Hence the coloured tips appeared like little separate metallic discs.
The sickle-feathers in the tail, of which there are three pair, and which are eminently characteristic of the male sex, differ much in the various breeds. They are scimitar-shaped in some Hamburghs, instead of being long and flowing as in the typical breeds. They are extremely short in Cochins, and are not at all developed in Hennies. They are carried, together with the whole tail, erect in Dorkings and Gaines; but droop much in Malays and in some Cochins. Sultans are characterised by an additional number of lateral sickle-feathers. The spurs vary much, being placed higher or lower on the shank; being extremely long and sharp in Games, and blunt and short in Cochins. These latter birds seem aware that their spurs are not efficient weapons; for though they occasionally use them, they more frequently fight, as I am informed by Mr. Tegetmeier, by seizing and shaking each other with their beaks. In some Indian Game cocks, received by Mr. Brent from Germany, there are, as he informs me, three, four, or even five spurs on each leg. Some Dorkings also have two spurs on each leg (7/53. 'Poultry Chronicle' volume 1 page 595. Mr. Brent has informed me of the same fact. With respect to the position of the spurs in Dorkings see 'Cottage Gardener' September 18, 1860 page 380.); and in birds of this breed the spur is often placed almost on the outside of the leg. Double spurs are mentioned in an ancient Chinese Encyclopaedia. Their occurrence may be considered as a case of analogous variation, for some wild gallinaceous birds, for instance, the Polyplectron, have double spurs.
Judging from the differences which generally distinguish the sexes in the Gallinaceae, certain characters in our domestic fowls appear to have been transferred from the one sex to the other. In all the species (except in Turnix), when there is any conspicuous difference in plumage between the male and female, the male is always the most beautiful; but in golden- spangled Hamburghs the hen is equally beautiful with the cock, and incomparably more beautiful than the hen in any natural species of Gallus; so that here a masculine character has been transferred to the female. On the other hand, in Cuckoo Dorkings and in other cuckoo breeds the pencilling, which in Gallus is a female attribute, has been transferred to the male: nor, on the principle of analogous variation, is this transference surprising, as the males in many gallinaceous genera are barred or pencilled. With most of these birds head ornaments of all kinds are more fully developed in the male than in the female; but in Polish fowls the crest or top-knot, which in the male replaces the comb, is equally developed in both sexes. In the males of certain other sub-breeds, which from the hen having a small crest, are called lark-crested, "a single upright comb sometimes almost entirely takes the place of the crest." (7/54. Dixon 'Ornamental and Domestic Poultry' page 320.) From this latter case, and more especially from some facts presently to be given with respect to the protuberance of the skull in Polish fowls, the crest in this breed must be viewed as a feminine character which has been transferred to the male. In the Spanish breed the male, as we know, has an immense comb, and this has been partially transferred to the female, for her comb is unusually large, though not upright. In Game fowls the bold and savage disposition of the male has likewise been largely transferred to the female (7/55. Mr. Tegetmeier informs me that Game hens have been found so combative, that it is now generally the practice to exhibit each hen in a separate pen.); and she sometimes even possesses the eminently masculine character of spurs. Many cases are on record of fertile hens being furnished with spurs; and in Germany, according to Bechstein (7/56. 'Naturgeschichte Deutschlands' b. 3 1793 s. 339, 407.), the spurs in the Silk hen are sometimes very long. He mentions also another breed similarly characterised, in which the hens are excellent layers, but are apt to disturb and break their eggs owing to their spurs.