the central cavity is circular in the Polish, and lengthened in the
Cochin skull. The shape of the posterior cavity, together with the
position, size, and number of the pores for the nerves, differ much in
these two skulls. A pit deeply penetrating the occipital bone of the
Cochin is entirely absent in this Polish skull, whilst in another
specimen it was well developed. In this second specimen the whole
internal surface of the posterior cavity likewise differs to a certain
extent in shape. I made sections of two other skulls,—namely, of a
Polish fowl with the protuberance singularly little developed, and of a
Sultan in which it was a little more developed; and when these two
skulls were placed between the two above figured (fig. 35), a perfect
gradation in the configuration of each part of the internal surface
could be traced. In the Polish skull, with a small protuberance, the
ridge between the anterior and middle cavities was present, but low;
and in the Sultan this ridge was replaced by a narrow furrow standing
on a broad raised eminence.
Illustration: Fig. 36—Skulls of Horned Fowl
It may naturally be asked whether these remarkable modifications in the
form of the brain affect the intellect of Polish fowls; some writers
have stated that they are extremely stupid, but Bechstein and Mr.
Tegetmeier have shown that this is by no means generally the case.
Nevertheless Bechstein[69] states that he had a Polish hen which “was
crazy, and anxiously wandered about all day long.” A hen in my
possession was solitary in her habits, and was often so absorbed in
reverie that she could be touched; she was also deficient in the most
singular manner in the faculty of finding her way, so that, if she
strayed a hundred yards from her feeding-place, she was completely
lost, and would then obstinately try to proceed in a wrong direction. I
have received other and similar accounts of Polish fowls appearing
stupid or half-idiotic.[70]
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