279 



CHAPTER XVII. 



LANGSHANS. 



IT seems more than probable that birds very- 

 similar to Langshans had been imported as 

 Black Cochins in the early days of those 

 fowls ; but the fowls now known under this 

 name were first received in 1872 by the late 

 Major Croad from the district whose name they 

 bear, and exhibited in the Variety Class at the 

 Crystal Palace show the same year, where they 

 received a V.H.C. card. Reporters and judges, 

 without exception, wrote of and described them 

 as Black Cochins ; that was the impression the 

 birds themselves then made upon everyone who 

 saw them ; but the question of their distinctness 

 from that breed, and what they really were, 

 gave rise to a controversy which for rancour 

 and almost ferocity on one side has had no 

 parallel in poultry history. Now that it can 

 be seen how much real distinctiveness there 

 really is in the Langshan, and that its advocates 

 had some truth on their side, it is impossible 

 not to regret more than ever that such a spirit 

 should not only have retarded the object they 

 desired, but also, in the end, given to the fowl a 

 type which its early advocates dislike and con- 

 demn, but which has come about as a natural 

 consequence of the line of conduct pursued. 



It may seem strange to breeders who look 



at Langshans of to-day, or at the illustration to 



this chapter by Mr. Ludlow, that the fowl should 



ever have been confounded with the 



V^? . , Cochin. Such birds, indeed, never 



Original , , , , ', , ' 



Langshans. would have been so ; but the fact is 

 that birds like these were never then 

 seen. What the Langshan was in the early 

 days is shown by the accompanying illustration 

 (kindly supplied by Mr. Gedney), which was pub- 

 lished as the frontispiece to two editions of T/te 

 Lmigshan Fowl* and which can be compared 

 with the drawing of early Cochins on page 243. 

 It was inevitable that when such birds were 

 seen in the show-pen they should be classed as 

 Cochins. All the judges — including Messrs. 



* In the last edition Miss Croad writes : " The birds pour- 

 trayed by Mr. Gedney were faithful likenesses of a type that 

 does appear, but not our favourite." The former editions stated : 

 ** The accompanying illustration conveys a very accurate idea 

 of the style and carriage." From personal recollection, we can 

 vouch for its entire correctness, some of Miss Croad's own birds 

 being even more heavily feathered, and slightly vulture-hocked. 



Hewitt, and Teebay, and Leno, and Dixon, and 

 Tegetmeier, and Nicholls — considered them 

 such ; all the reporters of all the poultry journals 

 formed the same impression : we ourselves 

 shared it to the fullest extent. The only real 

 difference to be observed was the pure black 

 colour of the shanks ; and on this point it was 

 remembered that Black Cochins also had been 

 long ago reported* as coming with black legs, 

 and that the yellow shank, though striven for, 

 had always been a difficulty, as it is with Black 

 Leghorns to-day. Black Cochin breeders, at all 

 events, gladly resorted to the new blood, which 

 blended with the old in the kindliest way, and 

 speedily worked a most marvellous improve- 

 ment in that breed, which has continued to the 

 present time. 



In spite of all this, we now know that the 

 Langshan really possessed a very distinctive 

 extra-Cochin element indeed, though amalga- 

 mated with Shanghae blood, as such 



J"^* . had been in the Brahma, and as sus- 



Langshan . . ' 



Controversy, ceptible as m that breed, of more or 

 less development by wise or unwise 

 selection. It was their intuitive experimental 

 knowledge of this real distinctiveness, that 

 caused so much feeling amongst early Langshan 

 breeders ; but there was no excuse for the way 

 in which that feeling found expression, even 

 though it may have had one good result in 

 preventing the absorption amongst Cochins of 

 a fowl which had better and distinctive qualities 

 of its own. What ought to have been done was 

 to select and exhibit the most distinctive type, 

 and thus to show wherein the difference existed ; 

 but here Langshan breeders gave no help. 

 Birds were shown of the most opposite types — 

 some quite fair Black Cochins, with ample leg- 

 feather and vulture hocks ; others almost as tall 

 and bare-legged as a Malay. It was admitted 

 that some were bare-legged ; that some had 

 crests, and some rose-combs ; some black, and 

 some brown eyes ; but fanciers were asked to 

 believe that as such variations were found " in 

 our imported stock," they were " accidents and 

 non-essentials," and did not prevent the fowl 

 being " one of the purest, if not the purest breed 



* Cottage Gardiner, 1850. 



