As he is at present too busy to follow up the
question himself, I have asked permission to publish his suggestion in The
Athenaeum, with the hope that some reader skilled in mediaeval French and
Italian may be able to throw light on the subject.
Mr. Yule writes as follows: -
"The reference [to these fowls] in 'Marco Polo' (p. 226 of the last
edition; not p. 126 as stated in the index) is a puzzle, owing to the
statement that they are black all over. A black has, I am told, been
recently created, but the common breed is white, as stated in the note and
by Friar Odoric.
"It has occurred to me as a possibility that what Marco Polo may have
meant to say was that they were black all through, or some such phrase.
The flesh of these fowls is deeply pigmented, and looks practically black;
it is a feature that is very remarkable, and would certainly strike any
one who saw it. The details that they 'lay eggs just like our fowls,' i.e.,
not pigmented, and are 'very good to eat,' are facts that would naturally
deserve especial mention in this connexion. Mr. A.D. Darbishire (of
Oxford and Edinburgh University) tells me that is quite correct:
