THE JERSEY -BLUE FOWL. 273 



rior strength and size, were found more than a match for any 

 competitor, and were subsequently denominated Shakebags. 

 They were supposed to be a cross of the Malay and English 

 Game : some think that they arose merely from improving the 

 size of the common Fowl, and not by any foreign cross. Mow- 

 bray says, "The only one I ever possessed was a red one, in 

 1784, weighing about 10 Ibs., which was provided for me, at the 

 price of one guinea, by Goff, the dealer, who then lived upon 

 Holborn Hill, in London, and who, at the end of two years, re- 

 ceived him back at half a guinea ; having allowed me, in the 

 interval, three shillings and six-pence each, for such thorough- 

 bred Cock-Chickens as I choose to send him. At that time 

 (1784) the real Duke of Leed's breed had become very scarce, 

 which induced the dealers to put Shakebag Cocks to Malay 

 Hens, by that means keeping up the original standard size, 

 but entirely ruining the colour and delicate flavour of the flesh. 



JERSEY-BLUE FOWL. 



THE colour of this variety is light blue, sometimes approach- 

 ing to dun ; the tail and wings rather shorter than those of the 

 common Fowl ; its legs are of various colours, generally dark, 

 sometimes lightly feathered. Of superior specimens, the Cocks 

 weigh from 7 to 9 Ibs., and the Hens from 6 to 8 Ibs. They 

 are evidently mongrels ; and, though once a good deal thought 

 of, yet, since the purer breeds, as the Shanghaes and Cochin 

 Chinas, have been introduced, they begin to be neglected, as 

 indeed all mongrels should be, so far as breeding from them is 

 concerned. 



