276 
CHAPTER XXI. 
MALAYS. 
A bird similar to the Malay in all essential characteristics is still the indigenous or common fowl 
of India, as well as the smaller peninsula whose name it bears, and so far its origin is not difficult 
to determine ; further back the problem is not so easy. Temminck, as is well known, considered 
the fowl to be the domesticated descendant of a wild G alius gigantens ; but it is the fashion now to 
sneer at this old naturalist, and to acknowledge no remote ancestor save Gallus Bankiva as the 
origin of all our poultry. It may perhaps be so, though we may be permitted to observe that little 
in the shape of real argument has yet been adduced for this view, and that the Malay type of bird 
is, if anything, far more diffused than the other throughout Eastern Asia. To say that a bird thus 
widely spread is only a domesticated breed, does not count for much with any practical breeder of 
fowls, who knows how surely and definitely reversion tells its tale on an artificial race, unless 
guarded against by a sedulous care which the Easterns never give ; and it is marvellous to us that 
Mr. Darwin, who so dwells on this tendency so far as it serves his own argument, does not appear 
even to see its force wherever it bears against him. It is, however, no part of our purpose to enter 
into a disquisition on a subject which, in our opinion, requires many more facts to be ascertained 
before it can be satisfactorily dealt with ; and with the simple remark that the Malay is, at all 
events, one of the most ancient and well-marked of all domesticated breeds, we therefore proceed at 
once to describe the breed itself as now known to fanciers. 
The Malay characteristics are very distinct and peculiar, consisting more in general points 
than any fixed standard of colour. The head of the cock is very broad and long, with heavy 
overhanging eyebrows, which give a most cruel expression to the face. The beak is stout at the 
base, and much more curved or hooked than in any other variety of poultry, still further adding 
to the fierceness of expression. The face is unusually bare of feathers, giving a red and skinny 
appearance to the whole, even the throat being left nearly exposed in most specimens. Wattles 
and deaf-ears are small, but the comb is very peculiar — in fact it is peculiar to this breed, being 
neither single, rose, nor triple, but more resembling the half of a very small walnut — a mere 
roundish convex lump, covered with very small projections. It should be small, even, and set well 
forward towards the beak. The neck is very long, and hackle short, hard, and scanty, making it 
appear longer still, the head being carried as high as possible. The general shape of the body is 
large at the shoulders, and tapering away to the tail, the shoulders being carried so high that the 
back slants downwards, and the tail also droops towards the ground. The thighs and legs are very 
long, and the wings strong and bony, the shoulders standing prominently and sharply out from the 
body, even when they are closed. All the plumage is very short, hard, and of extraordinary lustre. 
The hen resembles the cock in general characters, but in carriage does not droop so much 
behind, her tail being usually carried a very little above the horizontal position. 
In colour there are Whites, Blacks, and Piles ; but the generally shown type of late is either 
black, or resembling in colour Black-red Game cocks, with darkish Wheaten hens. The earlier 
