FOIVLS.
Ki ; Chuh-ye, . . CHIN. I Murghi, . . . . HIND. Ouph, HEE. Koli, . . . . . Tam.
Though in numerous breeds and sub-breeds, all the domestic fowls seem to have diverged from a single type. The game breed is from the Gallus Bankiva, called also G. ferrugineus. Its feathers are closely depressed to the body ; it is indomitably courageous, evinced even in the dis positions of the hens and chickens. It is of various colours..
Malay fowl, with body of great size, disposition savage. Cochin or Shang-hai breed, of great size, of Chinese origin, and disposition quiet.
Bantam breed, originally from Japan.
Creepers or Jumpers, from Burma, with monstrous short legs.
Frizzled or Kafir fowls of India, with feathers reversed. Silk fowls, with silky feathering ; and Sooty fowls of India, the hens of which have a white colour, soot-aained, black skin and periosteum. Gallus Sonneratii does not range into the northern parts of India ; part of its hackles consist of highly peculiar horny laminm, and it is not now believed to be the parent bird of the domestic fowl.
Gallus Stanleyii is peculiar to Ceylon, and greatly resembles the domestic fowl.
Gallus varius, called also G. furcatus, is met with in Java, and the islands of 'the Archipelago as far east as Flores. It has green plumage, unsermted curb, and single median wattle.
Gallus Temininckii is supposed to be a hybrid.
Gallus Bankiva, inhabits N. India as far west as Sind, ascends the Himalaya to a height of 4000 feet ; inhabits Burma, the Malay Peninsula, Indo-Chinese countries, and the E. Archipelago as far as Timor.
The Europe breeds, Dorking, Hamburgh, An dalusian, Spanish, Sultans, Ptarmigan, Ghoaon dook, Rumpless, are unknown in S.E. Asia.
A long-tailed vaxiety occurs in Corea ; the kind with feathered legs, known in England as Cochin Chinese, are obtained in ifo-nan. In China, a cock is used in oaths and sacrifices, and is not to be used on ordinary occasions. Black-boned fowls are in China prized to make soups for persons with lung diseases.
Fowls are not mentioned in the Old Testament, and are not figured on Egyptian monuments. They are figured on-mil-a of the Babylonish cylinders, B.C. 600 and 700. The Institutes. of Menu permit the wild fowl to be eaten, but forbid the domestic fowl, and Hindus avoid domestic fowls and fowls' eggs. At the present day, most of the pagan tribes on the east coast of Africa, from 4° to 6° south of the equator, hold the fowl in aversion. Cmsar informs us that the Celts of Britain would not eat the hare, goose, or domestic fowl. Tho Rajput will hunt tho first, but neither eats it nor the goose, sacred to the god of battle (Hay), and rarely tho domestic fowl. The domestic fowl is eaten freely by Mahomedans, and they aro largely reared for the table.
Fowls are sacrificed by the Yezdi of Kurdistan. The Assyrians worshipped tho cock. The Jews of the East offer a cock for man and woman as an atonement. Socrates, when dying, desired a cock to be sacrificed to the god of health. Fowls fatten best when kept in the dark. In India their eyelids
are sewn together.
Fowls' Ginard, Chun-pi of the Chinese. The inner lining of the gizzard of fowls is peeled off and dried, and given medicinally in dyspepsia, spermatorrhcea, and urinary disorders. —Darwin; Tod's Rajasthan ; Smith. See Cock ; Gallus.
FOX.
Taideb, . . . ARAB. Volpe, Volpone, . . IT.
Renard, . . . . FR. Kokri, . . . . Maus.
Fuchs, C ER Robur, . . . PUSHTU.
Shual , ED. Zorra, SP Lewd, Nonni, . 1 LIND. Tilki, TURK.
India has three foxes,— Vulpes Bengalensis, Shaw.
Canis Bengalensis, Gray. Vulpes corsae, Myth.
C. kokree, .5,•ykes.
C. rufescene, Gray. V. Bengalensis, „ V. Indieus, Vulpes Indicus, „ V, kokree, Lomri, Loomri, . Bengal, common fox, ENG.
.Noomri, . • , „ I Lives in the entire of India and the adjacent countries, but va.ries both in size and colour in different localities ; is generally of a greyish brown with a fulvous cast, passing in some cases to Isabella ; it is always variegated above with an intermixture of whitish hairs. It is a very pretty animal, but much smaller than the European fox, with a short head, very sharp muzzle, oblique eyes, nut-brown irides, very slender legs, and very bushy tail, trailing on the ground. Its principal food is rats, laud-crabs, grasshoppers, beetles, and fruit ; the mango, the custard apple, are largely eaten. It always burrows in open plains, runs with great speed, doubling like a hare; but instead of stretching out at first, like the hare, and trusting to it; tiums as a last re source, this fox turns more at first, and if it can fatigue the (logs it then goes straight away.
Vulpes flavescens, Gray.
Vulpes montanua, Hodg8. I Robur in Kandahar.
This species is nuinerous in the valleys around Kandahar, hiding iu burrows and in holes in the rocks. It is about two feet long from the nose to the insertion of the tail, and the tail is about seventeen inches ; height at shoulder, about fifteen inches. Its tail is yellowish ; back rather darker, inclining to brown ; face and outer side of fore legs and base of the tail fulvous; spot on the side of the face just before the eyes ; the chin (breast), the front of the fore,legs, a round spot on the upper part of the hind foot, and the tips of the hairs of the tail blackish ; end of tail white, and cars externally black. The'skins are soft, and aro made into the nimeliali and postin overcoats.
l'ulpes montanus, Pearson, the hill fox. Canis montanus, l'ears. I Vulpes montanus, Gray.
Himalaleus, Ogilby. I V. Nipslensia, tt The hill fox of India dwells in tho Himalaya, ranging up to the snow limits ; and in winter, when the snow is on the ground, they are very nume rous about coming close to the houses in search of offal. Its fur is exceedingly rich, dense, and fine, the longer sort measuring fully two inches upon the back, and the inner everywhere of considerable length, and of a woolly character. General colour, pale fulvous; head mixed with white ; tail bushy and white-tipped.—iforsfiad's Cat. ; Sykes; Jerdon.