CHICKENS AND THEIR WILD RELATIVES

by Alice L. Hopf ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 22, 1982

The chicken comes first here, and is traced from its origin in India and first domestication there some 5000 years ago--for cock fighting, not for food--to its blandly described scientific handling on today's mechanized poultry farms. The rest of the book surveys the characteristics and habits of chicken relatives in the wild: various subspecies of grouse; the smaller quaff; the pheasant, native to Asia but common now in South Dakota--and in Illinois where it is wiping out the native prairie chicken; and the ""incubator birds,"" who anticipated the human invention by building mounds for hatching their young. In a way this seems like two separate reports: the chicken story one of human determination, and the natural-history description of the relatives. But the chicken-human history is diverting enough, and the natural history, complete with references to naturalists' observations, is smoothly presented.

Pub Date: Nov. 22, 1982

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dodd, Mead

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1982

Categories: NONFICTION