POULTRY. 383 



taken to India by captains of trading vessels. Was not tins the 

 date of their introduction into 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 Can- 

 ton, 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 cap- 

 tains and English residents ; but there is nothing very marked 

 in their character.' 



" 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 Shanghae, were thrown open to our 

 traders, at the conclusion of the Chinese war, in 1843. 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 exhibition no 

 other oriental variety than the Malays. In fact, we never met 

 with any published notice of the Shanghae fowls until 1846, 

 and we shall be near the truth if we assign 1845 as the year 

 they were first imported. It was in that year that Her Maj- 

 esty received specimens of them which she exhibited at the 

 Show of the Royal Dublin Agricultural Society, in the April of 

 1846." 



The conclusion respecting the date of the introduction of the 

 Queen's fowls, as expressed in the above paragraph, is errone- 

 ous. In the autumn of 1843, the London Ti7nes noticed them 

 as being then in " Her Majesty's aviary at Windsor." It was 

 stated that there were " seven Cochin-China fowls, five hens 

 and two cocks imported direct from Asia." That they came 

 from " Asia," there is no doubt, but the propriety of calling 

 them " Cochin-China fowls," does not appear. The Times 



