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, &c. 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
{236} hackles, as with our domestic poultry, but by short blackish
feathers.[381] 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.[382] Sir Walter Elliot
informs me that the hen of a nativ