DIFFERENT BREEDS OP POULTRY. 



warts. There is a manifest tendency to produce pea-combs when 

 small in size, pointing clearly to a possible influence on the 

 Brahma, and to relationship with India Game fowls. The 

 wattles and deaf-ears are small, the eyes yellow or white, with 

 very prominent eyebrows overhanging the eye, making the 

 top of the head very broad, and giving a sour or cruel ex- 

 pression, which is added to by the naked and snaky appearance 

 of the head and throat. This is not belied by the real 

 character of the breed, which is most ferocious, even more so 

 than Game fowls, though inferior to the latter in real 

 courage. 



Malays are subject to an evil habit of eating each other's 

 feathers, a propensity which often occurs in close confinement, 

 and can only be cured by turning them on to a grass-run of 

 tolerable extent, and giving plenty of lettuce, with an occa- 

 sional purgative. 



The chickens are delicate, but the adult birds are hardy 

 enough. They appear especially adapted to courts and alleys, 

 and may not unfrequently be seen in such localities in 

 London. 



The principal merit of Malays is as table fowls. Skinny 

 as they appear, the breast, wings, and merrythought together 

 carry more meat than those of most other breeds ; and, when 

 under a year old, of very good quality and flavour. They also 

 make good crosses with several breeds. Mated with the 

 Dorking they produce splendid fowls for the table, which also 

 lay well ; and with the Spanish, though both parents are long- 

 legged, the result is usually a moderately-legged bird of peculiar 

 beauty in the plumage, good for the table, and, if a hen, a good 

 sitter and mother. They have also been extensively crossed 

 with the English Game fowl, in order to increase the strength, 

 size, ferocity, and hardness of feather. 



The great drawback of Malays is their abominably quarrel- 

 some disposition, which becomes worse the more they are con- 



