SHANGHAE FOWL. 141 



will soon reduce her brood by the blows given in scratching. 

 The Chicks are knocked right and left, and those few which 

 may survive the confinement are destroyed by dew and rain, 

 lost in the grass, or, becoming tired, are left by their dam, 

 who, in the exuberance of her delight at her escape from 

 confinement, forgetting that her Chicks are not as strong as she 

 is, goes on her way rejoicing, till, finding a fat worm or grub, 

 she seizes it, and while seeking for her little ones, her attention 

 is attracted by some fat grass-hopper, and away she darts in 

 pursuit. Becoming somewhat fatigued herself, she calls her 

 Chicks to be brooded, and finding herself alone, she is alarmed, 

 and rushes to find her Chickens, and by her loud cries drown- 

 ing the feeble chirpings of her little ones, she finally returns to 

 her coop alone. It would have been better to have eaten the 

 Eggs than to have trusted them to such a Hen. Would it 

 not ? I have many a time thought so. 



Having, as I before stated, met with many vexatious losses, 

 I, as you must readily conceive, do most highly prize the 

 White Shanghae Fowls for their quiet dispositions. These 

 Fowls are not sluggish or stupid ; on the contrary, they are in- 

 telligent and confiding. To persons who have the " everlasting 

 layers," the Black Spanish, for instance, a breed that never 

 shows the slightest desire to incubate, the White Shanghaes 

 are invaluable for the purpose of rearing Chickens. 



The Fowls of which the artist made the drawing from 

 which the portraits are engraved, were imported from Shang- 

 hae, and were there purchased as a pure race, and were war- 

 ranted as such. I received them directly from the ship, 

 and as evidence of the purity of blood, I mention that every 

 Egg that has been laid has incubated, and every Chick that 

 has been hatched, has been uniformly white, and there has not 

 been the slightest variation in form or plumage. 



These Fowls will rank among the largest coming from China, 

 and, as a proof that they thrive well in this climate, I will in- 



