cocfliK rowiiS.] 



POULTET. 



[COCHITT FOWLS.' 



December, was sold at what might well be con- 

 sidered fabulous prices. For a cock, £8 5s. 

 was given; and for a hen, £5. The entire 

 sale realised £100. At a sale bj auction of 

 Cochin-China fowls, in Kiug-street, Covent 

 Garden, and at another in Deptford, light 

 buff-coloured specimens fetched the highest 

 prices. A pair of chickens, hatched March 

 6th, the pullet being " fine and light," fetched 

 £3 17^.; "a light-coloured cock," hatched in 

 the same month, was sold for £2 ; " a beautiful 

 light-coloured imported hen, 1851," for six 

 guineas ; and another light-coloured hen, and 

 a light-coloured cock, both hatched in 1851, 

 sold for £5 each. Inferior specimens averaged 

 about 105. a head. The Deptford specimens 

 were much too leggy to fetch very high prices. 

 One lot, a light cockerel and pullet, was sold 

 for £3 55. " But what is still more extraor- 

 dinary," says Mr. Eichardson, " we are assured 

 that a gentleman, well known as a breeder 

 near London, lately sold a pair of fowls for 

 thirty guineas, and another for thirty-two 

 guineas. The same person has been offered 

 £20 for a single hen ; and has sold numerous 

 eggs at one guinea each. He has also been 

 paid down, twelve guineas the half-dozen for 

 chickens just hatched, to be delivered at a 

 month old. Nay, we are credibly informed 

 that as much as £60 per pair has been given 

 for the pure breed. The collection of Cochin- 

 China fowls formed by Mr. Andrews, of Dor- 

 chester, was sold by him to Mr. Catliu, 

 for £250." 



The exhibition of the first white Cochin- 

 Cliiuas, in this country, was at Birmingham, in 

 1850 ; and Mr. E. Herbert, of Powick, Wor- 

 cestershire, was the exhibitor. He had them 

 from the Dean of Worcester, who received 

 them directly from the importer. A price of 

 £5 was placed upon the pair, which was in- 

 tended to bo prohibitory ; but tliey were, not- 

 withstanding, immediatel/ bought; and the 

 buyer was at once offered £7 for them, which 

 he refused. At a subsequent Birmingham 

 show, tho same birds were sold for £10 ; and 

 the prices of tho variety have since risen con- 

 siderably. 



The first birds of this breed were brought 

 to the Queen's aviary, and called the " Cochin- 

 China," from their being imported from tluit 

 country. The breed is also called " Shanghae," 

 824 



from specimens having been early introduced 

 by Mr. S. Moody, of Manchester, from that city. 

 The terms Cochin-China and Shanghae are, 

 therefore, used synonymously. Cochin-China 

 is a country about one-third larger than the 

 British Isles, and ranges from about 9° to 23^ 

 north latitude ; while Shanghae is one of the 

 most northerly ports with which we trade in 

 the Chinese dominions, being situated in a 

 much higher latitude than Cochin-China. It 

 is quite possible that birds of this kind may 

 have been imported from both parts of China, 

 and have originally sprung from the same 

 stock ; or, if difterent varieties exist, there is 

 certainly some difficulty in discriminating. As 

 commercial intercourse has long been estab- 

 lished between the Chinese and the Cochin- 

 Chinese, either country may have imported them 

 from the other. At Shanghae they are known 

 by the term Loo-Choos — the name of a group 

 of islands lying ofi" the channel coast. It is 

 also well known, that birds of large size, with 

 feathered legs, and having all the principal 

 features of these birds, have been imported 

 to Adelaide, in Australia, from Singapore. Some 

 years ago, they were in the very southern part 

 of the Malay peninsula. 



From these circumstances, we may reason- 

 ably infer that the breed has, for some years, 

 been pretty generally distributed over the 

 eastern coast of Asia, and that to establish the 

 precise place of its origin, would be a matter 

 of considerable difiiculty. This fact will, to 

 some extent, account for the many spurious 

 specimens, or impure-bred birds, which have 

 been brought to Britain from the southern 

 ports of China, as this is the district of the 

 Malay variety of which we shall by-and-by 

 speak. The birds, therefore, from Shanghae, 

 are, perhaps, of the purest blood. At all events, 

 to separate them into two classes is decidedly 

 a mistake, as no sufficient marks exist to estab- 

 lish a Cochin-China as a distinct bird from a 

 Shanghae. 



The author of the F oultry- Keeper^ s Calen- 

 dar, furnishes us with the following interest- 

 ing remarks : — " There are, doubtless, many 

 handsome and profitable kinds of poultry, in 

 difterent parts of the world, which are unknown 

 and unnoticed in England. In Eussia, there 

 are some which are so much valued there, that 

 it is almost impossible for strangers to obtain 



