108 



THE AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



outlines of the outer rind of a horse-chestnut. 

 The eye should be red and full, for beauty and 

 for use ; it gives a nice brisk look to a sufficiently 

 quiet bird, harmonizes better with the general 

 color, denotes more constitution, and is less lia- 

 ble to disease. The neck can not be too short, 

 nor the body too long, deep, and broad ; nor the 

 shank and tail too short. The true carriage of 

 the body both in the cock and hen, should be 

 drooping forward, and with the hinder parts con- 

 sequently raised. A great depth from the base 

 of the neck above, to the point of the breast- 

 bone with its weight of flesh, tends to produce 

 this form, and to show to advantage the fluff 

 and feathers peculiar to the Shanghai. The 

 length of the breast-bone is to be desired and 

 looked to. With this form all will appreciate 

 the neat head, short neck, and broadness of the 

 back, continued from across the wings to the 

 tail ; and that redundant supply of feathers im- 

 mediately before the tail, that gives the broad 

 square look that distinguishes the high-caste 

 birds, and which makes their tails apparently so 

 short. The small compact wing will accompany 

 these qualities, and with that a peculiar bunch 

 of feathers. On the back, before the tail, will 

 be found a profusion of feathers, and that fluff- 

 ness about the thighs and about and under the 

 tail and the hinder lower parts of the body, that 

 forms with the feathered legs one of the chief 

 characteristics of the race. Too much import- 

 ance can not be attached to straight, well-boned, 

 short shanks ; and if you want appearance, 

 weight, and constitution, they must be wide apart. 



" In neither cock nor hen do we like to see the 

 tail sticking up, but forming a nice agreeable line 

 with the back, or very slightly elevated, and 

 terminating in a nice soft but somewhat longer 

 and drooping feathers in the cock ; the whole in 

 the hen, from the feathers around it, wearing a 

 much shorter appearance. A tinge of red on 

 the back of yellow legs, stout, and short, suits 

 us best. In forming a standard for Shanghais 

 we ought to insist on those points that are pe- 

 culiarly theirs, and to discountenance those that 

 in any way imply the possibility of an admix- 

 ture with another breed. 



" The Shanghais are the most domestic, amia- 

 ble, quiet, and peaceable of all the varieties of 



poultry. They are exceeded by none in their 

 attachment to their own house and yard, from 

 which they never wander far, even when their 

 liberty is unrestricted ; and in quietness they are 

 unequaled. They have the reputation of being 

 good layers, and careful sitters and mothers ; and 

 what is very important, the chickens are hardy, 

 easy to raise, and less liable to be affected by 

 disease than those of many other breeds. In 

 short, as layers they are unequaled, laying when 

 quite young, and in the coldest days of winter, 

 as well as the finest days of spring. Notwith- 

 standing their great egg-prodi\cing powers, we 

 very much doubt whether they are as profitable 

 as some of the other breeds, as the Dorkings, 

 the Spanish, the Hamburgs, or the humble and 

 unpretending Dominique, it being conceded that 

 it takes much more feed to keep them. For 

 the table, they are inferior to all the above men- 

 tioned. They are a breed which is capable of 

 much improvement, and should remain two or 

 three years longer in the hands of the fancier 

 or professed breeder. 



" These breeds, it is supposed, have been cre- 

 ated or propagated by the Chinese for a special 

 purpose, and are the result of long and persever- 

 ing efforts on their part, in the same way and by 

 the same means that choice breeds of cattle have 

 been obtained with a particular end in view 

 some for taking on precocious fat others for 

 milk, etc. The object the Chinese had in view 

 in rearing this description of fowl was for capon- 

 izing. His mammoth height and lank propor- 

 tions are just what are required for making a 

 capon, weighing, when fifteen or sixteen months 

 old, twelve pounds or over. If he is not caponized, 

 and kept the length of time he ought to be for 

 a shorter period will not bring him to perfection 

 but is killed as a chicken, in the same way 

 our common breeds are, he is not worth as much 

 as the latter. This is the experience of those 

 who have long kept the Shanghai breed. How 

 can this long, bony carcass compare with that of 

 our common game breeds, with compact, hand- 

 some forms the Dominique, for instance, or 

 even that of our common barn-yard fowls as 

 all these are ready for killing at an age when 

 the Shanghai is a mere ill-formed, gawky, big 

 chicken. But caponize him, and keep him the 



