POULTRY. 525 



MALAYS. 



IN describing this breed, we give the following from Wright s Practical Poultry Keeper: 

 &quot; The Malay was the first introduced of the gigantic Asiatic breeds, and in stature ex 

 ceeds that of any yet known. The cock weighs or should weigh from nine to eleven 

 pounds, and when fully grown should stand at least two feet six inches high. But the general 

 size of this breed has of late greatly deteriorated. In form and make, Malays are as different 

 from Cochins as can well be. They are exceedingly long in the neck and legs, and the 

 carriage is so upright that the back forms a steep incline. The wings are carried high, and 

 project very much at the shoulders. Towards the tail, on the contrary, the body becomes 

 narrow the conformation being thus exactly opposite to that of the Shanghai. The tail is 

 small, and that of the cock droops. 



The plumage is very close, firm, and glossy, more so than that of any other breed, and 

 giving to the bird a peculiar lustre when viewed in the light. The colors vary much. &quot;We 

 consider pure white the most beautiful of all; but the most usual is that well known under 

 the title of brown-breasted red game. The legs are yellow, but quite naked. The head and 

 beak are long, the latter being rather hooked; comb low and flat, covered with small promi 

 nences like warts; wattles and deaf -ears very small; eyes usually yellow. The whole face 

 and a great part of the throat are red and naked, and the whole expression snaky and 

 cruel. This is not belied by the real character of the breed, which is most ferocious, 

 even more so than Game fowls, though inferior to the latter in real courage. 



Malays are subject to an evil habit of eating each other s feathers, a propensity which 

 often occurs in close confinement, and can only be cured by turning them on to a grass run 

 of tolerable extent, and giving plenty of lettuce, with an occasional purgative. The chickens 

 are delicate, but the adult birds are hardy enough. They appear especially adapted to courts 

 and alleys, and may not unfrequently be seen in such localities in London.&quot; 



The colors of the Malay fowl are White, Black, and Piles, the most common being a 

 resemblance to the Black-red Game. In the East Indies they are often used for the pit, and 

 are very ferocious, as has been previously noted. It is a well known fact that many varieties 

 of the Game contain more or less of the Malay blood. 



Merits and Defects of Malays. &quot; The principal merit of Malays is as table fowls. 

 Skinny as they appear, the breast, wings, and merrythought together carry more meat than 

 perhaps any other breed; and, when under a year old, of Very good quality and flavor. They 

 also make good crosses with several breeds. Mated with the Dorking they produce splendid 

 fowls for the table, which also lay well ; and with the Spanish, though both parents are long, 

 legged, the result is most usually a short-legged bird of peculiar beauty in the plumage, good 

 for the table, and, if a hen, a remarkably good sitter and mother. They have also been exten 

 sively crossed with the English Game fowl, in order to increase the strength, size, ferocity, 

 and hardness of feather.&quot; 



They bear confinement well, and their plumage is peculiarly lustrous; the hens, however, 

 are poor layers, and their quarrelsome disposition makes them quite troublesome. It is said 

 that a cross with the Spanish will often produce fine, large birds of black plumage, and 

 excellent layers, as well as table fowl. Malays are often used as crosses with breeds having 

 a deficiency of size in wings and breast, to aid in improving this deficiency; but when crossed 

 with the Cochin, singular as it may seem, the result is said to be worse than the original. The 

 Malay is not generally a favorite with fanciers, and will probably never be very extensively 

 bred, either in this country or Europe. 



VOL. II. 29 



