ere named _G.
aeneus_. Mr. Blyth and others believe that the _G. Temminckii_[378] (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,[379]
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[380] 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