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THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



fault ; but this sandy strain seems to have died 

 out or been bred out, for we have not seen it 

 lately. The main point is to select birds which 

 were not only white as chickens, but have 

 moulted white, and kept white in moulting. 

 The last test will probably prove too severe for 

 any new strain, the great majority of cockerels 

 showing yellow — what is called " sap " in the 

 feathers — while the latter are growing out of 

 the quills ; but as soon as possible this crucial 

 test should be applied, and the very few which do 

 grow the young feathers white throughout, given 

 the preference. When once this stage is reached 

 there will be less trouble in regard to colour ; 

 but shade will always be necessary for the male 

 birds as soon as the permanent plumage begins 

 to appear. The late Mr. Elijah Smith, who 

 wrote the notes on this variety for the first 

 edition of the Illustrated Book of Poultry, was 

 also very particular about the dusting material 

 which he supplied : he found some sand and 

 road-dust injure colour very much, and always 

 carefully selected a pure white sand or sifted 

 gravel, as was also done by a friend of ours 

 who bred these fowls successfully at Bristol. 



In regard to size, the White Cochin does not 

 fall far behind the other colours. By selecting 

 some big hens, with great wealth of feather, 

 there is no reason why Whites should not be 

 produced equal to the Buffs for size, while in 

 shape they are well up to the standard. Much 

 can be done by careful and regular feeding, 

 and anyone wanting size must be prepared for 

 early and late meals with the youngsters. To 

 obtain purity of colour it is essential that the 

 cock should be pure. Many successful breeders 

 have tried a black hen in with the white cock, 

 the idea being to get a dead white plumage ; 

 but the silvery feather so necessary will not 

 come the first year, but from the second or third 

 cross. The same result can be reached by stick- 

 ing to the whites, but all coloured birds must 

 be eliminated. 



Other points of colour should receive a word 

 or two. Orange or red eyes are greatly to be 

 preferred in Whites, the pearl eye appearing in 

 this variety to be even more prone to blindness 

 than in the others. It is also rather unusually 

 subject to a stain of white in ear-lobes, which 

 should be carefully avoided : very slight cases 

 may sometimes be cured by frequent friction, or 

 a stimulant to the surface as described on p. 213. 

 Bright yellow shanks should also receive atten- 

 tion, as pale shanks are apt in their turn to 

 breed white ones, and the next stage may be 

 that green tint which is fatal. Rich colour 

 in the beak should accompany that in the 

 shanks. 



Cuckoo Cochins have now and then been 

 shown, but have never met with favour. They 

 were no doubt produced by a mixture of dark 

 and white blood, which sooner or 

 Cuckoo later always produces this colour, 



Cochins. with a constant tendency to repro- 



duce the black, or white, or coloured 

 feathers which have been its components. To 

 get rid of these foul feathers requires much care 

 and skill in breeding, and the Cuckoo Cochin 

 has never had sufficient admirers to make the 

 attempt very successful In fact the colour does 

 not appear to suit the Cochin type very well, 

 and has now become so identified with the 

 Plymouth Rock. Were it ever to become popu- 

 lar, it would have to be bred in the same way 

 as the barred Plymouth Rock in regard to 

 colour, looking after Cochin points as usual. 

 Most of the few we have seen have been de- 

 ficient in these latter points, and unless the 

 true Cochin character is predominant, then the 

 colour must die a natural death. Though for 

 years past the Cuckoo has been dormant, a pair 

 was shown at one fixture during 1910, and 

 should they have really fine Cochin character, 

 they would probably win in the class for mixed 

 colours now so common at many shows. 



Cochins in America were in 1900 bred to a 

 perceptibly different type from that recognised 

 in England, and the difference and its history 

 are interesting. Up to about 1890 

 American American breeders had adhered 

 Cochins. strictly to the older fashion of 



English birds, vulture-hocks being 

 still rigorously disqualified, long after they had 

 been tolerated at British shows. But about 

 the year just mentioned, a pair of very heavily 

 feathered Buff cocks were sent over by 

 Mrs. Scriven to be exhibited at the New 

 York Show. These birds were disqualified for 

 their hocks, but were much admired for their 

 grand appearance, and purchased by American 

 breeders, others of the same type being also 

 imported in consequence of the impression 

 which these had made. These importations 

 woke up quite a new interest in Buff Cochins, 

 and for a couple of years there were separate 

 classes for both the ordinary American type, 

 and what were called the " full-feathered " 

 birds. This stage was however only ephemeral, 

 American breeders speedily setting themselves 

 down to the problem of producing the heavy 

 foot-feathering and full plumage generally, 

 without the quilled vulture-hocks which in 

 England have been the accompaniments of 

 these points. 



That they successfully solved this problem 



