SHANGHAE FOWLS. 49 



The sketch of chicle* is intended to represent a pair, bred from 

 my old fowls. They are now eight months old, and weigh seven- 

 teen pounds. They resemble very much the original stock. The 

 crower is of a deep-red hue, very tall and heavily built, and is a 

 promising bird. The pullet, his mate, is of a buff-color, and now 

 weighs eight pounds. (No means have been used to fatten these 

 chicks.) She is, of all my Shanghaes, the favorite. I think her body 

 is somewhat longer than drawn in the sketch, but you may form a very 

 good idea of her shape therefrom. She has a perfect serpent-head, 

 and very heavy, flesh-colored legs, thickly feathered, down to the toes ; 

 her wings are small, and her frame extremely broad. I do not remem- 

 ber to have met, even in the yards of the celebrated fanciers of Bos- 

 ton and vicinity, (that notorious chicken district,) a chick or old fowl 

 that seemed to me to comply more fully with all of the distinguishing 

 peculiarities claimed for the pure Shanghae. At the fair of our County 

 Agricultural Society, held at Flushing, in October last, no fowl was 

 admired more than this pullet. Many amateurs and breeders pro- 

 nounced her superior to anything of the kind that they had ever seen. 

 I have had numerous proposals, but incline to keep her, and hope to 

 have " more of the same sort." I do not suppose that she surpasses 

 everything in the country, but would only intimate that I have never 

 had her equal, of similar age, etc. Perhaps my excessive admiration 

 has Jed me to eulogise too highly " my pet." Could you see her 

 though, I think that you would fully agree with me in praising her. 



So much towards describing the "pictures." You want my opinion 

 of Shanghaes generally. At any rate, I will speak of no other species 

 now. They are my first choice, and, of course, get my first notice. I 

 have chosen, as specimens of my stock, the birds sketched, believing 

 that they display the genuine traits of the breed. There are many 

 cocks strutting about my yard, whose voices have oft welcomed the 

 dawn of the oriental sun, and many hens too, natives of the Celestial 

 Empire no w cackle daily round my barn. But I consider their Amer- 

 ican offspring, better birds. And why should they not be? The 

 anxiety endured by their parents, in being torn away from their 

 homes and friends in the days of their youth, (as they had generally 

 been,) with the hardships and fatigue of six months in a small coop, 

 on the " rolling ocean," is sufficient to render them imperfect in their 

 developments ; for while sea voyages may greatly benefit the mem- 

 bers of the human family, I doubt exceedingly their material improve- 

 ment to the feathered race. Chickens are by nature land lubbers, and 

 the sea is anything but agreeable to their health and condition. 



I have been familiar with, and have owned poultry of almost every 

 known variety, and from personal experience, now fel ready, as I have 

 before intimated, to give the Shanghaes the pa.lm, considering them tru- 

 ly the ne plus ultra of chickendom. No fowl is better adapted to the 

 farmers' wants, none can be more easily reared, and none are less'dis- 

 posed to injure or destroy his property, nor is any more productive or 

 hardy. I think that they excel even the Black Polands in laying. 

 Last winter, during the unusually severe weather, when all others had 

 ceased laying, my Shanghae hens were daily obliging me with their 

 rich eggs, (all of a deep cinnamon-color.) I have no stories to tell of 

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