THE COCHIN CHINA FOWL. 151 



not invariably. In answer to my letter, he says, " In reply to 

 yours of the 28th ult., you may take it for granted that the 

 stories respecting the Cochin China Fowls, that they have a 

 black horse-shoe mark across the breast, that the feathers of 

 the back of the neck are reversed, that the last joint of the 

 wing is contrived so as to be folded up, etc. etc., are apocryphal. 

 I have little doubt that your first named variety, (the variety 

 weighing from fifteen to sixteen pounds per pair,) l almost 

 smooth-legged, (the Cock some shade of yellow or red, the Hen 

 some shade of bay/) are the same as the Queen's Cochin 

 Chinas, especially if the Coks have a large, single, upright, 

 deeply indented comb, (which they have.) It is probable that 

 both your first varieties have been imported into this country, 

 and been crossed with each other, so causing a little difficulty 

 about their distinctiveness." He says, in the same letter, 

 (( it is impossible to learn the native place of the Queen's 

 Fowls." 



Of the smaller of the two varieties, which Mr. Dixon thinks 

 are identical with the Queen's Fowl, Mr. C. S. Sampson, of 

 Boston, got a beautiful pair of me, last spring, for which, I under- 

 stood him to say, he was offered twenty -five dollars, a few days 

 after he received them. The Cock weighed about nine pounds, 

 perhaps a little more, and the Pullet nearly six pounds. 

 They were the most perfect in model of any bird of the kind 

 I had ever, seen. Of the larger variety, Mr. Devereux of Bos- 

 ton, has a pair : the Cock is a noble fellow, indeed. Mr. H. 

 Lawrence, of Mobile, also obtained some of me, with which he 

 expressed himself as well pleased. So also Mr. Taggart, of 

 Northumberland, Pa., ; Mr. Hugh Wilson, of South Carolina; 

 Mr. Evans, of Baltimore ; Mr. Knorr, of West Philadelphia ; 

 Rev. Mr. Goddard, and Messrs. Remington, and E. R. Cope, of 

 Philadelphia ; besides many others whose names I cannot now 

 recall ; and all of whom, so far as I know, are perfectly 

 fied with them. 



