272 TEtE SHAKEBAG FOWL. 



THE JAVA FOWL. 



I KNOW not of any person in this country who can boast of 

 having this Fowl in its purity. If the descriptions of it, as 

 given by some, (Willoughby among the rest,) be true, I am 

 quite certain I have never seen it. He describes it as carrying 

 its tail like a Turkey. A lady, in the vicinity of Philadelphia, 

 who has had some choice foreign Poultry for the last thirty 

 years, has a variety which she calls Java, but I am unable to 

 discover any thing peculiar about them. They are of almost 

 all colours, some feather-legged and some smooth ; comb and 

 wattles as freely developed as in the Shanghae and Cochin 

 China. Long Island, the head quarters of this variety, abounds 

 in a stout black Fowl, single, serrated comb, and full wattles. 

 I presume that, until we find a bird answering Willoughby 's 

 description, we must be content to call our large black Fowls, 

 Javas. Those on Long Island might weigh, per pair, from 14 

 to 16 Ibs. The slightest trace of a top-knot is not to be tole- 

 rated ; their legs are black and smooth. They are quite broad 

 across the rump, and have, on that account, sometimes, been 

 called " Saddlebacks." Their practical qualities are good. 



THE SHAKEBAG FOWL, 



COMMONLY called the Duke of Leed's breed, is said by 

 Mowbray to be extinct; if so, it will not be necessary to con- 

 sume much of the reader's time in describing a Fowl which he 

 may never .see. As a mere matter of history, we may state 

 that the Duke, being an enthusiastic Cock-fighter, was in the 

 habit of bringing his Cocks into the Pit in a bag, against any 

 that could be produced, and, when shaken out, from their supe- 



