70 AMERICAN POl'LTRY ASSOCIATION 



tofore presented, and in all his subsequent accounts, that he 

 purchased of Spaulding, which should mean of Spaulding direct. 

 We have no printed or written statement to the contrary as far 

 as the author is aware. 



The only incident known to the writer that seems to indicate 

 that Mr. Ramsdell did breed Plymouth Rocks before Upham 

 happened on the occasion of a visit by the writer to a poultry 

 show in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he found the exhibit- 

 ors present in a mild state of excitement over a visit of an old 

 minister who came to this show and was introduced by Mr. 

 Upham as the first breeder of Plymouth Rocks. These exhibitors 

 all expressed their regrets that I should not have been there the 

 day before, so as to meet the clergyman so distinguished. No 

 name was given, but later inquiry elicited the fact that it could 

 hardly have been other than the Rev. H. S. Ramsdell. The exact 

 date of this show cannot be given, but it must have been in. the 

 early eighties or about fifteen years after the Plymouth Rocks 

 for the first time made their public appearance in the same place. 



Black Cochins in England. As to the existence and supply 

 of Black Cochins in England, we shall have to rely upon the 

 English poultry literature of that period and for some time 

 before : 



Martin Doyle in 1857 writes of Black Cochins as being rare 

 and of an instance of two black sports from a pair of light Buffs. 

 This states definitely that Black Cochins were not unknown six 

 or eight years before it is claimed they were originally used as 

 a foundation for the new Plymouth Rocks. 



Richardson's book, "Domestic Fowl and Ornamental Poul- 

 try," gives some interesting points regarding the China fowls. 

 On page 70 we find the statement that : "The terms Cochin China 

 and Shanghae may be used synonomously." On page 72 : "To 

 divide them (Cochin China and Shanghae) into classes is decid- 

 edly a mistake, as no sufficient marks exist to establish them as 

 distinct varieties." On page 74, Richardson quotes Mr. Trotter's 

 prize essay of the Royal Agricultural Society in 1851 as follows: 

 "The most esteemed color of these fowls is ginger ; but as there 

 are pure bred birds of almost all colors, including black and 

 white, I am in favor of selecting them as much by their shapes 

 as by their color. 



"Shape, size, gait and weight may be assured as permanent 

 characteristics not so, feathers. Not only do white and black 

 Bantams, Cuckoo Dorkings and game fowls sport in feathers, 



