Chap. VIL DESCRIPTION OF BEEEDS. 237 



bat I have great doubts whether this is a natural arrange- 

 ment, showing true affinity or blood relationship. It is 

 scarcely possible to avoid laying stress on the commonness of 

 a breed; and if certain foreign sub-breeds had been largely 

 kept in this country they would perhaps have been raised to 

 the rank of main-breeds. Several breeds are abnormal in 

 character ; that is, they differ in certain points from all wild 

 Gallinaceous birds. At first I made a division of the breeds 

 into normal and abnormal, but the result was wholly unsatis- 

 factory. 



1. Game Breed. — This may be considered as the typical breed, as 

 it deviates only slightly from the wild O alius bankiva, or, as perhaps 

 more correctly named, ferrugineas. Beak strong; comb single and 

 upright. Spurs long and sharp. Feathers closely appressed to the 

 body. Tail with the normal number of 14 feathers. Eggs often 

 pale buff. Disposition indomitably courageous, exhibited even in 

 the hens and chickens. An unusual number of differently coloured 

 varieties exist, such as black and brown-breasted reds, duck wings, 

 blacks, whites, piles, &c, with their legs of various colours. 



2. Malay Breed. — Body of great size, with head, neck, and legs 

 elongated ; carriage erect ; tail small, sloping downwards, generally 

 formed of 16 feathers ; comb and wattle small ; ear-lobe and face 

 red ; skin yellowish ; feathers closely appressed to the body ; neck- 

 hackles short, narrow, and hard. Eggs often pale buff. Chickens 

 feather late. Disposition savage. Of Eastern origin. 



3: Cochin, or Shangai Breed. — Size great ; wing feathers short, 

 arched, much hidden in the soft downy plumage ; barely capable of 

 flight ; tail short, generally formed of 16 feathers, developed at a 

 late period in the young males ; legs thick, feathered ; spurs short, 

 thick; nail of middle toe flat and broad; an additional toe not 

 rarely developed ; skin yellowish. Comb and wattle well developed. 

 Skull with deep medial furrow ; occipital foramen, sub-triangular, 

 vertically elongated. Voice peculiar. Eggs rough, buff-coloured. 

 Disposition extremely quiet. Of Chinese origin. 



4. Dorking Breed. — Size great; body square, compact; feet 

 with an additional toe ; comb well developed, but varies much in 

 form; wattles well developed; colour of plumage various. Skull 

 remarkably broad between the orbits. Of English origin. 



The white Dorking may be considered as a distinct sub -breed, 

 being a less massive bird. 



5. Spanish Breed (fig 30). — Tall, with stately carriage ; tarsi 

 long ; comb single, deeply serrated, of immense size ; wattles largely 

 developed ; the large ear-lobes and sides of face white. Plumage black 

 glossed with green. Do not incubate. Tender in constitution, 

 the comb being often injured by frost. Eggs white, smooth, of 

 large size. Chickens feather late but the young cocks show their 



