532 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



"should be made a note of." What fanciers 

 should do is this : They should first get the 

 true characteristics, and then in-breed and late- 

 breed from this true type. They will never get 

 the desired effect the way some of them seem to 

 be going about it. 



There are four varieties of Malay Bantams, 

 Reds, Whites, Piles, and Blacks. The two 

 former are those chiefly figuring at our shows ; 

 very seldom do the others put in an appearance, 

 though they are bred in some parts. Of the 

 Reds and Whites one good thing can be said : 

 they are not all in the hands of one or two 

 breeders. Their many admirers are widely 

 spread, and this augurs well for the future 

 prosperity of the breed. 



In conformation, colour, style, etc., the Malay 

 Bantam should be a perfect miniature of the 

 larger fowl. The beak should be strong and 

 curved, horn colour or yellow, latter preferred, 

 expression fierce, owing to the overhanging eye- 

 brows and cruel look of the eyes, which are 

 deeply sunk in the head, and may be either 

 daw or yellow. A walnut comb well set on the 

 front of the head, face, lobes, and wattles red, 

 give a toitt ensemble by no means alluring to 

 other birds of their own size. The neck is long 

 and snaky, hackle short and fine, back slopes 

 at some length towards the tail, which in the 

 cock should be drooping, medium length, narrow 

 in feather and sickles, which should be slightly 

 curved. The shoulders are prominent, broad, 

 and carried well forward, and when the bird is 

 in high condition have the appearance of stand- 

 ing out apart from the body, thus adding much 

 to the bold appearance. The hen's tail should 

 be short and square, and carried a little above 

 the horizontal. The breast in both sexes is 

 broad, deep, and almost naked of feathers, thighs 

 long and powerful, but again with plenty of 

 naked skin on view, and set wide apart. The 

 yellow or orange shanks should be long and 

 fine, round in front, toes long and straight, back 

 toe set on low, resting firmly on the ground. 

 The general feathering throughout should be 

 tight and glossy, what is commonly called " hard 

 as nails." 



Of the Reds there are two legitimate shades 

 — the dark, and the bright orange. Either is 

 in agreement with the Standard ; the latter is 

 identical with the colour of a pullet-breeding 

 Black-red Game cock. A partridge hen should 

 be mated to a cock of this sort. If she be sound 

 in colour she should produce both good cock- 

 erels and pullets, for it is one of the virtues of 

 Malays that they come very true to colour. 

 Then we have the dark maroon cock, and with 

 him should go the cinnamon or wheaten hen. 



The breast, wing-bar, thighs, flights, and 

 shoulder points are a lustrous black, with green 

 black tail. The neck hackle, secondaries, or 

 wing-ends are a deep chestnut. The feathering 

 on the deeper shaded bird is generally shorter 

 and harder than on the brighter coloured cocks. 



Whites are a very handsome variety. The 

 only difficulty with them is one common to all 

 white birds, viz. that of getting them a good 

 " blue " white, free from any trace of lemon or 

 straw tinge. There is only one way to secure 

 this : breed from it, and not from the tinged 

 birds. See you have the true Malay character- 

 istics, and stick to in-breeding and late-breeding. 

 One pen will suffice for cocks and hens. Dis- 

 card any appearance of willow leg. " Go " for 

 orange and orange only, and if the right birds 

 as described are secured, you will have no 

 difficulty with this variety. 



Piles naturally give more trouble. The 

 proper colour in the male is hard to get, and 

 when got, difficult to keep up ; but if the direc- 

 tions for breeding Pile Game Bantams be .strictly 

 followed, namely to secure rich, deep colour, 

 sound bars, wing-ends, and back, with no trace 

 of rustiness, and you mate this Red cock to good 

 type White hens, success is assured ; there is 

 bound to come a fair percentage of good birds. 

 The following year the same lines may be 

 pursued, if the result of the previous attempt 

 turned out as anticipated, but another pen 

 might well be set up by mating together for 

 cocks brothers and sisters. Never use a Pile 

 cock that is weak on his bay ends. It is simply 

 courting disaster, for such birds are veritable 

 wasters, either for exhibition or stock purposes. 

 When my friends hear me say this, the common 

 complaint is, " Don't ; you are telling secrets too 

 fast." My aim, however, and that of this work, 

 is to tell beginners how they should act, and I 

 leave no stone unturned to let them have the 

 whole sum and sub^ance of information gained 

 in much experimental work. My object is not 

 to hide, but to reveal what is really known about 

 breeding exhibition birds, and if I bring to the 

 knowledge of any some things they did not 

 know before, all the better. I wish all true 

 Bantam fanciers well, and my object is to further 

 their interests if I can. The best specimens of 

 Bantams are yet to breed, the highest prices yet 

 to realise ; and every fancier who gets the right 

 knowledge, and will skilfully apply it, should 

 have an even chance with the best of us. 



Indian Game Bantams are a probable cross 

 between the larger Cornish Indian Game and 

 the Aseel. It was no light task to reduce such 

 giants as the Cornish Indian to Bantam size, 



