EPOPS.-"Epopoi! popopoi! popoi! popoi!
Flock hither, flock hither, flock hither,

Hilloah! Hilloah!

All ye of like feather,
Wherever ye be,

Whether barley ye gather,

Or seed on the lea;

With a skip and a bound,

And a song of sweet sound,
Flock ye hither to me.

Ye that twitter the clod around,

Tio, tio, tio, tio, tio, tio, tio, tio,

Or in ivy-bush dwell

'Mid gardens; in mountain or dell ;

Who dip the beak, or who brush the wing,

In reedy pool, or in plashy spring;

On berries of wilding-olive feed,

Or strip off the arbute's scarlet seed,
Come along, come along

To the voice of my song,
Trioto, trioto, trioto, tobrinx;
Or on wide fenny flats,

Flitting after the gnats,

When they're twanging their horn,

Snap them up; or at morn,
Where the dew lies, are seen
Glancing over the green
Of sweet Marathon's mead;
And with pinion so bright,
Hazel-hen, hazel-hen:

Or whose tribes take a flight
On the tumbling sea-billow,
Where the king-fishers pillow,
Come hither and hear,
What news we have here;

For all our tribes are gathering,
Fowls of every plume and wing:
And there is amongst us brought
An elder shrewd of subtle thought,
That plans new counsels for our state,
Come all, and aid the deep debate:
Hither, hither, hither.'

Cary's Birds of Aristophanes, Act I.

PREFACE.

THE history of the present volume is very simple, and, it may be, runs parallel with that of many other works on higher subjects. The Author, with his Wife, (now removed from worldly trouble) and his Child, were living in a small suburban house, that had a little backgarden attached to it. As a harmless amusement they procured a few Fowls to keep, although totally ignorant of their ways and doings. In aid of this ignorance books were procured to little purpose. The difficulty of obtaining instruction from others led to closer observation on our own part, and a more eager grasp at the required knowledge. By degrees, a few water-fowl were added to the collection; but the only watering-places on the spot were tubs and milk-pans. A neighbour, however, obligingly permitted the flock of strange fowl to be driven to a small pond, a few score yards off. They throve, and duly increased; but still little help was to be had from books. Encyclopædias, though in them the Natural History department is almost always well executed, were little satisfactory. "Anser, see Goose; ""Goose, see Anser," is scarcely an exaggeration of what often fell

out. Several current Poultry-books were purchased, which proved to be compilations of matter, valuable indeed in the hands of an editor practically acquainted with his subject; but these works are full of errors, grossly evident even to learners, and of contradictions that must strike any attentive reader, even though he had never seen a feathered creature in his life.

But a student is sometimes the best teacher of any branch of knowledge, as far as he has himself advanced in it, because he has a fresh recollection of the questions which gave him the most trouble to solve; and therefore notes were made, mentally, and on paper, from time to time. It was afterwards encouragingly suggested that the publication of them might be ventured upon, as being possibly acceptable to people requiring such information. They were offered to the editor of the Gardeners' Chronicle, readily accepted, favourably received by the readers of that valuable paper-a class of persons whose good opinion I must think it an honour to have obtainedand the reader now holds in his hand the entire results of my present experience in this department of Natural History, in addition to what has been already published in the Agricultural Gazette. It is hoped that the need of some attempt of the kind, from some quarter, will conciliate a lenient criticism of the many errors and deficiencies with which the Author may doubtless be chargeable, whatever pains he may have taken to guard against them.

Poultry has been too much undervalued as a means of study and a field of observation. Insignificant, and to us valueless wild animals, brought from a distance, about

whose history and habits we can learn little or nothing, are received with respectful attention by men of education and ability, are embalmed in spirits, treasured in museums, and pourtrayed by artists; but a class of creatures inferior to few on the face of the earth in beauty, useful, companionable, of great value in an economical point of view, are disregarded and disdained. It is possible that any one claiming to be considered as an educated gentleman, may be thought to have done a bold thing in publishing a book on Poultry, and giving his real name on the title page. Moubray, who has written perhaps the best modern treatise on the subject, only ventured to meet the public criticism under the shelter of an assumed title.

But some very important speculations respecting organic life, and the history of the animated races now inhabiting this planet, are closely connected with the creatures we retain in Domestication, and can scarcely be studied so well in any other field. Poultry, living under our very roof, and, by the rapid succession of their generations, affording a sufficient number of instances for even the short life of man to give time to take some cognisance of their progressive succession,-Poultry afford the best possible subjects for observing the transmission or interruption of hereditary forms and instincts.

I shall, no doubt, at the first glance, be pronounced rash, as soon as I am perceived to quit the plain task of observing, for the more adventurous one of speculating upon what I have observed. I can only say that the conclusion to which I have arrived respecting what is called the "origin" of our domestic races, has been, to

my own mind, irresistible, having begun the investigation with a bias towards what I must call the wild theory, although so fashionable of late, that our tame breeds or varieties, are the result of cross breeding between undomesticated animals, fertile inter se. It will be found, I imagine, in strict inquiry, that the most careful breeding will only fix and make prominent certain peculiar features or points that are observed in certain families of the same aboriginal species, or sub-species,—no more : and that the whole world might be challenged to bring evidence (such as would be admitted in an English court of justice) that any permanent intermediate variety of bird or animal, that would continue to reproduce offspring like itself, and not reverting to either original type, had been originated by the crossing of any two wild species. Very numerous instances of the failure of such experimental attempts might be adduced. The difficulty under which science labours in pursuing this inquiry, is much increased by the mystery in which almost all breeders have involved their proceedings, even if they have not purposely misled those who have endeavoured to trace the means employed.

As to the great question of the Immutability of Species, so closely allied to the investigation of the different varieties of Poultry, as far as my own limited researches have gone and they have been confined almost entirely to Birds under the influence of man-they have led me to the conclusion that even sub-species and varieties are much more permanent, independent, and ancient, than is currently believed at the present day. This result has been to me unavoidable, as well as unexpected; for, as above mentioned, I started with a great idea of the