CHANGES IN LANGSHAN TYPE. 



283 



and appropriated the type, only with clean 

 legs, for his so-called Orpingtons. After that 

 Langshan breeders were compelled to breed 

 away from the Orpington, as well as from 

 the Cochin, and it was inevitable that points 

 as opposite as possible to both breeds should 

 be more and more encouraged, and the result 

 is the Langshan of to-day. 



We still think that the more Dorking-like 

 type of bird was a better model, from at least 

 the utility point of view. It carried more meat, 

 and was not subject to leg weakness, as all 

 long-limbed breeds are ; when tight-feathered it 

 was as good a layer ; and it presented a better 

 appearance on the table than the long-limbed 

 birds now bred.* But the change became 

 inevitable under the circumstances ; and the 

 merits of the modern Langshan are 

 "^^ great enough. Its white skin and 



Lirngshan. meat, its hardiness, its fine laying 

 capacities (which have become more 

 uniform since tight feather was made a sine qua 

 non) and its noble appearance, are all in its 

 favour. It has been alleged to be crossed with 

 the Indian Game, and we should not like tu 

 pronounce absolutely on that question : our 

 own impression is that some specimens may 

 have been, while others probably are not. We 

 have seen in a few examples a narrowness and 

 hardness of feather not seen in others, which is 

 suspicious ; and in such a bird we once noticed 

 several feathers with a kind of lacing of 

 distinctly superior iridescence. Such a fact is 

 very significant in regard to such specimens ; 

 but others we have carefully examined betrayed 

 no such signs, and their points embody nothing 

 beyond what steady breeding could effect in a 

 race of such compound and therefore plastic 

 nature, and which would respond so readily, 

 as the Brahma also did, to selection by man 

 of one or other of its contending types. 



That the Langshan is such a breed must be 

 obvious. That there is ample Shanghae element 

 in it, is on the very surface ; we have seen that 

 the very people who so furiously denied it, did 

 not scruple to brand as " Cochins " the uncrossed 

 produce of their own birds. But there is in the 

 bird at least one other element, and perhaps 

 more — some strain of dark blood, of a very 

 peculiar stamp, seen in the rich brown eye, the 

 tendency to purplish face, and the peculiar 

 crimson tinge between the toes. The latter 

 colour was the first characteristic point we were 



• Writing in 1911. when these pages were submitted to him, 

 Mr. Harry Wallis, of Warley, Essex.'says : "As regards this point. 

 I find my birds are better breasted than when they were shorter on 

 the leg." The utility qualities of the type are also upheld by other 

 breeders. 



able to observe ; but curiously enough, when we 

 pointed it out as really sui generis, this was 

 denied, and it was said to be merely due to 

 " thin skin " ; the utter incapacity of early 

 Langshan advocates to see what there really 

 was in the fowl, is one of the strangest things 

 about the whole business. The nearest other 

 exponent of this peculiar, dark, and sprightly 

 element, comparatively pure, seems to be the 

 Black Java of America,* which has the same dark 

 eye and alert disposition ; but it does not follow 

 and is not meant that the present Java was 

 the real progenitor, or that there has been 

 any recent cross. The probability is rather that 

 some dark-blooded race from which the Java 

 also is descended, long ago amalgamated with 

 the Shanghae. During late years the Chinese 

 appear to have bred for black colour alone, 

 which would lead to great variety in other 

 points, such as combs, leg-feather, top-knot, etc., 

 and the various components would come out 

 under selection, exactly as in the case of the 

 Brahma already discussed. 



We come now to the Langshan as it is, and 

 its breeding. The following remarks have been 

 kindly supplied by the Rev. A. C. Davies, of 

 Antingham Rectory, North Walsham, Norfolk, 

 one of the oldest breeders, and are very interest- 

 ing historically, as well as for the details they 

 convey, though we do not think, as above 

 intimated, that some at least of the discarded 

 type could be justly described as either Cochiny 

 or loose in feather. 



" Having been a breeder of the Langshan 

 for upwards of twenty years, it has fallen to 

 my lot to see the change in type from the 

 looser feathered bird to that of the tighter 

 and closer feathered one of the present day. 

 Many fanciers were not satisfied about the year 

 1884 with the bird then winning in the show 

 pen, some saying that the true Langshan was 

 or should be a bird of tighter feather and 

 more alert in appearance and general bearing, 

 in contrast to the then "Cochiny" type seen 

 at the exhibitions. The idea took hold 

 quickly, breeders evidently thinking that a 

 bird of this class would become more 

 popular, and prove more useful so far as the 

 economic properties of the breed were concerned. 

 However, it was not until the Palace Show of 



* Miss Croad maintains that the Langshan made the Java, 

 adding that we do not " seem to be aware " that the Java is a 

 "made" breed, as she learns from various American papers. 

 We prefer more original information than recent American 

 papers, and the Java is mentioned in Dr. Bennett's Poultry 

 Book of 1851 as then known in America, from direct importa- 

 tions, some of them being occasionally called Malays. The 

 Java always bred truer to type than the early Langshans ever 

 did until breeders who really knew what type means had pro- 

 duced some uniformity in them. 



