The tarsi vary considerably in length, being relatively to the femur
considerably longer in the Spanish and Frizzled, and shorter in the
Silk and Bantam breeds, than in the wild _G. bankiva_; but in the
latter, as we have seen, the tarsi vary in length. The tarsi are often
feathered. The feet in many breeds are furnished with additional toes.
Golden-spangled Polish fowls are said[424] to have the skin between
their toes much developed; Mr. Tegetmeier observed this in one bird,
but it was not so in one which I examined. In Cochins the middle toe is
said[425] to be nearly double the length of the lateral toes, and
therefore much longer than in _G. bankiva_ or in other fowls; but this
was not the case in two which I examined. The nail of the middle toe in
this same breed is surprisingly broad and flat, but in a variable
degree in two birds which I examined; of this structure in the nail
there is only a trace in _G. bankiva_.
The voice differs slightly, as I am informed by Mr. Dixon, in almost
every breed. The Malays[426] have a loud, deep, somewhat prolonged
crow, but with considerable individual differences. Colonel Sykes
remarks that the domestic Kulm cock in India has not the shrill clear
pipe of the English bird, and "his scale of notes appears more
limited." Dr. Hooker was struck with the "prolonged howling screech" of
the cocks in Sikhim.[427] The crow of the Cochin is notoriously and
ludicrously different from that of the common cock. The disposition of
the different breeds is widely different, varying from the savage and
defiant temper of the Game-cock to the extremely peaceable temper of
the Cochin. The latter, it has been asserted, "graze to a much greater
extent than any other varieties." The Spanish fowls suffer more from
frost than other breeds.
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