With regard to the second question, it is generally agreed that we must search the Indian jungles, as the most likely localities for the parentage of the domestic cock ;* but which of the wild breeds formed the parent stock, is not quite so easily settled. The more general opinion is in favour of the Malay gigantic cock, Kulm cock of Europeans, gallus giganteus of Temminck, a bird that often stands considerably higher than two feet from the ground, taking the measurement from the crown of the head; and the Bankiva cock, Ayam utan or Brooga, Javan cock of Latham, Gallus Bankiva, of Temminck. Sonnerat, however, stands stoutly up for the beautiful bird that bears his name, as the common ancestor. Colonel Sykes notices two species, or two strongly marked varieties, in the woods of the Western Ghauts. In the valleys, 2000 feet above the sea, the bird was found slender, standing high upon the legs, and with the yellow cartilaginous spots on the feathers, even in the female. In the woody belts on the sides of the mountains, 4000 feet above the sea, a short-legged variety occurred. The male had a great deal of red in the plumage, which the true Coq sauvage of Sonnerat has not; and the female was of a reddish-brown colour, without any cartilaginous spots. This female the Colonel considers to be identical with the Gallus Stanleyi of Dr. Gray's Illustrations.

The Coq sauvage, according to Dr. Latham, is by far the boldest and strongest of the Asiatic cocks, for its size, and anxiously sought for by the cock-fighters of Hindustan, who pit it against larger game cocks with success.

Doctors, we perceive, differ in this case, as well as in so many others, and if we might presume to give an opinion, we would suggest that more than one wild race have

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contributed to improve the domestic breed, the varieties of which can hardly be defined-their name is legion. Nor is their size less variable than their plumage and shape; and we remember being amused, in the days of our youth, by the airs which a strutting bantam, a few inches high, gave itself in the presence of a gigantic Welsh bird, that rejoiced in the name of Velvet Breeches,' and could peck corn, with ease, from a table, when standing on the floor. They lived in the same yard, but did not often come into collision, except when the giant, now and then, showed a disposition to flirt with the bantam's hens, when the little fellow would ruffle his feathers, make himself look as big as he could, and show fight, not without occasional success.

The most striking among the numerous varieties are,

The Spanish, entirely black, large in size, and producing eggs of considerable volume, which are wellflavoured.

Everyday Fowls, prized for their inexhaustible laying habits.

Dutch and Polish Fowls, topknotted, and delicately pencilled, and commonly known as Gold Spangles or Silver Spangles, and when clean feathered, much admired by some amateurs.

Malays, long in the leg: good as

capons.

Bantams, of all colours, with feathered legs: the hens make good nurses, especially for partridges; but care must be taken not to put too many eggs under them.‡

Silk Fowls (gallus lanatus), small in size, with the webs of the white feathers (which are silky to the sight and touch) disunited. Comb and wattles of a lake-purple colour. Periosteum, of the limbs especially, dark as well as the skin, but the flesh very white. Excellent nurses. Gallus morio has also the periosteum

In

black, and the comb, wattles, and skin of a dull purple. Colonel Sykes remarks that this last frequently occurs accidentally in the Dukhun (Deccan), and that, though unsightly, it is very sweet eating.

Frieslands (gallus crispus), with all the feathers frizzled and curled the wrong way, a most uncomfortable looking race. This also occurs occasionally in the Deccan, and also in a domesticated state in Java and Sumatra.

Rumpless, or Persian FowlsRumkins. The cock of this race is utterly tailless.

Game Fowls. Bred for the pit and the table; hens very good

Dorkings. This justly celebrated breed has supernumerary toes.

Sussex Fowls. The best of these are fine birds, and carry much sapid flesh.

And last, though not least, Cochins, or Shanghaes (Chang-hais.)

The east still seems the country, par excellence, for poultry. Colonel Sykes observes that the Domestic Fowl (gallus domesticus, Ray, Phasianus gallus cristatus, Linn.,) is so abundant in Deccan, that he has bought, in parts of the country not much frequented by Europeans, from eight to twelve full grown fowls for two shillings, adding, that many of the hens, particularly of the villages in the Ghauts are not to be distinguished from the wild bird, excepting only in the want of the cartilaginous spot on the wing

*

daughter Mary, on the 17th January, in the 21st year of the reign of the bluff king, charged 16s., 30 other capons,' 15s., and 4 dozen of chickens, 6s. In the same list 10 pigs, every one 5d.,' are charged 4s. 2d., 6 calves, 16s., 1 other calf,' the fatted one, we presume, 3s., 7 lambs, 10s., and 6 withers, every wither 2s. 4d. -14s. Again, in the general expences for the same marriage, we find capons of grease, 72, 31. 12s..' while 2 oxen are charged 31.; 2 brawns, 22s.; and 3 lambs only 4s. At the Lammas Assizes, in the 20th year of the reign of the same king we find 60 capons of grease, 258.,' 'other capons,' 31. 14s.; 5 oxen, 67. 13s. 4d.; 24 weathers, 37. 14s.; 6 calves, 20s. ; 24 pigs, 14s.'

This was when the worthy knight was sheriff of Yorkshire. Sheriffs seem to have been sheriffs in those days, and the feasting must have been prodigious." Swans, and 'Heronsews' were served by the score, with variety of wild fowl, 30 dozen of pigeons, 80 partridges, charged 26s. and 8d., but only 12 pheasants, charged 20s. Nine quarters of wheat (127.), furnished the board with bread and pastry; 12 quarters of malt (107.), 3 hogsheads of wine (87. 11s. 8d.), and 24 gallons of malmsey (32s.), helped to wash the good things down.

The fish for Fryday and Saturday,' appears in shoals-300 great breams as a sample; quære tamen, whether the judges relished the 'fresh seals,' charged at 13s. 4d., as well as they did the 'bucks' and 'stags' of the flesh days. Those learned functionaries seem to have been at no expense whatever, while under the tender care of the hospitable sheriff; according to the following,

Item, for the Judges and Clerks of the assize, for their Horse-meat at the Inn, and for their Housekeepers meat, and the Clerk of the Assize Fee, 101.

enables them to cover effectually a great number of eggs. You may do anything with them, and they will readily sit anywhere when broody. They generally bring out a good strong clutch, the eggs hatching remarkably well. The chickens are as hardy as those of other fowls, if not more so.

The following appears to us to be a very fair summing up:

In speaking of their good qualities, their contentedness in a comparatively small space, their attachment to home, and the ease with which they are confined by a three feet fence, must not be omitted. Their chocolate-coloured eggs, though small, are of good flavour, but they have not yet been sufficiently introduced into the markets to state how they are appreciated by the public at large. With regard to their laying twice in one day, such an event happens by far too rarely to be taken into consideration when speaking of their economical value. The great drawback to Cochins, as farmers' fowls, is the large quantity of food they require, which, notwithstanding all that has been said to the contrary by their exclusive admirers, is considerably greater than that consumed by other varieties, and their disposition leads them to remain at home instead of seeking for worms and other food in the fields; in fact, the old birds seem not to care for the large earth worms, which are so greedily devoured by all other fowls.

The Brahma Poutras have proved a very apple of discord to the poultry-fanciers, whether their origin or their merits are considered. This variety was introduced into this country from the United States of America. Dr. Bennet, of that goa-head country, deposes, that his original pair were not brought from China, but from the banks of the river whose name they bear. One party among the breeders maintains that they are nothing more than a variety of Cochins, and persists in denominating them Gray Shanghaes: another as stoutly stands up for their claim to distinctness. Their

recent Asiatic origin is apparent. They come nearer to the Cochins than any other variety; but their bearing and gait are different. The Brahma Poutra cock stands more upright, and his breast is more pro

minent.

As this breed occupies a good deal of attention at present, the following description of a pair of

these birds sent over by Dr. Bennet, and in the possession of Mr. Sheehan, of Barnet, will be read with interest by those who take pride in their poultry-yards.

The height of the cock is two feet three inches; the girth around the body over the wings, one foot ten inches. The head is surmounted with a very small triple rose comb, or, as it is termed in America, a pea-comb; single combed varieties also exist, but they are less esteemed. Another peculiarity is, a well-marked distinction between the back of the head and neck; the tail is small, consisting of scimitar-shaped feathers, and is carried uprightly; the legs are strong and muscular, and the yellow shanks feathered to the toes.

The colour of the body is white, with the slightest possible tinge of gold, the hackle being dark-gray, and the primary wing feathers, and tail glossy black, with the resplendent tints of green seen in the true-bred Spanish. The hen is of a proportionate size, and matches in colour-the hackle, wings, and tail being dark-gray: the latter, also, being more developed than in the ordinary Cochins.

In the United States these 'Brahmas,' as they are termed by the fancy, have obtained a most fertile reputation as layers, and an excellent name as nurses; and according to Mr. Sheehan their laying and maternal qualities are equally shining in this country. The eggs, averaging about three ounces, are nearly as light in colour as those of ordinary hens. The chickens are robust, very hardy, grow rapidly, and feather quickly. In plumage and hue they resemble their parents very closely, and this peculiarity is deemed by the initiated in Gallinaceous mysteries a strong proof that the Brahmas' are a variety distinct from the Cochins.

The flesh of the game fowl is finely flavoured. Some bird-epicures will admit no other to their tables, and prefer it to the pheasant. The hens

are the best of sitters and mothers, and their foraging disposition renders them desirable stock in the country, where they have opportunities of indulging their propensity for going abroad and pecking about, a habit to which, no doubt, they owe their flavour. There is as much difference between the flesh of a game fowl and an ordinary cooped one, as between that of a wild rabbit and a

1853.]

tame one; but the comparative smallness of their size is against their use for the table in a profitable point of view, and their pugnacity is against them as domestic poultry. The cockerels fight desperately from the earliest age, and we have even seen pullets in long and bloody strife over a barley-corn. Some of the old hens are absolute amazons, and will contend in mortal combat if not timely parted. The beauty and symmetry of a thorough bred game cock and hen render them pleasant for the eye of a connoisseur to rest on, even if he be no admirer of the barbarous but exciting sport which has taken such firm hold of its votaries from the earliest times, and is so admirably represented by our own Hogarth in his Cock Match,' with blind Lord Albemarle Bertie as the principal figure in all his glory. Cruel as the sanguinary diversion is, Themistocles could point a moral from the 'Αλεκτρυόνων ayov, which became an annual festival, and point out to his soldiers that the birds fought neither for the gods of their country, the tombs of their ancestors, nor yet for their children, but for glory only. The cock-pit in which the battles were fought was in the theatre where the public games were exhibited, and was not round like the cock-pits of the moderns, but a square stage. From a religious and political institution, the custom soon sank to private gambling, and cock matches, where ruinous sums were lost, were frequent among the people. Tanagra in Boeotia, Rhodes, Chalcis in Euboea, and Media, produced the race most esteemed by the ancients, who appear to have preferred the larger birds, or those called by our cockers 'shakebags.' The hens of Alexandria, in Egypt, were valued as the mothers of high-spirited chickens. The Grecians inoculated the Romans with the passion, and the Romans brought it to Britain. Cocks, as we

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have seen, were here when they landed, but we owe 'cocking' to those invaders. The barbarities of Shrove Tuesday are noticed in Henry the Second's time;t but the sport of cock-fighting does not seem to have occupied the attention of previous writers, and our third Edward disapproved of it, and prohibited it. Henry VIII., who had no small dash of cruelty in his disposition, encouraged it, and built a theatre near Whitehall for the combatants. Oliver Cromwell, to

his honour, suppressed it;§ but it was revived after his time, and furiously followed. furiously followed. The spread of education gradually brought this, with other barbarous pastimes, into discredit; and cruelty to animals is now rendered penal.

The Dorkings, though at present thrown rather into the shade by the Cochin and Brahma Poutra furore, will, in our opinion, ultimately retain the position which they have long held as table birds; especially as much attention has lately been paid to the improvement of the breed. We remember a pure white variety of this race, with white legs, the fairness and sapidity of whose flesh, combined with the delicacy of their appearance, especially as boiled fowls, rendered them famous in a neighbourhood where gastronomy was not neglected. Even in point of size, well bred and well educated Dorkings will compete with Cochins themselves. Dr. Latham has re corded the weight of a Dorking bird, which reached 14 lbs.

Mr. Tegetmeier prefers the coloured Dorkings, declaring that there are no birds so well adapted to those who rear chickens for the table. Though not remarkable as layers, they cannot, he justly says, be surpassed as sitters and nurses, whilst their large size, plump breasts, short legs, and delicate white flesh, render them the most desirable table birds.

+Fitz-Stephens.

§ In 1654.