MALAYS. 153 



CHAPTER XVI. 



MALAYS. 



THE Malay was the first introduced of the gigantic Asiatic 

 breeds, and in stature exceeds that of any yet known. The 

 cock weighs, or should weigh, from nine to eleven pounds, and 

 when fully grown should stand two feet six inches higli. But 

 the general size of this breed has of late greatly deteriorated. 



In form and make Malays are as different from Cochins 

 as can well be. They are exceedingly long in the neck and 

 legs, and the carriage is so upright that the back forms a 

 steep incline. The wings are carried high, and project very 

 much at the shoulders. Towards the tail, on the contrary, 

 the body becomes narrow the conformation being thus 

 exactly opposite to that of the Shanghai. The tail is small, 

 and that of the cock droops. The back is convex in profile, 

 unlike that of most other breeds, so that the back of the neck, 

 the bask, and the tail, form a series of three nearly similar 

 convex curves, inclined at an angle. These curves and the pro- 

 jecting shoulders are the most characteristic points ; and when 

 these are good, prizes usually go to the fowls which are longest 

 in shank and thigh, in which some are enormous. 



The plumage is very close, firm, and glossy, more so than 

 that of any other breed, and giving to the bird a peculiar 

 lustre when viewed in the light. The feathers are also 

 unusually narrow. Off the point of the prominent breast- 

 bone the plumage generally disappears from friction. The 

 colours vary very much. Pure white is very beautiful, but 

 the most usual is that well known under the title of black- 

 breasted red game. The legs are yellow, but quite nako.l, 

 and remarkably large in the pattern of the scales. 



The head and boak are long, the latter being rather hooked. 

 Comb a sort of lump, covered with small prominononH likr 



