cok wildcat bankiva bantam

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dessin coqs bankiva

SAVAGES COCKS

BANKIVAS, LAFAYETTE, SONNERAT, JAVA

LES BANKIVAS

To say that all the cocks and hens of our basses class(course) come down(fall) from " Bankiva " is a commonplace. This assertion is however a little bit summary. Term " bankiva ", used in popular language, covers several under sorts of wild hens the only one of which has the right to carry(wear) the name of " gallus gallus bankiva " and it is not doubtless the best placed to be the ancestor of domestic hens.

Prehistory does not teach us big thing(matter) on the previous history of the hen. In Europe, there is any fossil of the kind(genre) Gallus. In Asia, the only found vestiges are similar to those of wild hens existing even at present. The scholars looked for a long time for the link which should exist between the current wild cocks with silhouette of European cock (Gaul) and of weak weight and enormous and massive Asiatic races such Brahma and Cochin. This ancestor remains untraceable. To suppose the existence of a big primitive cock " Gallus giganteus " is an interesting hypothesis but without scientific base.

In the historic times, in Europe, one finds papers on the hen only four in five centuries before Christ while it is already a classic and plentiful domestic animal. In Greece, at the same time, one considers her(it) as native of Persia but Persia was still the oriental extremity of the known world or almost!

The former(old) parts of the Bible and the former(ancient) texts resulting from the East of the Mediterranean pond, being able to date 1000 years before Christ, are dumb as regards this poultry while the breeding of the palmipeds is told in Egyptian documents dating the same time.

The antique Chinese culture supplies us more former(ancient) documents: first hens would have arrived in China 1400 years before the Christian era, coming from the West and from the South the West. The stepping of European and Chinese cultures confirms us so that domestic hen would be native of India or nearby regions, places where are still several wild sorts of this fowl.

The European authors having written on this(they) subject to the XVIII , XIX and at the beginning of XX centuries do not bring us big thing(matter) otherwise risks of confusion. Linné (by 1770) speak about a wild hen that it(he) names(appoints) Thasanius gallus "; Gmelin (by 1780) describes one " Tetrao ferruginus " who a lot looks like Gallus gallus. Temminck, in 1815 , proposes the first the name of " gallus bankiva " without one can determine exactly to which under sort he attributes(awards) him(it) because on one hand he calls this animal native of islands of the Probe and because, on the other hand, he describes him(it) with white mumps, what is not the case of the wild cocks living in the region. In 1888, Aubusson's Magaud, in remarkable sound catalogs gallinaceans of Asia, places Bankiva's cock in India and Malaysia, by clarifying that there are several geographic variety show; On the other hand he ignores the presence of this fowl in Java where lives nevertheless one of sous sorts (exactly " Gallus gallus bankiva ") in parallel with the cock of Java (Gallus varius).

In 1895, Remy Saint Loup should the first to have tried to differentiate sous geographic sorts without, for all that, to attribute(award) them different names. He speaks about Bankivas of Himalaya in more pale plumage, Bankivas of Bengal with white mumps, Malay Bankivas with red mumps and yellowish paws etc. It will be necessary to wait for the environment(middle) of XX-th century, in particular the works of the big ornithologue French Jean Delacour, to have a systematic and exact description of the various under sorts. This scientific study concerning differences being able to seem minor, is not without interest for us breeders. It is necessary indeed to be able to recognize the sturdy animal native of foothills of Himalaya of that living in tropical country, three thousand kilometres more in the South, which will well have trouble adapting itself in our rigorous winters.

COMMON DESCRIPTION in ALL SOUS ESPÉCES.

General speed, forms and colours of cocks and hens said " bankivas " call back(remind) strictly those of our golden Gaul, in smaller. The tail is however carried(worn) much less raised(found). The German Dwarf, in golden variety, should also a very good race be compared with wild hens.

The crest of cocks is straight(right), pinked well, the lobe openly untied(removed) from the nape of the neck; she(it) is smaller than that of most of our domestic races. Two barbs are averagely developed. The crest of hens is almost non-existent, reduced in a simple bourrelet or in a light fold and their barbs are never visible. The song of cocks contains from three to four syllables, as that of our domestic cocks but it is sharply more brief, fast and pointed.

The high cocks together support(bear) so-so collective life in summer and winter. In spring they become redoubtable fighters and must be isolated, each with one in three hens. It corresponds to their wild life: cocks and hens regroup by bands(strips) in winter but from the spring every dominant cock isolates on a territory with one or several hens. They well support(bear) the other sorts (pheasants and peacocks) if they have enough space.

The real essential characteristic which allows to differentiate in blow on a real wild cock of a domestic or an illegitimate child of the two is existence, at the savage, of a phase of plumage of eclipse: during a first metamorphosis(slough), which is situated at the beginning of June, sickles and lancets of loins disappear at the cock; lancets are replaced by shorter feathers, rounded off in their extremity and of dark colour; also the camail becomes shorter and darker; the crest decreases in size and tarnishes. This plumage of eclipse is going to last about three months and during this period cocks are less aggressive. This phase of eclipse can be very well compared with the same phenomenon which occurs at ducks Carolin and Mandarin. As soon as there is crossing with a domestic race, the phenomenon of double metamorphosis(slough) disappears and the pseudo Bankiva makes only a single metamorphosis(slough) a year, at about August. For hens, set apart the very weak development of the attributes of the head, it is even more difficult to differentiate authentic one wild hen of a domestic dwarf or a crossing of the two. However the rachis of the feathers of the back of the hens of the various under sorts is more clear always sharply than that of domestic hens, sometimes even almost white.

DESCRIPTION OF SOUS ESPÉCES.

Gallus gallus gallus. Native of Cambodia and of Cochin China (the South Vietnam) it is the one that looks like most the golden German dwarf. The crest is almost as well developed as that of the domestic race, safe during the period of eclipse. The oreillon is big and white, the brown beak with yellow point, the dark gray paws. Hen is of the colour of the German dwarf gilded(bronzed) with, in particular, a reddish breast saumoné, without drawing clearing up towards the belly. However the rachis of the feathers of the back is very clear, almost white and very visible.

Gallus gallus jabouillei. It(he) lives in Tonkin ( the North Vietman). The crest is of average size, the red mumps. The decorative feathers (sickles and lancets) are little developed. The colour is sharply more bored than that of other under sorts: all the orangy parts and frank red are replaced by the mahogany and the dark red. The environment being relatively moderated and wet, it(he) acclimatizes well in Europe.

Gallus gallus spadiceus. It(he) lives in Burma, in Siam, High Laos and in Malaysia, The crest is averagely developed, the small and red mumps. The colour is gold-coloured average. Sickles and lancets are relatively short and the little numerous secondary sickles.

Gallus gallus murghi. It is native of the North of India. The crest is average, the white mumps. The plumage, of average development, is sharply more clear than to other under sorts: the camail is golden yellow in light orange arec black flame in the centre of every feather. The lancets of loins are light orange. It is the most Scandinavian of all and he often lives in height. It(he) well supports(bears) our climates.

Gallus gallus banklva. It is native of Java, Bali and Sumatra. The crest is small, the red mumps. It(he) differs the others by the camail in feathers short, wide and rounded off in their extremity. The lancets of loins are little developed. It(he) lives in regions in climate warmly, about 300 all year long, and acclimatizes with difficulty in Europe where it(he) must be warmed in winter. By the structure of the plumage, it is the one that goes away most domestic cocks although crossings are possible and fertile. Not to confuse(merge) him(it) arec the wild cock of Java (gallus varius) which lives in the same regions and is described farther.

It is necessary to know that all the wild cocks have a rather wild character and very badly appreciate captivity. In all the countries where they exist, the natives, when they arrest it, hurry to cross them with domestic hens to obtain less wild subjects. They are generally these illegitimate children (which(who) make excellent fighting cocks) that one finds on the local markets. It does not make the affair(business) of the European amateur who wants to acquire true wild cocks.

Bankivas, in the general sense(direction), so all sous sorts, is not still in process of disappearance and is not the object of any special protection. They have of any arrested and exported time. But the ease with which they cross with domestic poultry is certain handicap to acquire it and to keep(preserve) pure tree stumps. For more security, it is advisable not to proceed to the purchase that of grown-up subjects in plumage of eclipse, because mixed(involved) blood do not present this phenomenon.

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