File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (17536961304).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo04amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL rats, mice, shrews, bats, weasels and hares. No certain indica- tions of Man have yet been recognized, but it is hoped that further explorations may give some definite evidence as to his existence, as this would be the most conclusive proof yet fur- nished of the antiquity of Man in the New World. w. D. M.
Text Appearing After Image:
THE LONG-TAILED JAPANESE FOWLS. (HE long-tailed Japanese fowls (see frontispiece) se- cured for the Museum by Prof. Bashford Dean have recently been mounted and placed on exhi- bition in the Bird Hall. Professor Dean states that this peculiar breed of fowls has been so long established (it was known in Corea prior to a.d. iooo) that its wild ancestors cannot be determined. It appears, however, to have been developed solely through artificial selection by breeders, from birds in which, because of failure to molt, the tail-feathers continued to grow for an indefinite period. In the Province of Tosa, in the Island of Shikoku (the third largest island of the Japanese group) breeders were encouraged by the Daimyo of the Province to produce fowls with especially long feathers which were of heraldic importance and were used by the Daimyo as decorations for his spear. The best individuals of this fowl are still grown in the Pro- vince of Tosa where Professor Dean procured the specimens now owned by the Museum. The industry, however, probably through lack of governmental support, is now on the wane, so much attention being required to produce long-feathered birds that their breeding is not commercially profitable. The birds are given high perches as their feathers develop, are fed with great care on nourishing food, and the long feathers are wrapped in mulberry paper to protect them from dirt and abrasion. It is said that a gro^\i:h of six inches per month has been obtained by proper treatment, and the longest recorded feather measured twenty feet and two inches. The tail of the best developed Museum specimen measures fourteen feet.

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