

VARIETIES OF DOMESTIC FOWL. 55 



they are magnificent birds. They are exceedingly rare in this 

 country, this being the only importation of which I have knowl- 

 edge. The average weight is from eight to fourteen pounds. 

 The hens are good layers, and the eggs have every mark of the 

 East Indian origin of the race, being dark-colored and large- 

 yolked. The cocks are remarkable for their prowess. 



SHAKE BAG HEN. 



Richardson says : " A good many years ago, there used to 

 be a variety of fowl much in request in England, called the 

 ' Shakebag,' or the ' Duke of Leeds' fowl,' his grace, of that 

 name, about sixty or seventy years ago, having been a great 

 amateur breeder of them. These fowl were as large as the 

 Malays, but differed from them in the superior whiteness and 

 tenderness of their flesh, as also in their very superior fighting 

 abilities. Mowbray thus writes of one in his possession 

 ' The only one I ever possessed was a red one, in 1784, weigh- 

 ing about ten pounds, 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, 

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



