180 THE PRACTICAL POULTRY KEEPER. 



crosses should always have the attention of the market 

 raiser who does not succeed with pure Dorkings. A cross 

 with Minorcas produces a very fine and hardy laying stock. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



MALAYS, ASEELS, AND INDIAN GAME. 



THE Malay was the first introduced of the gigantic Asiatic 

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

 except the leggy type of Langshan. The cock weighs, or 

 should weigh, from nine to eleven pounds, and when fully 

 grown should stand two feet six inches high. But the 

 general size of this breed has of late 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 back, and the tail, form a series of three nearly 

 similar convex curves, inclined at an angle. These curves 

 and the projecting 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. Over the point of the prominent 

 breast-bone the plumage generally disappears from friction. 



