lOG Malays. 



Europeans in India. Met with only as a domestic bird ; 

 and Colonel Sykes has reason to believe that it is not a 

 native of India, but has been introduced by the Mussul- 

 mans from Sumatra or Java. The iris of the real game 

 bird should be whitish or straw yellow. Colonel Sykes 

 landed two cocks and a hen in England in June, 1831. 

 They bore the winter well ; the hen laid freely, and has 

 reared two broods of chickens. The cock has not.the shrill 

 clear pipe of the domestic bird, and his scale of note 

 appears more limited. Acock in the possession of Colonel 

 Sykes stood twenty-six inches high to the crown of the 

 head ; but they attain a greater height. Length from the 

 tip of the bill to the insertion of the tail, twenty-three 

 inches. Hen one-third smaller than the male. Shaw very 

 justly describes the habit of the cock, of resting, when 

 tired, on the first joint of the leg." 



It is a long, large, heavy bird, standing remarkably 

 upright, having an almost uninterrupted slope from the 

 head to the insertion of the tail ; with very long, though 

 strong, yellow legs, quite free from feathers ; long, stout, 

 firm thighs, and stands very erect ; the cock, when full 

 grown, being at least two feet six inches, and sometimes 

 over three feet in height, and weighing from eight to 

 eleven pounds. The head has great fulness over the eye, 

 and is flattened above, resembling that of the snake. The 

 small, thick, hard comb, scarcely rising from the head, and 

 barely as long, like half a strawberry, resembles that of a 

 Game fowl dubbed. The wattles are very small ; the neck 

 closely feathered, and like a rope, with a space for an inch 

 below the beak bare of feathers. It has a hard, cruel 

 expression of face ; a brilliant bold eye, pearled around the 

 edge of the lids ; skinny red face ; very strong curved 

 yellow beak ; and small, drooping tail, with very beautiful, 

 though short, sickle feathers. The hen resembles the cock 

 upon all these points, but is smaller. 



Their colours now comprise different shades of red and 

 deep chestnut, in combination Avith rich browns, and there 

 are also black and white varieties, each of which should be 

 uniform. The feathers should be hard and close, which 

 causes it to be heavier than it appears. 



