DOMESTIC FOWL. 13 



in the export of living and dead poultry, from our ports, for the 

 supply of the English market. 



The first Malays I brought to Dublin, I purchased in the London 

 docks. They were brought direct from the Peninsula, as good 

 specimens, and were the progenitors of all the fine Malays, I have 

 since forwarded to every part of England, Ireland, and Scotland. 

 The cock and hen were both a reddish yellow. I can clearly trace 

 all the prize Malays, exhibited here, to them. ," 



There is a large bird, well known here, with a slight top-knot, 

 said to be Malay, which is evidently a cross. 



I have been favoured, by Thomas Rutherford, Esq., of Merrion- 

 square, with a copy of a very clever paper, alluded to in the first 

 chapter, displaying undoubted ability, and research, and read by 

 him, at a scientific meeting of the Royal Dublin Society, the Earl 

 of Clancarty presiding, in which he gives the following description 

 of the Malay : 



"The handsomest of the Malay, are generally black-breasted, 

 with red hackles, and wings of the same colour, and the rump and 

 tail black, resembling the plumage of the common game cock ; 

 and the hens brown, like the game hens ; there are also gray, with 

 reddish hackles and wings ; these are very often larger than the 

 former, but they are not so well proportioned ; both are awkward 

 in the gait ; they fatten to an enormous size as large as small 

 turkeys. I once had a cock which weighed alive, without being 

 fattened, 13 Ibs." 



Having both the varieties described above, by Mr Rutherford, 

 in my possession, I fully coincide in his opinion. 



There is a bird recently described, as the Pheasant Malay, and 

 weighing only 7 Ibs., which has not the slightest claim to origi- 

 nality, being a mere accidental cross, between the true Malay, 

 and birds bred in the north of England, by the members of the 

 poultry clubs, for show of feather, and described by them as 

 mooned, creeled, or pheasant fowl, of which I shall have occasion 

 to speak in their proper order ; they deteriorate the value of both 

 birds, by reducing the size of the Malay, and obliterating the 

 beautiful markings of the pheasant fowl ; they are a purely acci- 

 dental cross, and not purposely bred by the fanciers of either 

 variety, but there is no doubt of their being an excellent table fowl, 

 as most crosses of the Malay are. It is a mere market appellation 

 of the dealers, who too often endeavour to make sales at the risk 

 of veracity, assuring their buyers that they are half pheasant ; 

 and, with few exceptions, a more deficient set of men, as to the 

 knowledge of the article in which they deal, there does not exist. 



