February
15, 1994
Dear
Mr Plant,
Thank
you for the copy of The origin,
evolution, history and distribution of the domestic fowl, part 3, the Gallus
species. It is a good deal of interesting information and I expect to
peruse it in more detail. I found especially interesting the account by your
friend as to how the natives trap or used to trap as more will Red Junglefowl
in Burma.
I
enclose a copy of the repertoire on Red Junglefowl vocalization you asked for,
and I am also enclosing a reprint you may find of some interest in Red
Junglefowl in Malaya and Thailand.
I
think the process of domestication may still be going on, and this article
gives the evidence for this notion.
The
must recent reviews of domestication of chickens that I know of are those of
Crawford in 1990 (the first chapter, page 1-42, in Poultry
breeding and genetics edited by Roy Crawford, published by Elsevier in
Amsterdam, Oxford and New York) and by Stevens in 1991 in Genetics and evolution of the domestic fowl, by the Cambridge
University Press in New York. Crawford seems to favour Darwin’s view but
concludes that one or more species of Junglefowl are contributing to the
origin of the domestic fowl. L. Stevens concludes that more than one species
of Junglefowl was involved. Crawford especially considers the Red Junglefowl
the major ancestor of most domestic chickens.
Sincerely,
Nicholas
Collias
retired
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