The last species to be mentioned, namely, _Gallus bankiva,_ has a
much wider geographical range than the three previous species; it
inhabits Northern India as far west as Sinde, and ascends the
Himalaya to a height of 4000 ft.; it inhabits Burmah, the Malay
peninsula, the Indo-Chinese countries, the Philippine Islands, and
the Malayan archipelago as far eastward as Timor. This species
varies considerably in the wild state. Mr. Blyth informs me that
the specimens, both male and female, brought from near the
Himalaya, are rather paler coloured than those from other parts of
India; whilst those from the Malay peninsula and Java are brighter
coloured than the Indian birds. I have seen specimens from these
countries, and the difference of tint in the hackles was
conspicuous. The Malayan hens were a shade redder on the breast and
neck than the Indian hens. The Malayan males generally had a red
ear-lappet, instead of a white one as in India; but Mr. Blyth has
seen one Indian specimen without the white ear-lappet. The legs are
leaden blue in the Indian, whereas they show some tendency to be
yellowish in the Malayan and Javan specimens. In the former Mr.
Blyth finds the tarsus remarkably variable in length. According to
Temminck[20] the Timor specimens differ as a local race from that
of Java. These several wild varieties have not as yet been ranked
as distinct species; if they should, as is not unlikely, be
hereafter thus ranked, the circumstance would be quite immaterial
as far as the parentage and differences of our domestic breeds are
concerned. The wild _G. bankiva_ agrees most closely with the
black-breasted red Game-breed, in colouring and in all other
respects, except in being smaller, and in the tail being carried
more horizontally. But the manner in which the tail is carried is
highly variable in many of our breeds, for, as Mr. Brent informs
me, the tail slopes much in the Malays, is erect in the Games and
some other breeds, and is more than erect in Dorkings, Bantams,
etc. There is one other difference namely, that in _G. bankiva,_
according to Mr. Blyth, the neck-hackles when first moulted are
replaced during two or three months not by other hackles, as with
our domestic poultry, but by short blackish feathers.[21] Mr.
Brent, however, has remarked that these black feathers remain in
the wild bird after the development of the lower hackles, and
appear in the domestic bird at the same time with them: so that the
only difference is that the lower hackles are replaced more slowly
in the wild than in the tame bird; but as confinement is known
sometimes to affect the masculine plumage, this slight difference
cannot be considered of any importance. It is a significant fact
that the voice of both the male and female _G. bankiva_ closely
resembles, as Mr.
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