Ornamental and domestic poultry : their history and management by Dixon Edmund Saul 1809-1893

Author:Dixon, Edmund Saul, 1809-1893
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Poultry
Publisher: London, Gardeners' Chronicle
Published: 1850-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

We may here, perhaps, be permitted to look forward a little, and without being accused of extravagance, speculate on the future destiny of still surviving tribes of animals. If we take what has already occurred during " this present infancy of the human race," as any indication of what must inevitably happen when the whole earth shall really by us be overspread, it is clear that all flesh-eating ravenous animals, except the smallest and most insignificant, must retire from the face of this planet; the Lion, the Tiger, the Puma, and the Jaguar, rivals to Man in their carnivorous propensities, must, as he becomes pressed for subsistence, yield their prey to him, and perish. Man must become the great dominant Carnivore ; the butcher will fulfil the office of the Felidse, in keeping the herbivorous races within due limits. And of them, those which obstinately refuse to enter the pale of human society, must eventually quit the scene where he plays the first part. Roebucks, Antelopes, and Bisons, will become evanescent.

But encroach as he will, Man cannot occupy the Seas. Myriads of free Oceanic creatures will defy both his powers of destruction and his yoke. And it is probable that the earliest representatives of the Vertebrata which preceded his reign, will be among the very last to yield to his exterminating influence.

The Common Cock, the Gallus Gallinaceus and AXeKTcop of the ancients would, at first sight, appear to have received one or two remarkable changes of form subsequent to its having been saved from annihilation by becoming dependant on the care of Man, if we can believe domestication to be capable of producing such changes. The crest of feathers on the head is an extraordinary metamorphosis to have occurred from an original fleshy comb. There is no yet discovered instance, that I am aware, of any wild crested breed. Aristotle makes such a pointed and so clear a distinction between the feathered crests of birds in general, and the combs of cocks, as to lead to a strong suspicion that he was unacquainted with

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