+-----------------------------+-----------+------------+----------------+ | | | | Depth of Crest,| | | | | relatively to | | | Length | Depth of | the length of | | Names of Breeds. | of | Crest | the Sternum in | | | Sternum. | of Sternum.| comparison with| | | | | G. bankiva. | +--+--------------------------+-----------+------------+----------------+ | | | Inches. | Inches. | | | |Gallus bankiva male | 4.20 | 1.40 | 100 | | 1|Cochin male | 5.83 | 1.55 | 78 | | 2|Dorking male | 6.95 | 1.97 | 84 | | 3|Spanish male | 6.10 | 1.83 | 90 | | 4|Polish male | 5.07 | 1.50 | 87 | | 5|Game male | 5.55 | 1.55 | 81 | | 6|Malay female | 5.10 | 1.50 | 87 | | 7|Sultan male | 4.47 | 1.36 | 90 | | 8|Frizzled hen male | 4.25 | 1.20 | 84 | | 9|Burmese Jumper female | 3.06 | 0.85 | 81 | |10|Hamburgh male | 5.08 | 1.40 | 81 | |11|Hamburgh female | 4.55 | 1.26 | 81 | |12|Silk fowl female | 4.49 | 1.01 | 66 | +--+--------------------------+-----------+------------+----------------+ By looking to the third column we see that in every case the depth of the crest relatively to the length of the sternum, in comparison with _G. bankiva_, is diminished, generally between 10 and 20 per cent. But the degree of reduction varies much, partly in consequence of the frequently deformed state of the sternum. In the Silk-fowl, which cannot fly, the crest is 34 per cent. less deep than what it ought to have been. This reduction of the crest in all the breeds probably accounts for the great variability, before referred to, in the curvature of the furcula, and in the shape of its sternal extremity. Medical men believe that the abnormal form of the spine so commonly observed in women of the higher ranks results from the attached muscles not being fully exercised. So it is with our domestic fowls, for they use their pectoral muscles but little, and, out of twenty-five sternums examined by me, three alone were perfectly symmetrical, ten were moderately crooked, and twelve were deformed to an extreme degree.