Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/796

 780 COCHUT COCK Petropavlovsk was well received by the Rus- sian functionaries. There he became enam- ored of the daughter of the sexton of the town, married her, and abandoned the intention of walking across the North American continent. He returned to London by the same route which he had previously travelled, and reached Britain after an absence of three years and two months, and published " Narrative of a Pedestrian Journey through Russia and Sibe- rian Tartary, from the Frontiers of China to the Frozen Sea and Eamtchatka " ( 2 vols., London, 1824). His propensity to wander did not allow him to remain quiet long, and he next proceeded to South America, where he died engaged in some mining enterprises. COCHUT, dn-. a French publicist, born in Paris in 1812. He early acquired distinction as a political economist and as an authority on Algerian colonization, by his disquisitions in the Revue des Deux Mondes, and in 1848 by his Rapport general sur VAlgerie, drawn up and printed by order of the government, though the publication was prevented by the outbreak of the revolution. In 1851 he pub- lished a volume containing a number of his contributions to the press, especially to the National, under the title of Les associations ouvrieres, &c. His principal subsequent es- says are a historical sketch of the system of Law (in the Bibliotheque des chemins de fer, 1853), and Operation* et tendances Jinancieres du second empire (in the Revue des Deux Mondes, 1868). COCK (Lat. gallus), a gallinaceous or rasorial bird of the order gallina and family phasi- anidce, originally a native of Asia. The birds of this genus, which includes the numerous varieties of domestic poultry, are distinguished from the pheasants by the crown of the head being naked, and the skin raised into a fleshy comb; by the base of the lower jaw having fleshy lobes or wattles ; and by the tail, com- posed of two planes of feathers folded at a sharp angle, being generally carried erect. In the males the central tail feathers are elongated, and fall gracefully over the rest; the feathers of the neck, lower back, and tail coverts are very full, and assume various shapes. They inhabit the jungles of India and the Asiatic islands; they are polygamous, and the males are exceedingly pugnacious, manifesting their joy when victorious by loud and piercing notes ; the males have a brilliant plumage, but the females, or hens, are of a duller color and smaller size. Of the many native species now known, it is difficult to decide from which, if from any, the domesticated races have sprung. It is the prevailing opinion that many species have mixed to produce the common barnyard fowls. Temminck, who has paid the most at- tention to this subject, gives the preference to the species G. giganteus and G. BanldTa, from the fact that the females of these resemble in form and structure of the feathers our do- mestic hens, and that the males resemble the dunghill cock in the great development of comb and wattles. The Jago and the Javan cock are probably the principal wild originals of the domestic breeds ; and it is uni- versally admitted that Asia was the primitive seat of the genus, and there also now exist the above mentioned wild species. The Jago cock (G. giganteus, Temm.), of large size, is a na- tive of Sumatra and Java ; the comb is thick, slightly raised, and truncated or rounded at the top ; the throat is bare, and the wattles of moderate size; the head, neck, and upper back are covered with pale golden-reddish hackles; the middle of the back and lesser wing coverts are deep chestnut, the feathers with disunited webs, the hackles covering the rump and base of the tail reddish yellow ; tail large, and, with the greater wing coverts, glossy green; secondaries and quills with the outer webs pale reddish yellow ; under part? glossy blackish green, with the base of the feathers deep chestnut, occasionally mottling the under plumage. The height of the cocks is from 2 to 2J ft. To this species must prob- ably be referred the large varieties so well known under the names of Chittagongs, Shang- hais, Cochin Chinas, and Brahmapootras. The Javan cock (G. BanTciva, Temm.), the type of many of the smaller varieties, and espe- cially resembling many bantams, occurs wild in Java and Sumatra. The skin is bare around the eyes and throat, the comb is large and deeply serrated, and the wattles well devel- oped ; the head, back, sides of the neck, and rump are covered with long golden hackles; the upper back is bluish black, the centre of the lesser wing coverts of a deep chestnut, with the webs of the feathers disunited; the greater coverts steel-blue, the secondaries the same, margined with chestnut; the quills brownish black, edged with reddish yellow; the tail black, with metallic reflections; the under parts black. Other wild species, less resembling the domestic fowls, but readily crossing with them, are the following: The bronzed cock (G. cenevs, Cuv.), also from Su- matra, larger than the Javan; the comb is very large, and not serrated ; the wattles are small and thick, and with the bare cheeks and throat are bright red; the feathers are not hackled, of a metallic green, with brilliant re- flections; the plumes are rich purple, with a broad pale lake border ; the tail is purple, with green reflections ; under parts deep black, shaded with purple and green. The fork- tailed cock (G.furcatus, Temm.), a native of Java, a large species, is remarkable for its horizontal and forked tail, its smooth comb, and a large single wattle springing from the centre of the throat and divided into several lobes ; the feathers of the head, neck, and up- j per back are short and rounded, close, velvety, and scale-like; the color of the centre is a deep metallic blue shading into golden green, with a narrow border of deep black ; on the lower back and tail coverts the feathers are