sickle-like tail-feathers. A hen-tailed sub-breed of Hamburghs was recently much esteemed. There is also a breed of Game-fowls, in which the males and females resemble each other so closely that the cocks have often mistaken their hen-feathered opponents in the cock-pit for real hens, and by the mistake have lost their lives.[407] The cocks, {253} though dressed in the feathers of the hen, "are high-spirited birds, and their courage has been often proved:" an engraving even has been published of one celebrated hen-tailed victor. Mr. Tegetmeier[408] has recorded the remarkable case of a brown-breasted red Game-cock which, after assuming its perfect masculine plumage, became hen-feathered in the autumn of the following year; but he did not lose voice, spurs, strength, nor productiveness. This bird has now retained the same character during five seasons, and has begot both hen-feathered and male-feathered offspring. Mr. Grantley F. Berkeley relates the still more singular case of a celebrated strain of "polecat Game-fowls," which produced in nearly every brood a single hen-cock. "The great peculiarity in one of these birds was that he, as the seasons succeeded each other, was not always a hen-cock, and not always of the colour called the polecat, which is black. From the polecat and hen-cock feather in one season he moulted to a full male-plumaged black-breasted red, and in the following year he returned to the former feather."[409]

I have remarked in my 'Origin of Species' that secondary sexual characters are apt to differ much in the species of the same genus, and to be unusually variable in the individuals of the same species. So it is with the breeds of the fowl, as we have already seen, as far as the colour of plumage is concerned, and so it is with the other secondary sexual characters. Firstly, the comb differs much in the various breeds,[410] and its form is eminently characteristic of each kind, with the exception of the Dorkings, in which the form has not been as yet determined on by fanciers, and fixed by selection. A single, deeply-serrated comb is the typical and most common form. It differs much in size, being immensely developed in Spanish fowls; and in a local breed called Red-caps, it is sometimes "upwards of three inches in breadth at the front, and more than four inches in length, measured to the end of the peak behind."[411] In some breeds the comb is double, and when the two ends are cemented {254} together it forms a "cup-comb;" in the "rose-comb" it is depressed, covered with small projections, and produced backwards; in the horned and creve-coeur fowl it is produced into two horns; it is triple in the pea-combed Brahmas, short and truncated in the Malays, and absent in the Guelderlands. In the tasselled Game a few long feathers arise from the back of the comb; in many breeds a crest of feathers replaces the comb. The crest, when little developed, arises from a fleshy mass, but, when much developed, from a hemispherical protuberance of the skull. In the best Polish fowls it is so largely developed, that I have seen birds which could hardly pick up their food; and a German writer asserts[412] that they are in consequence liable to be struck by hawks. Monstrous structures of this kind would thus be suppressed in a state of nature. The wattles, also, vary much in size, being small in Malays and some other breeds; they are replaced in certain Polish sub-breeds by a great tuft of feathers called a beard.

The hackles do not differ much in the various breeds, but are short and stiff in Malays, and absent in Hennies. As in some orders of birds the males display extraordinarily-shaped feathers, such as naked shafts with discs at the end, &c., the following case may be worth giving. In the wild _Gallus bankiva_ and in our domestic fowls, the barbs which arise from each side of the extremities of the hackles are naked or not clothed with barbules, so that they resemble bristles; but Mr. Brent sent me some scapular hackles from a young Birchen Duckwing Game cock, in which the naked barbs became densely reclothed with barbules towards their tips; so that these tips, which were dark coloured with a metallic lustre, were separated from the lower parts by a symmetrically-shaped transparent zone formed of the naked portions of the barbs. Hence the coloured tips appeared like little separate metallic discs.

The sickle-feathers in the tail, of which there are three pair, and which are eminently characteristic of the male sex, differ much in the various breeds. They are scimitar-shaped in some Hamburghs, instead of being long and flowing as in the typical breeds. They are extremely short in Cochins, and are not at {255} all developed in Hennies. They are carried, together with the whole tail, erect in Dorkings and Games; but droop much in Malays and in some Cochins. Sultans are characterized by an additional number of lateral sickle-feathers. The spurs vary much, being placed higher or lower on the shank; being extremely long and sharp in Games, and blunt and short in Cochins. These latter birds seem aware that their spurs are not efficient weapons; for though they occasionally use them, they more frequently fight, as I am informed by Mr. Tegetmeier, by seizing and shaking each other with their beaks. In some Indian Game-cocks, received by Mr. Brent from Germany, there are, as he informs me, three, four, or even five spurs on each leg. Some Dorkings also have two spurs on each leg;[413] and in birds of this breed the spur is often placed almost on the outside of the leg. Double spurs are mentioned in the ancient Chinese Encyclopaedia. Their occurrence may be considered as a case of analogous variation, for some wild gallinaceous birds, for instance, the Polyplectron, have double spurs.

Judging from the differences which generally distinguish the sexes in the Gallinaceae, certain characters in our domestic fowls appear to have been transferred from the one sex to the other. In all the species (except in Turnix), when there is any conspicuous difference in plumage between the male and female, the male is always the most beautiful; but in golden-spangled Hamburghs the hen is equally beautiful with the cock, and incomparably more beautiful than the hen in any natural species of Gallus; so that here a masculine character has been transferred to the female. On the other hand, in cuckoo Dorkings and in other cuckoo breeds the pencilling, which in Gallus is a female attribute, has been transferred to the male: nor, on the principle of analogous variation, is this transference surprising, as the males in many gallinaceous genera are barred or pencilled. With most of these birds head ornaments of all kinds are more fully developed in the male than in the female; but in Polish fowls the crest or top-knot, which in the male replaces the comb, is equally developed in both sexes. In certain {256} sub-breeds, which, from the hen having a small crest, are called lark-crested, "a single upright comb sometimes almost entirely takes the place of the crest in the male."[414] From this latter case, and from some facts presently to be given with respect to the protuberance of the skull in Polish fowls, the crest in this breed ought perhaps to be viewed as a feminine character which has been transferred to the male. In the Spanish breed the male, as we know, has an immense comb, and this has been partially transferred to the female, for her comb is unusually large, though not upright. In Game-fowls the bold and savage disposition of the male has likewise been largely transferred to the female;[415] and she sometimes even possesses the eminently masculine character of spurs. Many cases are on record of hens being furnished with spurs; and in Germany, according to Bechstein,[416] the spurs in the Silk-hen are sometimes very long. He mentions also another breed similarly characterized, in which the hens are excellent layers, but are apt to disturb and break their eggs owing to their spurs.

Mr. Layard[417] has given an account of a breed of fowls in Ceylon with black skin, bones, and wattle, but with ordinary feathers, and which cannot "be more aptly described than by comparing them to a white fowl drawn down a sooty chimney; it is, however," adds Mr. Layard, "a remarkable fact that a male bird of the pure sooty variety is almost as rare as a tortoise-shell tom-cat." Mr. Blyth finds that the same rule holds good with this breed near Calcutta. The males and females, on the other hand, of the black-boned European breed, with silky feathers, do not differ from each other; so that in the one breed black skin and bones, and the same kind of plumage, are common to both sexes, whilst in the other breed these characters are confined to the female sex.

At the present day all the breeds of Polish fowls have the great bony protuberance on their skulls, which includes part of the brain and supports the crest, equally developed in both sexes. {257} But formerly in Germany the skull of the hen alone was protuberant: Blumenbach,[418] who particularly attended to abnormal peculiarities in domestic animals, states, in 1813, that this was the case; and Bechstein had previously, in 1793, observed the same fact. This latter author has carefully described the effects of a crest on the skull not only in fowls, but in ducks, geese, and canaries. He states that with fowls, when the crest is not much developed, it is supported on a fatty mass; but when much developed, it is always supported on a bony protuberance of variable size. He well describes the peculiarities of this protuberance, and he attended to the effects of the modified shape of the brain on the intellect of these birds, and disputes Pallas' statement that they are stupid. He then expressly states that he never observed this protuberance in male fowls. Hence there can be no doubt that this remarkable character in the skulls of Polish fowls was formerly in Germany confined to the female sex, but has now been transferred to the males, and has thus become common to both sexes.

_External Differences, not connected with the sexes, between the breeds and between individual birds._

The size of the body differs greatly. Mr. Tegetmeier has known a Brahma
to weigh 17 pounds; a fine Malay cock 10 pounds; whilst a first-rate
Sebright Bantam weighs hardly more than 1 pound. During the last 20
years the size of some of our breeds has been largely increased by
methodical selection, whilst that of other breeds has been much
diminished. We have already seen how greatly colour varies even within
the same breed; we know that the wild _G. bankiva_ varies slightly in
colour; we know that colour is variable in all our domestic animals;
nevertheless some eminent fanciers have so little faith in variability,
that they have actually argued that the chief Game sub-breeds, which
differ from each other in nothing but colour, are descended from
distinct wild species! Crossing often causes strange modifications of
colour. Mr. Tegetmeier informs me that when buff and white Cochins are
crossed, some of the {258} chickens are almost invariably black.
According to Mr. Brent, black and white Cochins occasionally produce
chickens of a slaty-blue tint; and this same tint appears, as Mr.
Tegetmeier tells me, from crossing white Cochins with black Spanish
fowls, or white Dorkings with black Minorcas.[419] A good observer[420]
states that a first-rate silver-spangled Hamburgh hen gradually lost
the most characteristic qualities of the breed, for the black lacing to
her feathers disappeared, and her legs changed from leaden-blue to
white; but what makes the case remarkable is, that this tendency ran in
the blood, for her sister changed in a similar but less strongly marked
manner; and chickens produced from this latter hen were at first almost
pure white, "but on moulting acquired black collars and some spangled
feathers with almost obliterated markings;" so that a new variety arose
in this singular manner. The skin in the different breeds differs much
in colour, being white in common kinds, yellow in Malays and Cochins,
and black in Silk fowls; thus mocking, as M. Godron[421] remarks, the
three principal types of skin in mankind. The same author adds, that,
as different kinds of fowls living in distant and isolated parts of the
world have black skin and bones, this colour must have appeared at
various times and places.

The shape and carriage of the body and the shape of the head differ
much. The beak varies slightly in length and curvature, but
incomparably less than with pigeons. In most crested fowls the nostrils
offer a remarkable peculiarity in being raised with a crescentic
outline. The primary wing-feathers are short in Cochins; in a male,
which must have been more than twice as heavy as _G. bankiva_, these
feathers were in both birds of the same length. I have counted, with
Mr. Tegetmeier's aid, the primary wing-feathers in thirteen cocks and
hens of various breeds; in four of them, namely in two Hamburghs, a
Cochin, and Game Bantam, there were 10, instead of the normal number 9;
but in counting these feathers I have followed the practice of
fanciers, and have _not_ included the first minute primary feather,
barely three-quarters of an inch in length. These feathers differ
considerably in relative length, the fourth, or the fifth, or the
sixth, being the longest; with the third either equal to, or
considerably shorter than the fifth. In wild gallinaceous species the
relative length and number of the main wing and tail-feathers are
extremely constant.

The tail differs much in erectness and size, being small in Malays and
very small in Cochins. In thirteen fowls of various breeds which I have
examined, five had the normal number of 14 feathers, including in this
number the two middle sickle-feathers; six others (viz. a Caffre cock,
Gold-spangled Polish cock, Cochin hen, Sultan hen, Game hen, and Malay
hen) had 16; {259} and two (an old Cochin cock and Malay hen) had 17
feathers. The rumpless fowl has no tail, and in a bird which I kept
alive the oil-gland had aborted; but this bird, though the os coccygis
was extremely imperfect, had a vestige of a tail with two rather long
feathers in the position of the outer caudals. This bird came from a
family where, as I was told, the breed had kept true for twenty years;
but rumpless fowls often produce chickens with tails.[422] An eminent
physiologist[423] has recently spoken of this breed as a distinct
species; had he examined the deformed state of the os coccyx he would
never have come to this conclusion; he was probably misled by the
statement, which may be found in some works, that tailless fowls are
wild in Ceylon; but this statement, as I have been assured by Mr.
Layard and Dr. Kellaert, who have so closely studied the birds of
Ceylon, is utterly false.

The tarsi vary considerably in length, being relatively to the femur
considerably longer in the Spanish and Frizzled, and shorter in the
Silk and Bantam breeds, than in the wild _G. bankiva_; but in the
latter, as we have seen, the tarsi vary in length. The tarsi are often
feathered. The feet in many breeds are furnished with additional toes.
Golden-spangled Polish fowls are said[424] to have the skin between
their toes much developed; Mr. Tegetmeier observed this in one bird,
but it was not so in one which I examined. In Cochins the middle toe is
said[425] to be nearly double the length of the lateral toes, and
therefore much longer than in _G. bankiva_ or in other fowls; but this
was not the case in two which I examined. The nail of the middle toe in
this same breed is surprisingly broad and flat, but in a variable
degree in two birds which I examined; of this structure in the nail
there is only a trace in _G. bankiva_.

The voice differs slightly, as I am informed by Mr. Dixon, in almost
every breed. The Malays[426] have a loud, deep, somewhat prolonged
crow, but with considerable individual differences. Colonel Sykes
remarks that the domestic Kulm cock in India has not the shrill clear
pipe of the English bird, and "his scale of notes appears more
limited." Dr. Hooker was struck with the "prolonged howling screech" of
the cocks in Sikhim.[427] The crow of the Cochin is notoriously and
ludicrously different from that of the common cock. The disposition of
the different breeds is widely different, varying from the savage and
defiant temper of the Game-cock to the extremely peaceable temper of
the Cochin. The latter, it has been asserted, "graze to a much greater
extent than any other varieties." The Spanish fowls suffer more from
frost than other breeds.

Before we pass on to the skeleton, the degree of distinctness of the several breeds from _G. bankiva_ ought to be noticed. Some {260} writers speak of the Spanish as one of the most distinct breeds, and so it is in general aspect; but its characteristic differences are not important. The Malay appears to me more distinct, from its tall stature, small drooping tail with more than fourteen tail-feathers, and from its small comb and wattles; nevertheless one Malay sub-breed is coloured almost exactly like _G. bankiva._ Some authors consider the Polish fowl as very distinct; but this is a semi-monstrous breed, as shown by the protuberant and irregularly perforated skull. The Cochin, with its deeply furrowed frontal bones, peculiarly shaped occipital foramen, short wing-feathers, short tail containing more than fourteen feathers, broad nail to the middle toe, fluffy plumage, rough and dark-coloured eggs, and especially from its peculiar voice, is probably the most distinct of all the breeds. If any one of our breeds has descended from some unknown species, distinct from _G. bankiva,_ it is probably the Cochin; but the balance of evidence does not favour this view. All the characteristic differences of the Cochin breed are more or less variable, and may be detected in a greater or lesser degree in other breeds. One sub-breed is coloured closely like _G. bankiva._ The feathered legs, often furnished with an additional toe, the wings incapable of flight, the extremely quiet disposition, indicate a long course of domestication; and these fowls come from China, where we know that plants and animals have been tended from a remote period with extraordinary care, and where consequently we might expect to find profoundly modified domestic races.

_Osteological Differences._--I have examined twenty-seven skeletons and fifty-three skulls of various breeds, including three of _G. bankiva_: nearly half of these skulls I owe to the kindness of Mr. Tegetmeier, and three of the skeletons to Mr. Eyton.

The _Skull_ differs greatly in size in different breeds, being nearly
twice as long in the largest Cochins, but not nearly twice as broad, as
in Bantams. The bones at the base, from the occipital foramen to the
anterior end (including the quadrates and pterygoids), are absolutely
identical in _shape_ in all the skulls. So is the lower jaw. In the
forehead slight differences are often perceptible between the males and
females, evidently caused by the presence of the comb. In every case I
take the skull of _G. bankiva_ as the standard of comparison. In four
Games, in one Malay hen, in an {261} African cock, in a Frizzled cock
from Madras, in two black-boned Silk hens, no differences occur worth
notice. In three _Spanish_ cocks, the form of the forehead between the
orbits differs considerably; in one it is considerably depressed,
whilst in the two others it is rather prominent, with a deep medial
furrow; the skull of the hen is smooth. In three skulls of _Sebright
Bantams_ the crown is more globular, and slopes more abruptly to the
occiput, than in _G. bankiva_. In a Bantam or Jumper from Burmah these
same characters are more strongly pronounced, and the supra-occiput is
more pointed. In a black Bantam the skull is not so globular, and the
occipital foramen is very large, and has nearly the same sub-triangular
outline presently to be described in Cochins; and in this skull the two
ascending branches of the premaxillary are overlapped in a singular
manner by the processes of the nasal bone, but, as I have seen only one
specimen, some of these differences may be individual. Of Cochins and
Brahmas (the latter a crossed race approaching closely to Cochins) I
have examined seven skulls; at the point where the ascending branches
of the premaxillary rest on the frontal bone the surface is much
depressed, and from this depression a deep medial furrow extends
backwards to a variable distance; the edges of this fissure are rather
prominent, as is the top of the skull behind and over the orbits. These
characters are less developed in the hens. The pterygoids, and the
processes of the lower jaw, relatively to the size of the head, are
broader than in _G. bankiva_; and this is likewise the case with
Dorkings when of large size. The terminal fork of the hyoid bone in
Cochins is twice as wide as in _G. bankiva_, whereas the length of the
other hyoid bones is only as three to two. But the most remarkable
character is the shape of the occipital foramen: in _G. bankiva_ (A)
the breadth in a horizontal line exceeds the height in a vertical line,
and the outline is nearly circular; whereas in Cochins (B) the outline
is sub-triangular, and the vertical line exceeds the horizontal line in
length. This same form likewise occurs in the black Bantam above
referred to, and an approach to it may be seen in some Dorkings, and in
a slight degree in certain other breeds.

Of _Dorkings_ I have examined three skulls, one belonging to the white
sub-breed; the one character deserving notice is the breadth of the
frontal bones, which are moderately furrowed in the middle; thus in a
skull which was less than once and a half the length of that of _G.
bankiva_, the breadth between the orbits was exactly double. Of
_Hamburghs_ I have examined four skulls (male and female) of the
pencilled sub-breed, and one (male) of the spangled sub-breed; the
nasal bones stand remarkably wide apart, but in a variable degree;
consequently narrow membrane-covered spaces fare left between the tips
of the two ascending branches of the premaxillary {262} bones, which
are rather short, and between these branches and the nasal bones. The
surface of the frontal bone, on which the branches of the premaxillary
rest, is very little depressed. These peculiarities no doubt stand in
close relation with the broad flattened rose-comb characteristic of the
Hamburgh breed.

I have examined fourteen skulls of _Polish and other crested breeds_.
Their differences are extraordinary. First for nine skulls of different
sub-breeds of English Polish fowls. The hemispherical protuberance of
the frontal bones[428] may be seen in the accompanying drawings, in
which (B) the skull of a white-crested Polish fowl is shown obliquely
from above, with the skull (A) of _G. bankiva_ in the same position. In
fig. 35 longitudinal sections are given of the skulls of a Polish fowl,
and, for comparison, of a Cochin of the same size. The protuberance in
all Polish fowls occupies the same position, but differs much in size.
In one of my nine specimens it was extremely slight. The degree to
which the protuberance is ossified varies greatly, larger or smaller
portions of bone being replaced by membrane. In one specimen there was
only a single open pore; generally, there are many variously-shaped
open spaces, the bone forming an irregular reticulation. A medial,
longitudinal, arched ribbon of bone is generally retained, but in one
specimen there was no bone whatever over the whole protuberance, and
the skull when cleaned and viewed from above presented the appearance
of an open basin. The change in the whole internal form of the skull is
surprisingly great. The brain is modified in a corresponding manner, as
is shown in the two longitudinal sections, {263} which deserve
attentive consideration. The upper and anterior cavity of the three
into which the skull may be divided, is the one which is so greatly
modified; it is evidently much larger than in the Cochin skull of the
same size, and extends much further beyond the interorbital septum, but
laterally is less deep. Whether this cavity is entirely filled by the
brain, may be doubted. In the skull of the Cochin and of all ordinary
fowls a strong internal ridge of bone separates the anterior from the
central cavity; but this ridge is entirely absent in the Polish skull
here figured. The shape of the central cavity is circular in the
Polish, and lengthened in the Cochin skull. The shape of the posterior
cavity, together with the position, size, and number of the pores for
the nerves, differ much in these two skulls. A pit deeply penetrating
the occipital bone of the Cochin is entirely absent in this Polish
skull, whilst in another specimen it was well developed. In this second
specimen the whole internal surface of the posterior cavity likewise
differs to a certain extent in shape. I made sections of two other
skulls,--namely, of a Polish fowl with the protuberance singularly
little developed, and of a Sultan in which it was a little more
developed; and when these two skulls were placed between the two above
figured (fig. 35), a perfect gradation in the configuration of each
part of the internal surface could be traced. In the Polish skull, with
a small protuberance, the ridge between the anterior and middle
cavities was present, but low; and in the Sultan this ridge was
replaced by a narrow furrow standing on a broad raised eminence.

{264}

It may naturally be asked whether these remarkable modifications in the
form of the brain affect the intellect of Polish fowls; some writers
have stated that they are extremely stupid, but Bechstein and Mr.
Tegetmeier have shown that this is by no means generally the case.
Nevertheless Bechstein[429] states that he had a Polish hen which "was
crazy, and anxiously wandered about all day long." A hen in my
possession was solitary in her habits, and was often so absorbed in
reverie that she could be touched; she was also deficient in the most
singular manner in the faculty of finding her way, so that, if she
strayed a hundred yards from her feeding-place, she was completely
lost, and would then obstinately try to proceed in a wrong direction. I
have received other and similar accounts of Polish fowls appearing
stupid or half-idiotic.[430]

To return to the skull. The posterior part, viewed externally, differs
little from that of _G. bankiva_. In most fowls the posterior-lateral
process of the frontal bone and the process of the squamosal bone run
together and are ossified near their extremities: this union of the two
bones, however, is not constant in any breed; and in eleven out of
fourteen skulls of crested breeds, these processes were quite distinct.
These processes, when not united, instead of being inclined anteriorly
as in all common breeds, descend at right angles to the lower jaw; and
in this case the longer axis of the bony cavity of the ear is likewise
more perpendicular than in other breeds. When the squamosal process is
free, instead of expanding at the tip, it is reduced to an extremely
fine and pointed style, of variable length. The pterygoid and quadrate
bones present no difference. The palatine bones are a little more
curved upwards at their posterior ends. The frontal bones, anteriorly
to the protuberance, are, as in Dorkings, very broad, but in a variable
degree. The nasal bones either stand far apart, as in Hamburghs, or
almost touch each other, and in one instance were ossified together.
Each nasal bone properly sends out in front two long processes of equal
lengths, forming a fork; but in all the Polish skulls, except one, the
inner process was considerably, but in a variable degree, shortened and
somewhat upturned. In all the skulls, except one, the two ascending
branches of the premaxillary, instead of running up between the
processes of the nasal bones and resting on the ethmoid bone, are much
shortened and terminate in a blunt, somewhat upturned point. In those
skulls in which the nasal bones approach quite close to each other or
are ossified together, it would be impossible for the ascending
branches of the premaxillary to reach the ethmoid and frontal bones;
hence we see that even the relative connection of the bones has been
changed. Apparently in consequence of the branches of the premaxillary
and of the inner processes of the nasal bones being somewhat upturned,
the external orifices of the nostrils are upraised and assume a
crescentic outline.

I must still say a few words on some of the foreign Crested breeds. The
skull of a crested, rumpless, white Turkish fowl is very slightly
protuberant, and but little perforated; the ascending branches of the
premaxillary {265} are well developed. In another Turkish breed, called
Ghoondooks, the skull is considerably protuberant and perforated; the
ascending branches of the premaxillary are so much aborted that they
project only 1/15th of an inch; and the inner processes of the nasal
bone are so completely aborted, that the surface where they should have
projected is quite smooth. Here then we see these two bones modified to
an extreme degree. Of Sultans (another Turkish breed) I examined two
skulls; in that of the female the protuberance was much larger than in
the male. In both skulls the ascending branches of the premaxillary
were very short, and in both the basal portion of the inner processes
of the nasal bones were ossified together. These Sultan skulls differed
from those of English Polish fowls in the frontal bones, anteriorly to
the protuberance, not being broad.

The last skull which I need describe is a unique one, lent to me by Mr.
Tegetmeier: it resembles a Polish skull in most of its characters, but
has not the great frontal protuberance; it has, however, two rounded
knobs of a different nature, which stand more in front, above the
lachrymal bones. These curious knobs, into which the brain does not
enter, are separated from each other by a deep medial furrow; and this
is perforated by a few minute pores. The nasal bones stand rather wide
apart, with their inner processes, and the ascending branches of the
premaxillary, upturned and shortened. The two knobs no doubt supported
the two great horn-like projections of the comb.

From the foregoing facts we see in how astonishing a manner some of the
bones of the skull vary in Crested fowls. The protuberance may
certainly be called in one sense a monstrosity, as being wholly unlike
anything observed in nature: but as in ordinary cases it is not
injurious to the bird, and as it is strictly inherited, it can hardly
in another sense be called a monstrosity. A series may be formed
commencing with the black-boned Silk fowl, which has a very small crest
with the skull beneath penetrated only by a few minute orifices, but
with no other change in its structure; and from this first stage we may
proceed to fowls with a moderately large crest, which rests, according
to Bechstein, on a fleshy mass, but without any {266} protuberance in
the skull. I may add that I have seen a similar fleshy or fibrous mass
beneath the tuft of feathers on the head of the Tufted duck; and in
this case there was no actual protuberance in the skull, but it had
become a little more globular. Lastly, when we come to fowls with a
largely developed crest, the skull becomes largely protuberant and is
perforated by a multitude of irregular open spaces. The close relation
between the crest and the size of the bony protuberance is shown in
another way; for Mr. Tegetmeier informs me that if chickens lately
hatched be selected with a large bony protuberance, when adult they
will have a large crest. There can be no doubt that in former times the
breeder of Polish fowls attended solely to the crest, and not to the
skull; nevertheless, by increasing the crest, in which he has
wonderfully succeeded, he has unintentionally made the skull
protuberant to an astonishing degree; and through correlation of
growth, he has at the same time affected the form and relative
connexion of the premaxillary and nasal bones, the shape of the orifice
of the nose, the breadth of the frontal bones, the shape of the
post-lateral processes of the frontal and squamosal bones, the
direction of the axis of the bony cavity of the ear, and lastly the
internal configuration of the whole skull together with the shape of
the brain.

_Vertebrae._--In _G. bankiva_ there are fourteen cervical, seven dorsal
with ribs, apparently fifteen lumbar and sacral, and six caudal
vertebrae;[431] but the lumbar and sacral are so much anchylosed that I
am not sure of their number, and this makes the comparison of the total
number of vertebrae in the several breeds difficult. I have spoken of
six caudal vertebrae, because the basal one is almost completely
anchylosed with the pelvis; but if we consider the number as seven, the
caudal vertebrae agree in all the skeletons. The cervical vertebrae are,
as just stated, in appearance fourteen; but out of twenty-three
skeletons in a fit state for examination, in five of them, namely, in
two Games, in two pencilled Hamburghs, and in a Polish, the fourteenth
vertebra bore ribs, which, though small, were perfectly developed with
a double articulation. The presence of these little ribs cannot be
considered as a fact of much importance, for all the cervical vertebrae
bear representatives of ribs; but their development in the fourteenth
vertebra reduces the size of the passages in the transverse processes,
and makes this vertebra exactly like the first dorsal vertebra. The
addition of these little ribs does not affect the fourteenth cervical
alone, for properly the ribs of the first true dorsal vertebra are
destitute of processes; but in some of the skeletons in which the
fourteenth cervical bore little ribs, the first pair of true ribs had
well-developed processes. When we know that the sparrow has only nine,
and the swan twenty-three cervical vertebrae,[432] we need feel no
surprise at the number of the cervical vertebrae in the fowl being, as
it appears, variable.

There are seven dorsal vertebrae bearing ribs; the first dorsal is never
{267} anchylosed with the succeeding four, which are generally
anchylosed together. In one Sultan fowl, however, the two first dorsal
vertebrae were free. In two skeletons, the fifth dorsal was free;
generally the sixth is free (as in _G. bankiva_), but sometimes only at
its posterior end, where in contact with the seventh. The seventh
dorsal vertebra, in every case excepting in one Spanish cock, was
anchylosed with the lumbar vertebrae. So that the degree to which these
middle dorsal vertebrae are anchylosed together is variable.

Seven is the normal number of true ribs, but in two skeletons of the
Sultan fowl (in which the fourteenth cervical vertebra was not
furnished with little ribs) there were eight pairs; the eighth pair
seemed to be developed on a vertebra corresponding with the first
lumbar in _G. bankiva_; the sternal portion of both the seventh and
eighth ribs did not reach the sternum. In four skeletons in which ribs
were developed on the fourteenth cervical vertebra, there were, when
these cervical ribs are included, eight pairs; but in one Game-cock, in
which the fourteenth cervical was furnished with ribs, there were only
six pairs of true dorsal ribs; the sixth pair in this case did not have
processes, and thus resembled the seventh pair in other skeletons; in
this game-cock, as far as could be judged from the appearance of the
lumbar vertebrae, a whole dorsal vertebra with its ribs was missing. We
thus see that the ribs (whether or not the little pair attached to the
fourteenth cervical vertebra be counted) vary from six to eight pair.
The sixth pair is frequently not furnished with processes. The sternal
portion of the seventh pair is extremely broad in Cochins, and is
completely ossified. As previously stated, it is scarcely possible to
count the lumbo-sacral vertebrae; but they certainly do not correspond
in shape or number in the several skeletons. The caudal vertebrae are
closely similar in all the skeletons, the only difference being,
whether or not the basal one is anchylosed to the pelvis; they hardly
vary even in length, not being shorter in Cochins, with their short
tail-feathers, than in other breeds; in a Spanish cock, however, the
caudal vertebrae were a little elongated. In three rumpless fowls the
caudal vertebrae were few in number, and anchylosed together into a
misformed mass.

In the individual vertebrae the differences in structure are very
slight. In the atlas the cavity for the occipital condyle is either
ossified into a ring, or is, as in Bankiva, open on its upper margin.
The upper arc of the spinal canal is a little more arched in Cochins,
in conformity with the shape of occipital foramen, than in _G.
bankiva_. In several skeletons a difference, but not of much
importance, may be observed, which commences a the fourth cervical
vertebra, and is greatest at about the sixth, seventh, or eighth
vertebra; this consists in the haemal descending processes being united
to the body of the vertebra by a sort of buttress. This structure may
be observed in Cochins, Polish, some Hamburgh, and probably other
breeds; but is absent, or barely developed, in Game, Dorking, Spanish,
Bantam, and {268} several other breeds examined by me. On the dorsal
surface of the sixth cervical vertebra in Cochins three prominent
points are more strongly developed than in the corresponding vertebra
of the Game-fowl or _G. bankiva_.

_Pelvis._--This differs in some few points in the several skeletons.
The anterior margin of the ilium seems at first to vary much in
outline, but this is chiefly due to the degree to which the margin in
the middle part is ossified to the crest of the spine; the outline,
however, does differ in being more truncated in Bantams, and more
rounded in certain breeds, as in Cochins. The outline of the ischiadic
foramen differs considerably, being nearly circular in Bantams, instead
of egg-shaped as in the Bankiva, and more regularly oval in some
skeletons, as in the Spanish. The obturator notch is also much less
elongated in some skeletons than in others. The end of the pubic bone
presents the greatest difference; being hardly enlarged in the Bankiva;
considerably and gradually enlarged in Cochins, and in a lesser degree
in some other breeds; and abruptly enlarged in Bantams. In one Bantam
this bone extended very little beyond the extremity of the ischium. The
whole pelvis in this latter bird differed widely in its proportions,
being far broader proportionally to its length than in Bankiva.

_Sternum._--This bone is generally so much deformed that it is scarcely
possible to compare its form strictly in the several breeds. The shape
of the triangular extremity of the lateral processes differs
considerably, being either almost equilateral or much elongated. The
front margin of the crest is more or less perpendicular and varies
greatly, as does the curvature of the posterior end, and the flatness
of the lower surface. The outline of the manubrial process also varies,
being wedge-shaped in the Bankiva, and rounded in the Spanish breed.
The _furcula_ differs in being more or less arched, and greatly, as may
be seen in the accompanying outlines, in the shape of the terminal
plate; but the shape of this part differed a little in two skeletons of
the wild Bankiva. The _coracoids_ present no difference worth notice.
The _scapula_ varies in shape, being of nearly uniform breadth in
Bankiva, much broader in the middle in the Polish fowl, and abruptly
narrowed towards the apex in the two Sultan fowls.

I carefully compared each separate bone of the leg and wing, relatively
to the same bones in the wild Bankiva, in the following breeds, which I
thought were the most likely to differ; namely, in Cochin, Dorking,
{269} Spanish, Polish, Burmese Bantam, Frizzled Indian, and black-boned
Silk fowls; and it was truly surprising to see how absolutely every
process, articulation, and pore agreed, though the bones differed
greatly in size. The agreement is far more absolute than in other parts
of the skeleton. In stating this, I do not refer to the relative
thickness and length of the several bones; for the tarsi varied
considerably in both these respects. But the other limb-bones varied
little even in relative length.

Finally, I have not examined a sufficient number of skeletons to say whether any of the foregoing differences, except in the skull, are characteristic of the several breeds. Apparently some differences are more common in certain breeds than in others,--as an additional rib to the fourteenth cervical vertebra in Hamburghs and Games, and the breadth of the end of the pubic bone in Cochins. Both skeletons of the Sultan fowl had eight dorsal vertebrae, and the end of the scapula in both was somewhat attenuated. In the skull, the deep medial furrow in the frontal bones and the vertically elongated occipital foramen seem to be characteristic of Cochins; as is the great breadth of the frontal bones in Dorkings; the separation and open spaces between the tips of the ascending branches of the premaxillaries and nasal bones, as well as the front part of the skull being but little depressed, characterise Hamburghs; the globular shape of the posterior part of the skull seems to be characteristic of laced Bantams; and lastly, the protuberance of the skull with the ascending branches of the premaxillaries partially aborted, together with the other differences before specified, are eminently characteristic of Polish and other Crested fowls.

But the most striking result of our examination of the skeleton is the great variability of all the bones except those of the extremities. To a certain extent we can understand why the skeleton fluctuates so much in structure; fowls have been exposed to unnatural conditions of life, and their whole organisation has thus been rendered variable; but the breeder is quite indifferent to, and never intentionally selects, any modifications in the skeleton. External characters, if not attended to by man,--such as the number of the tail and wing feathers and their relative lengths, which in wild birds are generally constant points,--fluctuate in our domestic fowls in the same manner as the several parts of the skeleton. An additional toe is a "point" in Dorkings, and has become a fixed character, but is variable in {270} Cochins and Silk-fowls. The colour of the plumage and the form of the comb are in most breeds, or even sub-breeds, eminently fixed characters; but in Dorkings these points have not been attended to, and are variable. When any modification in the skeleton is related to some external character which man values, it has been, unintentionally on his part, acted on by selection, and has become more or less fixed. We see this in the wonderful protuberance of the skull, which supports the crest of feathers in Polish fowls, and which by correlation has affected other parts of the skull. We see the same result in the two protuberances which support the horns in the horned fowl, and in the flattened shape of the front of the skull in Hamburghs consequent on their flattened and broad "rose-combs." We know not in the least whether additional ribs, or the changed outline of the occipital foramen, or the changed form of the scapula, or of the extremity of the furcula, are in any way correlated with other structures, or have arisen from the changed conditions and habits of life to which our fowls have been subjected; but there is no reason to doubt that these various modifications in the skeleton could be rendered, either by direct selection, or by the selection of correlated structures, as constant and as characteristic of each breed, as are the size and shape of the body, the colour of the plumage, and the form of the comb.

_Effects of the Disuse of Parts._