Towanda daily review. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1879-1921, 1879-12-20
Origin of Domestic Poultry.

paper on domestic fowls to the Rural
Neoo Yorker: " Not much need be said
of the ancient history of poultry; enough
is we'll known to show that the Egyp-
tians, Greeks, Romans and all the an
cent nations were acquainted with and
kept poultry, even when their supersti-
tion or religion forbade the eating of
them, as it is said of the ancient BritonS.
In early pictures of poulty, many of the
peculiarities OF our modern fowls are
seen both as to colors, topknots, shapes
and sizes.
cit is only within the last, cOmpara-
lively few years that fowls have received
share of the attention that had for a
long time previously been given to the
improvement of other live stock Since
then, however, careful breeders have de-
velopeG the original sports, or variations,
into what are known as distinct breeds.
The great change brought about within
the memory of the present generation is
enough to show that much more may
have been done during past ages by food,
climate, local in-breeding, or selection by
the caprice of man.
GLOW often has the question been dis
cussed concerning the plurality or singu-
larity of the origin Of our domestic ami
mails, including poultry. Some say of the
stately Dorking or Brahma, is it posi-
BILE that such monStrOuS birds can claim
the same ancestry as the diminutive Ban
tam? Or can the heavy, trousered Cochin
claim the same parentage as the neat,
clean, close teathered Game, or as the
Silky, with its odd covering and dark
skim To answer this question, let us
look little further utO the laws of ma
ture as we observe them. Every species
of birds or animals has its own peculiar
voice, song, call or cry, and that distin-
g shes it from all other species. There
is no min@ling or jumbling together Of
sounds. This is strikingly shown in the
feathered kingdom. The voice of every
little bird is wholly its own Among the
few small birds that visit both the Amer
lCuII OOulllltlb anu EilOpt nom VIC ltll
north, such as the Snow Bunting and
Lesser Redpole, the rolling note of the
former is precisely the same, whether
heard in New Jersey, Scotland Of Siberia
''With poultry it is just the same.
have listened to the notes Of fowls from
India, China, Japan, Spain and Italy;
al nlilyn tn thnir nhiryS. coll
them by one note; give the same notes of
alarm, rrate the same, and all give the
same crowning crow. Although bred
apart for SO many ages that no one can
even guess the time when they first
sprung from common source, yet their
notes are precisely identical, varying only
with the size Of the foWlS-thc larger the
bird, the longer and more sonorous the
crow. There are some slight variations
to the rule, as some breeds are more in
clned to deeper notes than others, and
active breeds are more noisy than the
more Sedate sorts. ct size is the con-
trolling rule-thc larger the Asiatics are
bred, the longer they crow, this, getting
shorter till we come to the quick, shrill,
crow of the Bantam. Some song birds
have the power of imitation so as to
change their songs; our canarieS can be
taugh other birds notes. Their natural
cal, however, is always the same. This
would seem to show that all poultry have
the same origin, all descending from one
species. If thousands of years Of separa-
tion, all kinds of climates, food and