CHAPTER XI. 



COCHINS. LANGSHANS. 



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

 imported into this country about the year 1847, those so- 

 called exhibited by Her Majesty in 1843 having been not 

 only destitute 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 remembered 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, prolificacy, and the 

 ease with which they could be kept in confinement, 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 re- 

 peatedly paid for a single cock, and was not at all an 

 uncommon price for a pen of really fine birds ; and 

 although these prices have been equalled recently by other 

 breeds, it must be remembered that in those early days 

 there was not nearly the same number of poultry shows to 

 win prizes at, which now adds to the money value. Men 

 became almost mad for Cochins, 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 better 

 morals than even Dr. Watts' hymns for the children, who. 



