2.s8 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



but a greater tendency to become lighter, and yet not 

 white like the White Dorking. All breeds of fowls 

 having dark and light feathers can be varied either 

 way, to darker or lighter, by choosing always the 

 darkest or the lightest for breeders. If your stock of 

 Brahmas are pure, and they are allowed to breed 

 together promiscuously, the variation in colour will be 

 slight. I never bred to either extreme. 



Yours truly, VIRGIL CORNISH. 



The most important point in relation to this 

 testimony is, of course, the position and trust- 

 worthiness of Mr. Cornish ; concerning which 

 we will quote part of another letter from him 

 to ourselves, dated April I2th, 1870, but we 

 ought to add that we carefully verified its 

 statements from independent sources : — 



As my name has appeared in this country and in 

 England in connection with the history of the Brahmas, 

 I beg you to allow me a word for myself. 



My letters to Dr. Bennett and others, from which you 

 make extracts, were called for, written, and published 

 at an early day, when the parties who brought them 

 (the Brahmas) from India to New York, and from 

 thence to Hartford, Connecticut, were living and to be 

 sent by all men. They were often seen and inquired of 

 by parties interested, and their statements were never 

 discredited, nor doubted by anyone except Mr. 

 Burnham, and by him only by falsely stating that he 

 originated them in his own yard. 



At the time the original pair of Brahmas were brought 

 to Hartford, Connecticut, I was an officer at the Retreat 

 for the Insane in that city; having in charge all the 

 business of that Institution, except that which belonged 

 strictly to the medical department. I had purchased a 

 farm of fifty acres for the institution, and thereon fitted 

 up a large yard for the accommodation of rare animals, 

 flowers, and birds ; and had placed in them more than 

 sixty distinct breeds (of fowls and other animals), in 

 which I took much interest and pleasure. This I had 

 done for the amusement of our convalescent patients. I 

 had no pecuniary interest in bringing out the Brahma 

 fowls, but saw at once that they were a distinct breed, 

 and worthy of a high place. 



As far as any record has been preserved, 

 these birds were first shown at Fitchburg, Con- 

 necticut, in 1850, under the name of Grey Chit- 

 tagongs, by Mr. Hatch, who had purchased stock 

 of Cornish ; Dr. Bennett, at the same time, 

 exhibiting some cross-bred birds from Chitta- 

 gongs, which he called Burram-pooters. He 

 liked Mr. Hatch's birds so much better than his 

 own crosses, that he dropped the latter, bought 

 birds from both Mr. Hatch and Mr. Cornish 

 direct, and thenceforth "boomed " the new stock 

 for all he was worth under the name of Brahma- 

 Pootras, speedily contracted to Brahmas. All 

 the early exhibitors belonged to Connecticut, 

 which, of itself, corroborates their direct testi- 

 mony that this State was the head-quarters and 

 centre of the new breed, and that all were from 

 Mr. Cornish's stock. 



Against this uniformly consistent testimony 

 there never was any protest except that of the 



most notorious charlatan ever known in the 

 American poultry world, who did not receive 

 any credence amongst respectable authorities 

 until Mr. Tegetmeier, in his Poultry Book, 

 rashly endorsed him as follows : — 



Those who maintain this theory say they originally 

 came from Luckipoor, a port on the Brahma-Pootra 

 river, but they have forgotten alike the name of the 

 ship, that of the captain, and also that of the sailor who 

 brought them over. It is also acknowledged that they 

 were first exhibited in Boston under the name of Grey 

 Chittagongs in 1850. There is not a particle of evidence 

 to show that they came from India.* ... In fact, 

 Brahmas originated not in India but in America, and 

 the two varieties of the breed now known as Dark 

 and Light Brahmas, had unquestionably very distinct 

 origins. 



The light Brahmas undoubtedly originated in or were 

 identical with, those grey birds that from the very first 

 importation came over from Shanghae with the buff 

 and partridge birds now universally known as Cochins. 

 But public attention was first called to them in con- 

 sequence of an acute American fancier, Mr. George 

 Burnham, presenting a consignment to her Majesty. 

 ... Of the origin of these birds it will be best to let 

 Mr. Burnham tell his own tale. In his amusing and 

 unscrupulous work, entitled, A History of the Hen Fever, 

 published at Boston in 1S55, he says: "An ambitious 

 sea captain arrived at New York from Shanghae, bring- 

 ing with him about a hundred [!] China fowls of all 

 colours, grades, and proportions. Out of this lot I 

 selected a few grey birds that were very large, and con- 

 sequently very fine. I bred these with other grey stock 

 I had, at once, and soon had a fine lot of birds to dis- 

 pose of, to which I gave what I have always deemed 

 their only true and appropriate title (as they came from 

 Shanghae) to wit. Grey Shanghaes. In 1851 and '52 

 I had a most excellent run of luck with these birds. I 

 distributed them all over the country, and obtained very 

 fair prices for them; and finally the idea occurred to 

 me that a present of a few of the choicest of these birds 

 to the Queen of England wouldn't prove a bad advertise- 

 ment for me in this line." 



. . . The origin of the Light birds has already been 

 given. Of the Dark breeds, Mr. Burnham states that 

 they were grey Chittagongs crossed with Cochins. " Of 

 this," he says, "no one now entertains a doubt: they 

 were the identical fowls all over — size, plumage, and 

 characteristics." 



Unfortunately the late Mr. Charles Darwin, 

 who in one or two other cases also has somewhat 

 too rashly adopted statements from the same 

 quarter, received without doubt or question Mr. 

 Tegetmeier's view of this case, and wrote f that 

 " Dark Brahmas, which are believed by some 

 fanciers to constitute a distinct breed, were 

 undoubtedly formed in the United States 

 within a recent period by a cross between 

 Chittagongs and Cochins." Such scientific 

 endorsement of the mere unscrupulous self- 

 advertisement of a foreign poultry dealer 

 necessitated correction, and in the very first 

 edition of the Illustrated Book of Poultry, 



* Mr. Tegetmeier seems not to have noticed that even 

 Chittagong also is an Indian name. 



+ Variaiion oj Animals and Plants under Domesiication. 



