Brahma- Poof r as. 103 



not sit so often as Cochins, and a week's change of place 

 will generally banish the desire. They put on ilesh well, 

 with plenty of breast-meat, and are more juicy and better 

 shaped for the table than most Cochins ; though, after they 

 are six months old, the flesh is much infei'ior to that of the 

 Dorking. A cross with a Dorking or Creve Coeur cock 

 produces the finest possible table fowl, carrying almost 

 incredible quantities of meat of excellent quality. 



The chickens are hardy and easy to rear. They vary in 

 colour when first hatched, being all shades of brown, 

 yellow, and grey, and are often streaked on the back and 

 spotted about the head ; but this variety gives place, as 

 the feathers come, to the mixture of black, white, and 

 grey, which forms the distinguishing colour of the Brahma. 

 Mr. Baily has " hatched them in snow, and reared them 

 all out of doors without any other shelter than a piece of 

 mat or carpet thrown over the coop at night." They reach 

 their full size at an early age, and the pullets are in their 

 prime at eight months. Miss Watts noticed that Brahmas 

 ^' are more clever in the treatment of themselves when they 

 are ill than other fowls ; when they get out of order, they 

 will generally fast until eating is no longer injurious," 

 Avhich peculiarity is corroborated by the experienced 

 " Henwife." The feathers of the Brahma-Pootra are said 

 to be nearly equal to goose feathers. 



The head should have a slight fulness over the eye, 

 giving breadth to the top ; a full, pearl eye is much ad- 

 mired, but far from common ; comb either a small single, 

 or pea-comb — the single resembling that of the Cochin ; 

 the neck short ; the breast wide and full ; the legs short, 

 yellow, and well-feathered, but not so fully as in the finest 

 Cochins ; and the tail short but full, and in the cock 

 opening into a fan. They should be Avide and deep made, 

 large and weighty, and have a free, noble carriage, equally 

 distinct from the waddle of the Cochin, and the erect 

 bearing of the Malay. Unlike the Cochins, they keep 

 constantly to their colour, which is a mixture of black, 

 white, and grey ; the lightest being almost white, and the 

 darkest consisting of grey markings on a white ground. 



