CHITTAGONG FOWLS. 87 



eggs are very large and rich. Their legs are sometimes lightly feath- 

 ered, not always, and vary in color from yellow to a dark or bluish hue. 

 I once had a pullet of this kind, which weighed eleven and a quarter 

 pounds ; the usual weight for full grown males, is from ten pounda 

 and a half to twelve pounds; females, from eight to ten pounds. 

 They are generally quite leggy, standing some twenty -six inches high, 

 and the hens twenty-two inches. A first cross with the Shanghae 

 would make a very large and valuable bird for the table, not for breed- 

 ing from." 



Nolan, in his wort on poultry, published in Dublin, says : 



" The Chittagongs is another eastern variety, frequently confounded 

 with the Malay ; there is no doubt of its being a distinct species ; the 

 color is uniform, or nearly so ; not so with the Malay ; they are large 

 in the body, and short on the legs. They do not stand so high as 

 either the Cochin China or Malay; the cock stands, in his ordinary 

 way, about twenty-two inches in height, and the hens about twenty 

 inches ; the weight of the cock is from eight to ten pounds, and the 

 hens from six to seven pounds ; the plumage is uniformly speckled 

 grey, or what some understand as cuckoo-colored, with large comb, 

 free from top-knot, with ordinary sized wattles ; hackles partaking of 

 the same mottled grey of the rest of the plumage; the tail is small in 

 proportion to their size ; the legs vary, being occasionally white, blue, 

 or yellow ; the eggs are large and abundant ; the early chickena 

 advance in size and plumage with as much rapidity as our common 

 poultry. There is no doubt of their being crossed on the Dorking, 

 which fowl they much resemble in shape, and then produce what ia 

 denominated the grey Dorking ; they are a large sized, hardy, and 

 very valuable bird." 



