256 
The Australasian Book of Poultry. 
heavily marked on back and sides of wings, the cocks being heavily marbled or splashed with brown or rusty 
feathers on the breast and fluff. The Piles can, however, be considerably improved in feather by crossing 
with the brightest Black-Reds, and the cocks should resemble the Black-Red in every particular (with the 
exception of substituting white where the Black-Red is black, being red where he is red). 
Duckwings are quite the equal of any of the other colours in appearance if up to standard of colour, 
etc., but there is an extreme difficulty in breeding the cocks to the desired state of perfection, and it is 
frequently necessary to cross with the Black-Red (choosing the brightest Black- Red obtainable for the 
purpose) to keep up the clear and distinct markings. Probably no variety requires greater study and 
attention in breeding than the Duckwing cocks. The hens are not nearly so difficult to breed to Show 
Standard, as breeding from Duckwings on both sides will mostly throw pullets good in feather properties. 
Blacks and Whites require no further description than pure black or pure white, and if up to the 
Standard of type, carriage, etc., are most attractive. 
The Malay is a fowl of very uncertain temper, and it is not wise to put the cock up with the hens until 
they are near laying (and more so if they are kept in an at all confined space), as the cock frequently 
turns vicious with the hens, and will thrash and bully them unmercifully. The hens themselves, being 
termagants, will often turn on one another, so must be watched. The uncertainty of temper or viciousness 
is a great drawback to allowing the Malay hen to hatch, they, as a rule, being so very irritable and cruel in 
disposition that on the slightest provocation they will kill the chickens as they emerge from the shell. 
The chickens when from six to ten weeks old are most unsightly-looking objects, being almost devoid of 
feathers for that period, yet it is astonishing how very hardy they are and easy to rear. They should 
be fed in much the same manner as described for Game Fowls in Chapter XXVIII., and, as in other breeds 
where size is demanded, this latter depends on the amount of food that can be got down their throats. 
Malay Fowls and chickens have the digestive powers of an ostrich, and little comes amiss in the way of food 
to them. The greatest difficulty likely to arise in the rearing of Malay chickens is the breed's tendency to 
leg weakness, both cockerels and pullets ; but immediately this is noticed daily administrations of half- 
teaspoonfuls of " Parrish's Chemical Food " will quickly assist them to pull themselves together, and, should 
any of them have a difficulty in fledging properly and quickly, a little linseed meal and sulphur, mixed in 
their soft food every dry, sunny morning, will assist them considerably in going through the ordeal. 
The following remarks are kindly added by Mr. Wm. Jolly, of Wayville, Adelaide, S.A., who writes : — 
" I am glad of the opportunity afforded me of advocating the claims of Malays, because I think that this 
Colony (South Australia) may fairly claim to be the stronghold of the breed in the Australasian Colonies, 
and, consequently, we are in a position to understand and appreciate them. In proof of which, I may 
mention that I had no less than sixty-eight pens to adjudicate upon at our S.A. Poultry and Dog Society 
Show in August last, and over forty at the Royal Agricultural Society's Show the following month. The 
origin of the breed is not a matter of sufficient moment to discuss in a work devoted to practical Poultry 
keeping. Whether it is, as one naturalist asserts, the domesticated descendant of Galliis Giganteics, or, as 
another argues, its ancestor is the Galhis Banhiva, we may, I think, leave to scientists learned in the origin 
of species to decide. The original home of the breed is, however, not so difficult to fix, as the fact is well- 
established that a bird, similar in all essential characteristics to the Malay, is still the common Fowl of India 
and the Malay Peninsula, and when we bear in mind that the Easterns, as a rule, pay no attention to the 
improvement of their birds and animals, and that the result of such neglect, when kept in a state 
of domestication, invariably produces a reversion to the original type, we may take it for granted that 
the natural habitat of the breed is correctly located. The Malay in its general characteristics is 
quite distinct from other breeds. The head of the cock is broad, fairly long, and carried very high. 
The eye is a light yellowish colour, with overhanging eyebrows ; beak stout, and hooked something 
like a parrot's ; face, red and bare of feathers ; comb, like the half of a small walnut, set well forward 
towards the beak ; neck long, and hackle short and scanty ; shoulders, square across the butts, and 
standing prominently out from the body ; wings, short and strong ; body, large at the shoulders, tapering 
