BREEDING PARTRIDGE COCHINS. 



of more modern dark Brahma, which imparted 

 the beautiful pencilling of that variety and a 

 somewhat lighter ground colour, almost verg- 

 ing on yellow in some birds, with black 

 markings. Still later there is evidence that 

 there was at least one marked introduction 

 of Brahma blood for the third time, with a 

 view still further to "clear" the pencilling. 

 With this cross came a smaller size and a 

 narrow weedy build, which has not bred out 

 yet, so that many Partridge pullets are the most 

 inferior of any of the varieties in Cochin type 



Cochins, from the days of the late Mr. Edward 



Tudman downwards : — 



"To breed Partridge Cochin cocks is now a 



very difficult task, the reason of which is I 



believe that they have got mixed up with the 

 pullet strain, which tends to brown 



Breeding in the fluff, and too plain hackles. 



I have not bred the cock strain 

 now for many years, but believe 



there is always danger in breeding from birds 



not black up to the throat and darkly striped 



in the hackle. 



Partridge 

 Cochins. 



Fig. 89. — Partridge Cochin Pencilled Feathers. 



and massiveness. This point needs special 

 attention from the breeder. All strains have 

 not been so crossed, and the result is apt to 

 be, unless care is taken, some anomalies in 

 breeding owing to such great differences in 

 blood. We were told by the writer of the 

 following notes of one very curious case, 

 that of the best cup Partridge pullet perhaps 

 ever seen at Birmingham up to even now, 

 claimed at the price of .£^34, which was bred 

 from a cock-breeding hen, of a mere mouse 

 colour ; but this mother of that splendid bird 

 never bred another good one either before or 

 since. 



The following notes are from Mr. Richard 

 Southern, of Worsley, well known as one of the 

 oldest and most successful breeders of Partridge 



" To breed pullets the first thing is to choose 

 your hens, which should, of course, be the largest 

 and best-shaped possible, short on the leg, and 

 plenty of foot feather, with, if possible, nice soft 

 hocks ; but above all things must be heavily 

 pencilled from head to foot, the breast in parti- 

 cular. I have always bred my very best pullets 

 from hens heavily pencilled in the hackle, and 

 find these always breed the best pencilled ones, 

 so that my strain of Partridge Cochins may be 

 called a pencilled-hackled strain, and I have had 

 it for over twenty years. These hens breed the 

 striped hackle as well, and the three hackle 

 feathers in Fig. 88 show this. Feather A is a 

 heavily pencilled hackle from a hen three years 

 old, which is the mother of both the hackles in 

 B and C, one being a partially pencilled hackle 



