Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/797

 COCK 781 lengthened, black in the centre, with a narrow edge of yellow ; the wing coverts are bordered with orange-red; the under parts are deep black; the hanging tail feathers are metallic green, tinged with steel-blue; the bill, legs, and feet are yellow ; the female has ranch brown in the plumage, and the under parts gray. This species inhabits thick woods, and is very wild; though rarely domesticated, the males cross readily with domestic hens, and in this way add a puzzling element to the prob- lem of the origin of the common races. Son- nerat's wild cock (G. Sonneratii, Temm.) in- habits the high wooded districts of Hindostan, where it is called by the English sportmen jun- gle fowl. It is nearly as large as the domestic fowl, though of more slender proportions ; the comb is large and serrated, and the wattles double ; the shafts of the hackled feathers, of a golden orange color, in the centre and at the tip are developed into flat horny plates, similar to those of the wings and tail of the Bohemian Sonnerat's Jungle Fowl (Callus Sonneratii). wax-wing ; the centre of the back, the throat, breast, belly, and thighs are deep gray ; the tail a rich green ; below the hackles the feath- ers are deep purple with a pale yellow edge, and below these golden green, edged with gray with brilliant metallic reflections. The hen has neither comb nor wattles, and the neck is covered with feathers; the plumage is of a general brown tint above, and gray- ish white below. Though smaller than game cocks generally, it is very bold and active, and is eagerly sought after by the Mohammedan natives of India for cock-fighting; it is gen- erally believed that this species has not mixed with the domestic races, except in the breeds kept as game cocks. The negro cock (G. morio, Linn.), originally from India, is re- markable for its blackish violet crest and wattles, black skin and periosteum ; the plu- mage is of a dark color, with bronzed reflec- tions; this easily becomes domesticated, and crosses readily with other races. The crisped or Friesland cock (G. crispus, Linn.), consid- ered a distinct species by Temminck and Gray, has the ends of the feathers turned up or friz- zled ; it is of small size, wild, not very easily domesticated, and is seldom reared except for curiosity; the pure breed is white, with smooth feet. They are quite common in Java, Sumatra, and the Indian archipelago, where the natives rear them. Some authors consider this and the next species mere varieties produced by acci- dent, and perpetuated by accident or design. The silk cock (G. lanatus, Linn.) has the webs of the feathers so disunited that they appear like silk or glossy hairs ; the general color is white, and the legs are feathered externally to the toes. It is common in China and Japan, where specimens are sold to Europeans as cu- riosities. The epidermis is black, and this pe- culiarity is communicated to the hybrids pro- duced by them and the common fowl, with which they readily cross ; the flesh, however, as in the negro fowl, is white and of excellent flavor. The gallinaceous birds are remarkable for the facility with which different species will unite and produce fertile offspring, a pecu- liarity which renders them doubly valuable to man. The wild hens do not vary in their plu- mage like the domestic, but resemble each other individually, being generally of colors intermediate between black and white, these two colors being the result of special care on the part of man to keep breeds unmixed. There are species, however, which must originally have been white, as the G. crispus and G. lana- tus, and such breeds will remain white if not crossed with others. It would be useless to enter into any description of the external ap- pearance of the common cock and hen ; but there are some points of internal structure which may be mentioned. Toward the lower part of the neck the oesophagus is dilated into a first digestive cavity with membra- nous walls, the crop, in which the food re- mains a certain time and undergoes a partial softening; below this is a second digestive cavity, small in the gallince, but large in birds having no crop, and secreting a gastric juice ; this opens into the third stomach, or gizzard, where chymification is completed ; the gizzard is remarkably muscular, and able to commi- nute the hardest food, and even foreign bodies exposed to its continued action; to assist in breaking up the hard grain and seeds on which they feed, the gallince are in the habit of swal- lowing small pebbles. The intestinal canal is long, as in vegetable feeders generally, mea- suring five times the length of the bird ; the caeca are six inches long ; the testes are prob- ably larger in proportion to the size of the body than in any other bird ; the trachea and larynx are capable of being elongated, com- pressed, or dilated, according to the sounds to be produced. The cock is a proud bird, walk- ing as if conscious of his superior strength ; but at the same time he is kind, always inviting his family to eat first of any food he may have