Dr Edmund Hoffmann
Canning - Nova Scotia - Canada

11-1-1988

Dear Ed,

Received your letter of 26 December today 11 January. Although Air Mail it certainly lacks awhile. Hope you enjoyed Xmas.

Pleased to hear you received Gallus species and thank you for your comments. I quite agree it should have contained a bibliography of references and I forgot to put in even a contents list. Realised after I printed it. However I’m afraid I’m always in a bit of a rush to get things done but having seen so many book with a reference list there is no excuse for me not doing this.

I do not have any academic background in fact I only spent three years at high school but even so I should realise the importance of references at the end of the story.

Regarding my not including paper by De Vries although I know of him (I think he and also Bateson much to do with realising the importance of Mendel’s papers). I was not aware of his paper you mentioned. Unfortunately there is probably a lot of material on the subject I am not aware of and I appreciate someone such as yourself bringing this to my attention. It’s pretty difficult getting onto a lot of this material when one is not connected with an Institution such as an University etc. I guess there would be more opportunity if I was able to pursue the channels in one of the Institutions. However after publishing Chicken Bone  Recoveries and sending some copies out I found that within 12 months I had received enough feedback of references to make up the Supplement to it. I do not mind anyone telling I left something out. In fact I look forward to it as it gives me further avenues to explore.

This study of the domestic chicken in all aspects has become my way of life and I will continue searching for information as long as I am able.

Regarding Willoughby I obtained a facsimile of his book from England some years ago and have enclosed a copy of the title page plus a few notes on the Muscovy and also a sketch: it is quite a large book as you can see by the size of the pages and about 2 inches thick (many drawings of birds) you will note the old style English spelling (they used F for s). The sketches are well done I feel. I’m not sure whether it was Willoughby who drew them.

Yes I have Tegetmeier and have had a cursory look through the duck section but he does not appear to even mention the Muscovy. I will check further.

However I also do have Wingfield and Johnson The Poultry book also written around 1850’s in England and have found a couple of pages on the Muscovy. I will get them copied and send them on to you.

Regarding references to Historia Natural. Afraid I can’t help. You will note I had quoted from Finsterbusch (Cockfighting all over the world - 1929). However you will also note Buffon’s name is mentioned. I followed this up and located Buffon’s Natural History (1808 Edition) in our State Library in Sydney. I managed to bluff my way into that section (like getting into Fort Knox) and under surveillance they wheeled all of the volumes out (about 15 from memory) on a trolley and allowed me to look at them. I was only interested in the chicken bit and found some information. They would not let me photocopy the pages but arranged to have them photographed which were sent to me in due course. Buffon (I think he may have been a Frenchman) visited Guyana (French), South America, I think in the 1770’s and he said there were wild cocks and hens in the jungle. I have not used his material yet. It will come in when I do the Distribution story. If you can locate Buffon’s work I am sure somewhere in it he will have something to say on Muscovy.

Regarding Temminck. A naturalist who went to Asia as far as I can ascertain and wrote a book about it. He is the one that spoke of Gallus giganteus. I have seen the title of this book but can’t remember it. I will perhaps eventually track it down. I am not sure of his nationality. I asked a Dutch friend of mine and he says it sounds like a German name. Would like to know a bit more about him myself.

Regarding being skeptical of some of the experts. I may have mentioned it before but I feel that many academics could perhaps make their way easier if they were to move a little out of their own particular field of study. To me this seems the only way to go. I may be wrong but I have found that with the research I have been doing it has been necessary to branch out into quite a very wide field from repairing steam engines to making tools, gigs etc or working on machines and welding etc. I even had the job of building a small experimental steam turbine. I don’t know whether this is a good example but I feel we must be flexible.

As you say not a lot of chicken bones are located in the archaeological remains. I put it down to perhaps the frailty of the bones and feeding the scraps to the dogs etc. Then again are they being identified correctly or as George Carter says is it that they are considered intrusive in the scheme of things.

Thanks for the incubation paper. Will look it over. We have the scrub turkey and scrub fowls (not Gallus ) in Australia who build mounds to incubate their eggs, just as the turtle covers them with sand and the bird builds a nest and lets nature carry on. Will talk about that later.

Best wishes for 1988.

Regards.