THE TURKEY.
It seems fairly well established by Mr. Gould (8/36. 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.' April 8, 1856 page 61. Prof. Baird believes (as quoted in Tegetmeier 'Poultry Book' 1866 page 269) that our turkeys are descended from a West Indian species now extinct. But besides the improbability of a bird having long ago become extinct in these large and luxuriant islands, it appears (as we shall presently see) that the turkey degenerates in India, and this fact indicates that it was not aboriginally an inhabitant of the lowlands of the tropics.), that the turkey, in accordance with the history of its first introduction, is descended from a wild Mexican form, which had been domesticated by the natives before the discovery of America, and which is now generally ranked as a local race, and not as a distinct species. However this may be, the case deserves notice because in the United States wild male turkeys sometimes court the domestic hens, which are descended from the Mexican form, "and are generally received by them with great pleasure." (8/37. Audubon 'Ornithological Biography' volume 1 1831 pages 4- 13; and 'Naturalist's Library' volume 14 'Birds' page 138.) Several accounts have likewise been published of young birds, reared in the United States from the eggs of the wild species, crossing and commingling with the common breed. In England, also, this same species has been kept in several parks; from two of which the Rev. W.D. Fox procured birds, and they crossed freely with the common domestic kind, and during many years afterwards, as he informs me, the turkeys in his neighbourhood clearly showed traces of their crossed parentage. We here have an instance of a domestic race being modified by a cross with a distinct wild race or species. F. Michaux (8/38. F. Michaux 'Travels in N. America' 1802 English translation page 217.) suspected in 1802 that the common domestic turkey was not descended from the United States species alone, but likewise from a southern form, and he went so far as to believe that English and French turkeys differed from having different proportions of the blood of the two parent-forms.
English turkeys are smaller than either wild form. They have not varied in any great degree; but there are some breeds which can be distinguished as Norfolks, Suffolks, Whites, and Copper-coloured (or Cambridge), all of which, if precluded from crossing with other breeds propagate their kind truly. Of these kinds, the most distinct is the small, hardy, dull-black Norfolk turkey, of which the chickens are black, occasionally with white patches about the head. The other breeds scarcely differ except in colour, and their chickens are generally mottled all over with brownish-grey. (8/39. 'Ornamental Poetry' by the Rev. E.S. Dixon 1848 page 34.) The inferior tail-coverts vary in number, and according to a German superstition the hen lays as many eggs as the cock has feathers of this kind. (8/40. Bechstein 'Naturgesch. Deutschlands' b. 3 1793 s. 309.) Albin in 1738, and Temminck within a much later period, describe a beautiful breed, dusky-yellowish, brown above and white beneath, with a large top- knot of soft plumose feather. The spurs of the male were rudimentary. This breed has been for a long time extinct in Europe; but a living specimen has lately been imported from the east coast of Africa, which still retains the top-knot and the same general colouring and rudimentary spurs. (8/41. Mr. Bartlett in 'Land and Water' October 31, 1868 page 233; and Mr. Tegetmeier in the 'Field' July 17, 1869 page 46.) Mr. Wilmot has described (8/42. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1852 page 699.) a white turkey-cock having a crest formed of "feathers about four inches long, with bare quills, and a tuft of soft white down growing at the end." Many of the young birds inherited this kind of crest, but afterwards it fell off or was pecked out by the other birds. This is an interesting case, as with care a new breed might probably have been formed; and a top-knot of this nature would have been to a certain extent analogous to that borne by the males in several allied genera, such as Euplocomus, Lophophorus, and Pavo.
Wild turkeys, believed in every instance to have been imported from the United States, have been kept in the parks of Lords Powis, Leicester, Hill, and Derby. The Rev. W.D. Fox procured birds from the two first-named parks, and he informs me that they certainly differed a little from each other in the shape of their bodies and in the barred plumage on their wings. These birds likewise differed from Lord Hill's stock. Some of the latter kept at Oulton by Sir P. Egerton, though precluded from crossing with common turkeys, occasionally produced much paler-coloured birds, and one that was almost white, but not an albino. These half-wild turkeys, in thus differing slightly from each other, present an analogous case with the wild cattle kept in the several British parks. We must suppose that such differences have resulted from the prevention of free intercrossing between birds ranging over a wide area, and from the changed conditions to which they have been exposed in England. In India the climate has apparently wrought a still greater change in the turkey, for it is described by Mr. Blyth (8/43. E. Blyth 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.' 1847 volume 20 page 391.) as being much degenerated in size, "utterly incapable of rising on the wing," of a black colour, and "with the long pendulous appendages over the beak enormously developed."
THE GUINEA FOWL.
The domesticated Guinea fowl is now believed by some naturalists to be descended from the Numida ptilorhynca, which inhabits very hot, and, in parts, extremely arid districts in Eastern Africa; consequently it has been exposed in this country to extremely different conditions of life. Nevertheless it has hardly varied at all, except in the plumage being either paler or darker-coloured. It is a singular fact that this bird varies more in colour in the West Indies and on the Spanish Main, under a hot though humid climate, than in Europe. (8/44. Roulin makes this remark in 'Mem. de divers Savans, 1'Acad. des Sciences' tome 6 1835 page 349. Mr. Hill of Spanish Town in a letter to me describes five varieties of the Guinea fowl in Jamaica. I have seen singular pale-coloured varieties imported from Barbadoes and Demerara.) The Guinea fowl has become thoroughly feral in Jamaica and in St. Domingo (8/45. For St. Domingo see M. A. Salle, in 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.' 1857 page 236. Mr. Hill remarks to me, in his letter, on the colour of the legs of the feral birds in Jamaica.), and has diminished in size; the legs are black, whereas the legs of the aboriginal African bird are said to be grey. This small change is worth notice on account of the often-repeated statement that all feral animals invariably revert in every character to their original type.
THE CANARY BIRD.
As this bird has been recently domesticated, namely, within the last 350 years, its variability deserves notice. It has been crossed with nine or ten other species of Fringillidae, and some of the hybrids are almost completely fertile; but we have no evidence that any distinct breed has originated from such crosses. Notwithstanding the modern domestication of the canary, many varieties have been produced; even before the year 1718 a list of twenty-seven varieties was published in France (8/46. Mr. B.P. Brent 'The Canary, British Finches' etc. pages 21, 30.), and in 1779 a long schedule of the desired qualities was printed by the London Canary Society, so that methodical selection has been practised during a considerable period. The greater number of the varieties differ only in colour and in the markings of their plumage. Some breeds however, differ in shape, such as the hooped or bowed canaries, and the Belgian canaries with their much elongated bodies. Mr. Brent (8/47. 'Cottage Gardener' December 11, 1855 page 184: an account is here given of all the varieties. For many measurements of the wild birds, see Mr. E. Vernon Harcourt ibid December 25, 1855 page 223.) measured one of the latter and found it eight inches in length, whilst the wild canary is only five and a quarter inches long. There are top-knotted canaries, and it is a singular fact that, if two top- knotted birds are matched, the young, instead of having very fine top- knots, are generally bald, or even have a wound on their heads. (8/48. Bechstein 'Naturgesch. der Stubenvogel' 1840 s. 243; see s. 252 on the inherited song of Canary-birds. With respect to their baldness see also W. Kidd 'Treatise on Song-Birds.') It would appear as if the top-knot were due to some morbid condition, which is increased to an injurious degree when two birds in this state are paired. There is a feather-footed breed, and another with a kind of frill running down the breast. One other character deserves notice from being confined to one period of life, and from being strictly inherited at the same period; namely, the wing and tail feathers in prize canaries being black, "but this colour is retained only until the first moult; once moulted, the peculiarity ceases." (8/49. W. Kidd 'Treatise on Song-Birds' page 18.) Canaries differ much in disposition and character, and in some small degree in song. They produce eggs three or four times during the year.
GOLD-FISH.
Besides mammals and birds, only a few animals belonging to the other great classes have been domesticated; but to show that it is an almost universal law that animals, when removed from their natural conditions of life, vary, and that races can be formed when selection is applied, it is necessary to say a few words on gold-fish, bees, and silk-moths.