Cochin- Chinas* 93 



CHAPTER X. 



COCHIN-CHINAS, OR SIIANGHAES. 



LIKE many other fowls these possess a name which is 

 incorrectly applied, for they came from Shanghae, not 

 Cochin-China, where they were comparatively unknown. 

 Mr. Fortune, who, from his travels in China, is well 

 qualified to give an opinion, states that they are a Chinese 

 breed, kept in great numbers at Shanghae ; the real 

 Cochin-China breed being small and elegantly shaped. 

 But all attempts to give them the name of the port from 

 which they were brought have failed, and the majority of 

 breeders persist in calling them Cochins. In the United 

 States both names are used, the feather-legged being called 

 Shanghaes, and the clean-legged Cochins. 



The first Shanghae fowls brought to this country were 

 sent from India to Her Majesty, which gave them great 

 importance ; and the eggs having been freely distributed 

 by the kindness of the Queen and the Prince Consort, the 

 breed was soon widely spread. They were first introduced 

 into this country when the northern ports of China, 

 including Shanghae, were thrown open to European 

 vessels on the conclusion of the Chinese war in 1843 ; but 

 some assign the date of their introduction from 1844 to 

 1847, and say that those called Cochins, exhibited by the 

 Queen in 1843, were not the true breed, having been not 

 only entirely without feathers on the shanks, but also alto- 

 gether different in form and general characteristics. A pair 

 which were sent by Her Majesty for exhibition at the 

 Dublin Cattle Show in April, 184(5, created such a sensa- 

 tion from their great size and immense weight, and the full, 

 loud, deep-pitched crowing of the cock, that almost every 

 one seemed desirous to possess some of the breed, and 

 enormous prices were given for the eggs and chickens. 



