176 THE PHEASANT-MALAY FOWL. 



particular sort of birds indicated under the title of tho 

 c Pheasant Breed/ I have seen so many and such diverse 

 sorts called Pheasant Fowls, that I have long since ceased to 

 attach any definite idea to the designation. I fully concur 

 in all you say in contravention of the popular notion of the 

 existence of a prolific Hybrid between the Fowl and the 

 Pheasant. 



"I have for seven years had a breed of Fowls, the pro- 

 genitors of which were sold to me in Hungerford market as 

 1 Pheasant-Malays/ The Cocks are a large-sized bird, of a 

 dark-red colour, with a small comb ; but the beauty of the 

 breed is with the Hens, which are of a Pheasant colour in all 

 parts of the body, with a velvety black neck. The shape of 

 both male and female is good. The neck is long and (as we 

 should say of a horse) high-crested, giving them an appear- 

 ance quite superior to other Fowl in that particular. The 

 colour of the Hens varies from the warmth of the plumage 

 of the Cock Pheasant, to the colder hue of the Hen Pheasant, 

 but as I have always bred from the high-coloured birds, I now 

 have the better colour generally predominating. The legs 

 are white, and also the skin. They are excellent birds on the 

 table, both as to quality, shape, and size. They have no re- 

 semblance to the Malay, except that the Cocks are rather high 

 on the legs, the Hens being the reverse. The combs of the 

 Hens are very small. The Hens never have a foul feather, 

 but I have never seen a Cock which does not show some small 

 mark of white on one of his tail-feathers. You will observe 

 in the Hens of the Pheasant-Malay that the two longest tail- 

 feathers are somewhat curved, which, when the bird is full 

 grown, and in full feather, materially improves the appear- 

 ance. They do not arrive at their full size until the second 

 season. They lay well, but late. Their Eggs are very small 

 in proportion to the size of the birds. I should say that their 

 weight was, on the average, above that of the Black Spanish, 



