March
23, 1989
Dear
Bill,
Delighted
to hear from you and learn of your recovery. Good luck.
Your
comment on the need to take a general approach reminds me that George Carter
sent me a paper today on The tardy
domestication of the duck. I had been unable to find it and am away too
much to use interlibrary loan. Anyway the author is a medievalist and
concludes that the duck was not domesticated until the middle ages. Well and
good but this neglects the east. I think ducks and quail must have been
domesticated at least by the time of the invention of artificial incubation
because neither species is dependably broody under domestication while the
chicken is. Can’t imagine the need to invent incubators for the primitive
chicken.
I
was stuck in Bangkok last month trying to get a seat to Taiwan and went to the
zoo to kill time. Saw Gallus bankiva
there and was struck again by its small size and furtiveness. If the early use
of the chicken was for fighting I am sure it depends on their being from
another much more aggressive progenitor.
Crawford
is editing a book on Avian Genetics with different people doing various
sections. He sent the Muscovy section to me for review. I thought it so bad I
told him I couldn’t do it. Hollander had done the same thing. Guess he is
having his problems.
Will
look forward to you paper on chickens in the Pacific.
Do
you have?
Herre
W., and M. Rohrs, 1983. Abstamming
und Entwicklung des Hausfuegels. In Handbuch der Gefluegelphysiolologie Teil 1
Mehner and Hiartfield eds Karger Basel and London, pp 19-53,
said
to contain information on the origins of the chicken duck and turkey. If you
get it let me know.
Be
of good cheer!