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CHAPTER IX. 



THE PHEASANT- MALAY FOWli. 



THIS variety, together with some of the Hamburghs, may 

 claim the sad pre-eminence of having given occasion to more 

 disputes than any bird of its tribe, always excepting the Game 

 Cock. It is highly valued by many farmers, not on account of 

 its intrinsic merits, which are considerable, but because they 

 believe it to be a cross between the Pheasant and .the common 

 Fowl, than which nothing can be more erroneous. The Pul- 

 lets and Cockerels are excellent for the table, and, when brought 

 to market, meet with a ready sale, less because they are really 

 fine birds, than because the seller assures his customers, in 

 perfect sincerity, that they are half-bred Pheasants; and the 

 buyer readily pays his money down, thinking that he has got 

 a nice Fowl, and a taste of Pheasant into the bargain some- 

 thing like the Frenchman, who was delighted at breakfast, on 

 finding that he was eating a little chicken, when he had only 

 paid for an egg. 



So gross an error in Natural History ought to be cleared 

 away, as a belief in it might cause disappointment to Poultry- 

 fanciers ) and particularly since the able author of " British 

 Husbandry" has given the weight of his authority to the no- 

 tion. He speaks of the a hybrid between the Hen and the 

 Pheasant having succeeded " and adds : " Their flesh, how- 

 ever, has so much of the game-flavour of the Pheasant, coupled 



