Fowls have been exposed to diversified conditions of life, and as we have just seen there has been ample time for much variability and for the slow action of unconscious selection. As there are good grounds for believing that all the breeds are descended from Gallus bankiva, it will be worth while to describe in some detail the chief points of difference. Beginning with the eggs and chickens, I will pass on to their secondary sexual characters, and then to their differences in external structure and in the skeleton. I enter on the following details chiefly to show how variable almost every character has become under domestication. [EGGS. Mr. Dixon remarks (7/35. 'Ornamental and Domestic Poultry' page 152.) that "to every hen belongs an individual peculiarity in the form, colour, and size of her egg, which never changes during her life-time, so long as she remains in health, and which is as well known to those who are in the habit of taking her produce, as the hand-writing of their nearest acquaintance." I believe that this is generally true, and that, if no great number of hens be kept, the eggs of each can almost always be recognised. The eggs of differently sized breeds naturally differ much in size; but apparently, not always in strict relation to the size of the hen: thus the Malay is a larger bird than the Spanish, but GENERALLY she produces not such large eggs; white Bantams are said to lay smaller eggs than other Bantams (7/36. Ferguson on 'Rare Prize Poultry' page 297. This writer, I am informed, cannot generally be trusted. He gives, however, figures and much information on eggs. See pages 34 and 235 on the eggs of the Game fowl.); white Cochins, on the other hand, as I hear from Mr. Tegetmeier, certainly lay larger eggs than buff Cochins. The eggs, however, of the different breeds vary considerably in character; for instance, Mr. Ballance states (7/37. See 'Poultry Book' by Mr. Tegetmeier 1866 pages 81 and 78.) that his Malay "pullets of last year laid eggs equal in size to those of any duck, and other Malay hens, two or three years old, laid eggs very little larger than a good sized Bantam's egg. Some were as white as a Spanish hen's egg, and others varied from a light cream-colour to a deep rich buff, or even to a brown." The shape also varies, the two ends being much more equally rounded in Cochins than in Games or Polish. Spanish fowls lay smoother eggs than Cochins, of which the eggs are generally granulated. The shell in this latter breed, and more especially in Malays is apt to be thicker than in Games or Spanish; but the Minorcas, a sub-breed of Spanish, are said to lay harder eggs than true Spanish. (7/38. 'The Cottage Gardener' October 1855 page 13. On the thinness of the eggs of Game-fowls see Mowbray on 'Poultry' 7th edition page 13.) The colour differs considerably,--the Cochins laying buff-coloured eggs; the Malays a paler variable buff; and Games a still paler buff.