THE DIFFERENT BREEDS OF POULTRY. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



COCHINS. LANGSflANS. 



THE Cochin breed, as now known, appears to have been im- 

 ported into this country about the year 1847, those so-called 

 exhibited by Her Majesty in 1843 having been not only desti- 

 tute of feathers on the shanks, but entirely different in form and 

 general character. No other breed of poultry has ever attracted 

 equal attention, or maintained such high prices for such a 

 length of time ; and the celebrated " poultry mania," which 

 was mainly caused by its introduction, will always be re- 

 membered as one of the most remarkable phenomena of modern 

 times. To account in some measure for this, it should be 

 remembered that no similar fowls had ever been known in 

 Europe ; and when, therefore, Cochins were first exhibited, it 

 was natural that their gigantic size, gentle disposition, pro- 

 lificacy, and the ease with which they could be kept in con- 

 finement, should rapidly make them favourites with the public. 

 But the extent to which the passion for them would grow no 

 one certainly could have foreseen. A hundred guineas was 

 repeatedly paid for a single cock, and was not at all an uncom- 

 mon price for a pen of really fine birds ; and although these 

 prices have been equalled quite recently by other breeds, it 

 must be remembered that in those early days there w r as not 

 nearly the same number of poultry shows to win prizes at, 

 which now adds to the actual money value. Men became 

 almost mad for Cochins, and spent small fortunes in procuring 

 them ; and all England, from north to south, seemed given over 

 to a universal "hen fever," as it was humorously termed. Their 

 advocates would have it that the birds had no faults. They 

 were to furnish eggs for breakfast, fowls for the table, and 



