142 



" There is a doubt which had better be removed from the very 

 threshold, usually conveyed in the question — ' Are Cochin-China 

 and Shanghae fowls the same ? ' We have always entertained the 

 opinion that they are ; and as we have invariably found that fowls 

 imported from China into this country, whether feathered-legged or 

 plain-legged, whether dark-plumaged or light-plumaged, came hither, 

 directly or indirectly, either from Shanghae or its vicinity, we have 

 long since concluded that ' Cochin-China ' is a name altogether 

 misapplied to this variety. This conclusion amounts to convi.ction 

 since we have received a letter from Mr. Robert Fortune, who has 

 passed so many years in various parts of China, in which he says — 

 * The man who first gave these fowls the name of Cochin-China has 

 much to answer for. I firmly believe that what are called Cochin- 

 Chinas and Shanghaes, are one and the same. One thing is cer- 

 tain, — the breed you have in this country as Cochin-China, are 

 plentiful about Shanghae. They were discovered there after the 

 war, and were frequently brought to this country, and taken to 

 India by captains of trading vessels. Was not this the date of 

 their introduction to England ? And what grounds has any one for 

 supposing the fowls ever saw Cochin-China ? We thought that this 

 variety might have been earlier known, owing to our long-established 

 commerce with Macao and Canton, but Mr. Fortune says that this 

 breed is but little known in those warmer parts of China, and that 

 in fact, the southern Chinese were as much struck with the size of 

 the breed as we were.' He adds, ' The Shanghae breed seems to 

 be more common about Shanghae, than anywhere else in the north, 

 but I have found it over all the low country of that part of China. 

 The southern breeds have been long well known to ship captains and 

 English residents ; but there is nothing very marked in their charac- 

 ter.' 



" We have already stated that we do not believe there are any 

 grounds for the belief that this variety ever saw Cochin-China ; and 

 we think, with Mr. Fortune, (for his question is indicative as well 

 as inquisitive) that they were introduced into this country soon after 

 the more northern parts of ' the Celestial Empire,' such as Shang- 

 hae, were thrown open to our traders, at the conclusion of the 

 Chinese war, in 184o. At the Poultry Show held at the Zoological 

 Gardens, in the May of 1845, there were prizes especially devoted 

 to ' Malays and other Asiatic breeds ; ' but these brought to the 



