h fowl, and abruptly
narrowed towards the apex in the two Sultan fowls.

I carefully compared each separate bone of the leg and wing, relatively
to the same bones in the wild Bankiva, in the following breeds, which I
thought were the most likely to differ; namely, in Cochin, Dorking,
{269} Spanish, Polish, Burmese Bantam, Frizzled Indian, and black-boned
Silk fowls; and it was truly surprising to see how absolutely every
process, articulation, and pore agreed, though the bones differed
greatly in size. The agreement is far more absolute than in other parts
of the skeleton. In stating this, I do not refer to the relative
thickness and length of the several bones; for the tarsi varied
considerably in both these respects. But the other limb-bones varied
little even in relative length.

Finally, I have not examined a sufficient number of skeletons to say
whether any of the foregoing differences, except in the skull, are
characteristic of the several breeds. Apparently some differences are more
common in certain breeds than in others,--as an additional rib to the
fourteenth cervical vertebra in Hamburghs and Games, and the breadth of the
end of the pubic bone in Cochins. Both skeletons of the Sultan fowl had
eight dorsal vertebrae, and the end of the scapula in both was somewhat
attenuated. In the skull, the deep medial furrow in the frontal bones and
the vertically elongated occipital foramen seem to be characteristic of
Cochins; as is the great breadth of the frontal bones in Dorkings; the
separation and open spaces between the tips of the ascending branches of
the premaxillaries and nasal bones, as well as the front part of the skull
being but little depressed, characterise Hamburghs; the globular shape of
the posterior part of the skull seems to be characteristic of laced
Bantams; and lastly, the protuberance of the skull with the ascending
branches of the premaxillaries partially aborted, together with the other
differences before specified, are eminently characteristic of Polish and
other Crested fowls.

But the most striking result of our examination of the skeleton is the
great variability of all the bones except those of the extremities. To a
certain extent we can understand why the skeleton fluctuates so much in
structure; fowls have been exposed to unnatural conditions of life, and
their whole organisation has thus been rendered variable; but the breeder
is quite i