Professor William Cawley
Texas A&M University - College Station- Texas - USA

6-5-1986

Dear Professor Cawley,

I was very pleased to receive your letter of April 24th 1986 and I realise what it is like keeping up with the correspondence as mine lagged somewhat during last year as I had normally simple operation on my eye to remove a cataract and a lens implant. However I suffered complications over quite a lengthy period. However it would appear that things are getting back to normal and I’m catching up on the backlog.

First of all I’m pleased to hear that Professor Carter is keeping well: I have corresponded with him over a number of years discussing the origins etc. His letters have always been a delight and my image of him was as you describe him, a jovial type of person. By the way if you happen to run into him again, you might mention he sent me a letter with comments on my latest paper.

He used some of my material as a basis for an article he wrote for The Ellsworth American, a newspaper from Maine, I think it is on pre-Columbian chickens. He has been most helpful during my studies.

I’m glad you have a copy of Cockfighting all over the world. I feel Finsterbusch brought forward a wealth of information regarding the differences between the Bankivoids and Malay. He was a great student of the game fowl and anyone would find it hard to dispute his arguments.

I’m enclosing two of the papers in the series of Origin, Evolution etc. The series will not be done in chronological order but the overall the result should fit together.

I would appreciate your comment on these papers and perhaps you may have something to add. I have completed the manuscript for the next in the series, entitled The Gallus species. It discusses the Jungle Fowls and suggests the Malay, Asiatics (Cochin, Brahma and Langshan) are distinct species when considered against Gallus Bankiva.

I am hoping to publish this during 1986. I will certainly send you a copy when I do.

My researches have been done privately and I have to publish the papers at my own expense as well as typing the stencils and printing them on a duplicator. A printer friend of mine does the plates and covers.

You may find the Bone Recoveries of interest for as you will observe the recent information from China somewhat scrams up the picture when considered against earlier documentation. However there is still a lot to be learnt.

Dr Green, University of Auckland (New Zealand), has recently been digging on Watom Island and in a letter from him he says more bone has been recovered there again.

Also Professor Higham of the University of Otago (New Zealand) has been back to NE Thailand again. I am writing to hear what he may unearthed over there this time. I was invited to prepare a paper on my researches covering the Asia and Pacific region by Professor Solheim editor of Asian Perspectives, a journal on prehistory and anthropology of that region and published by the University of Hawaii. I have sent the manuscript over and after some editing etc it hopefully will be suitable for publication. Unfortunately my researches are confined to collecting the documented material on the subject and putting it together. I don’t have any opportunity of doing field work for I am not involved with any academic institution.

I have bred exhibition chickens for many years, compiled and published a book on the Pekin (Cochin) Bantam. Whilst doing this I found that the whole subject of the origin, evolution etc of the chicken became quite interesting and challenging so carried on with the work which I have found most satisfying. I have some good friends who have provided me with relevant material but as you can imagine being down under here in Australia it takes lots of letters overseas to gather this material.

However when the material is pieced together I feel it does help somewhat. There are still a lot of gaps to fill in yet however.

I have just turned 65 and have been retired from my normal work for a few years so I will have to keep at it for. I also would like to publish the breed histories of our Australian created breeds, i.e. Australian Game, Australian Pit Game, Australorp and Langshan. Our Langshan is different to yours in the US (Ref. ABA Bantam Standard 1981 - 5th edition) under Chinese Langshan. I have the material on hand, but have had difficulty with funding for the publishing. My approaches for a Government Grant has had a negative result. However I will continue on as best I can and hope one day a philanthropist will turn up.

I would appreciate your comments on my work as I think it was Loyl Stromberg who advised me I should make contact as you had been doing study in this field: the distribution of the chicken when eventually get to it should prone interesting: Apparently the pre-Colombian situation in the Americas is still not cleared up.

I feel Thor Heyerdahl’s sea voyages proved that diffusion could have occurred East to West across both the Atlantic and Pacific pre-Columbian but there still doesn’t seem to be any positive evidence with respect to chickens.

All for now.

Sincerely yours,