he 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