23rd
November, 1976
Dear
Mister Plant,
Thank
you for your letter concerning junglefowl.
Unfortunately,
I doubt whether my article would be of much use to you. I must admit that I
have very little interest in Gallus.
The editor thought it would be interesting to trace the spread of the chicken
from its origin to all the different parts of the world. Thus this project was
not developed from our interest but rather from a personal whim of the editor.
Since the subject involved a half-scientific half-anthropological approach, it
became a choice between 8 members of the Anthropology Department and myself to
do the writing.
As
I was chosen, I attempted to write a very general survey of this topic and
since neither poultry science nor anthropology is my field, I primarily
paraphrased a few texts I had available.
The
article, then, is probably not of the depth that you would like and I expect
that you have already covered the subject far more extensively than I did.
Publication will be next year and I will be glad to send you a copy. I am
sorry that I have not been of greater help to you.
Best
wishes on your research.
Yours
sincerely,
Walter
E. Boles
Department of Ornithology
This
article will be appearing in the museum’s popular magazine Australian
Natural History.