OLD STRAINS OF BRAHMAS. 



263 



the Darks to the big fowls found around the port 

 of Chittagong ; and an old Indian officer now 

 dead, wrote us in 1872, "The fowl you make 

 so much fuss about is the Grey Chittagong, of 

 which I have seen hundreds in India," and we 

 have seen other letters in MS. and print making 

 similar statements. 



If in this light we turn over Burnham's many 

 contradictory assertions with a discriminating 

 eclecticism, we find one that seems significant. 

 He says, for instance [China Fowl, p. 97), that 

 " the Dark and the Light varieties both came 

 out of the Philadelphia greys, and the lighter 

 coloured grey birds I subsequently obtained." 

 There seems truth here as to the Darks, because 

 if it were made up, he would be more likely to 

 say that it was by a da^-kcr cross he got them. 

 We have seen that Dr Bennett had shown grey 

 birds cross-bred from Chittagongs at Fitchburg, 

 and that Burnham had done the same ; Hatch's 

 Cornish Light Brahmas beating both these in 

 popularity, and causing Dr. Bennett to drop his 

 entirely for the new stock. We have seen further, 

 that later on Burnham also purchased Cornish 

 Brahmas, from Smith of Rhode Island. We 

 have seen also that Hatch called his Cornish 

 birds " Chittagongs," because they " in some 

 degree resembled " the Indian fowls already 

 known by that name ; and we know that birds 

 from Luckipoor would pass Calcutta (from which 

 the ship probably cleared as a port), the very 

 same place from which Kerr's Chittagongs had 

 come. It seems probable that after Burnham, 

 had got some of his Cornish Brahmas, he once 

 more tried crossing lliein with his old Grey Chit- 

 tagongs, and in so doing produced the Dark 

 Brahma. If he did so, he was crossing strains 

 both hailing from the same general locality, 

 with more or less in general of the same Indian 

 blood, and which "in some degree resembled" 

 each other, as Cornish himself admits. In this 

 way we seem to best harmonise all that is 

 known, and as many as possible of even Burn- 

 ham's own statements, and we also account for 

 the undoubted common element in both breeds 

 and for the pea-comb, which probably came in 

 the first instance from the Indian bird now 

 known as the Aseel. It is some corroboration 

 of this conclusion that Mr. Teebay undoubtedly 

 received all his earlier Dark Brahmas also from 

 near Boston, which was the nearest large town 

 in Burnham's neighbourhood. 



Summing up the whole in brief, that the 

 Light Brahmas originated in the Cornish- 

 Chamberlain birds there is now absolutely no 

 doubt : the controversy brought forward an 

 absolute wealth of evidence to that effect. In 

 all the old disputes, Mr. Cornish alone comes out 



clear of suspicion, In all the others, Dr. Bennett, 

 and Plaisted, and some others, we find more or 

 less of questionable motive, and even of proceed- 

 ing ; Cornish alone never exhibited the fowls, and 

 as a respectable public official his evidence alone 

 outweighs the other, but has been triumphantly 

 corroborated. On the other hand, we think it 

 probable that the Dark Brahma was really 

 originated by Burnham, most likely by cross- 

 ing this strain with the darker grey Chittagong 

 already in America from the same original 

 locality, and the earlier crosses of which had 

 failed to make any impression, as bred by either 

 Burnham or Dr. Bennett. If more than prob- 

 ability is impossible for this conclusion, the 

 reason lies in the maze of absolute contra- 

 diction in which Burnham himself has involved 

 whatever did take place. 



In the United States there appears to have 

 been somewhat more variety in strains of 

 Light Brahmas than in England, where all 

 have been practically derived 

 American from the stock sent - over by 



Strains. Yix. Bennett or Mr. Burnham; 



the latter being, as shown above, 

 practically identical so far as those sent to the 

 Queen were concerned. Mr. Felch * traces 

 various strains as follows : (i) Burnham's, 

 later known as Phillips', and later still as the 

 foundation of the stock of Mr. E. C. Comey 

 and Mr. Philander Williams ; but as Mr. 

 Phillips always affirmed this stock to be the 

 same as " the Queen's," this must now be 

 referred really to the Cornish or Chamberlain 

 strain. (2) Rankin's strain, affirmed to be 

 from a fresh Indian importation ; quite probably 

 correct, as this strain was marked by a peculiar 

 blue vein down the inside of the shanks, which 

 it strongly transmitted, and which distinguished 

 it from all others. (3) The Philadelphia or 

 Tees strain, said to be the produce of Indian 

 birds with Dr. Kerr's birds ; the latter formerly 

 regarded by Felch as Chinese, after Burnham, 

 but which have been shown above to be also 

 Indian on Dr. Kerr's own authority. (4) The 

 strain from "Autocrat," bought in New York 

 as imported from India ; which is probable, as 

 he also stamped on all his progeny a special 

 tendency to dark under-colour ; he was used by 

 Mr. Felch and Mr. Williams, and his blood is 

 highly valued. (5) The Chamberlain strain, 

 believed now to be purest in Mr. Felch's, with 

 the cross of " Autocrat " just mentioned. It will 

 be observed that we have here more or less 

 evidence of three fresh independent importa- 

 tions, all from India ; and that when we correct 

 Burnham's old statement about Dr. Kerr's birds 



* See Poultry Culture: Chicago, U.S. 



