83 



HONG KONG FOWLS. 



HONG KONG FOWLS. 



This cut represents a pair of Hong Kong fowls owned and 

 bred by C. C. Plaisted, Esq., of Great Falls, N. H. Mr. P. 

 writes me as follows : 



This mammoth breed of fowls was imported from, Canton in the 

 year 1849, by Capt. D. S. Fuller, of the ship Vancouver. The name 

 "Hong Kong," has been bestowed on them as a convenient appellation 

 to distinguish them from other Chinese fowls. For size and beauty, 

 they equal any other breed of fowls in New England. The portraits 

 at the head of this article were drawn from life a pair in my pos- 

 session. I weighed the imported hen, and a cock from her, on the 

 third of April last, and found their weight to be twenty-three pounds 

 and nine ounces. The hen's weight was twelve pounds and one ounce, 

 and the cock weighed eleven and a half pounds. He was only ten 

 months old at the time. The prevailing shade of his plumage is a 

 glossy black on the breast, sides and legs ; the hackles, back and rump 

 feathers are a bright red ; his tail is a rich, glossy, greenish black 



