240 The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 



Mr. Chamberlain, on account of their resemblance, in some degree, to the fowls then in the country 

 called by that name ; but it is certain that they never bred until they reached this town." 



At Fitzburg, Connecticut, Dr. Bennett exhibited early in October, 1S50, chickens of this breed, 

 which he stated he had " purchased at a very high figure from Mr. Cornisli." Mr. Hatch also 

 exhibited them at Boston ; and next year Dr. Bennett, Mr. Parkinson, and Mr. Hatch, all showed 

 them; Mr. Hatch winning, and his chickens being purchased by Dr. Bennett. All these gentlemen 

 belonged to Connecticut, which of itself, independent of their own direct testimony (freely enough 

 given), proves clearly enough that this State was the head-quarters or source of the breed, and that 

 from the first it bred very true to characteristics ; all the pens named as thus shown being direct 

 descendants of one stock, whatever that was. This is important, as it is in the early generations 

 that a recent cross suffers most from what we may call disintegration. 



This account and these facts are at once clear, consistent, and satisfactory, and would have 

 established the origin of Brahmas as conclusively as Mr. Sturgeon's account at the time did that of 

 his strain of Buff Cochins, in the absence of any conflicting testimony. Such, however, appeared 

 in "A History of the Hen Fever," published at Boston, in 1855, by Mr. G. P. Burnham, and which . 

 gave a totally different account of the matter. In this — as Mr. Tegetmeier himself calls it — 

 " unscrupulous work," Burnham affirms that Dark and Light Brahmas had distinct origins, but that 

 he — modest man ! — had made them botli ! — the Light, by breeding from some pure uncrossed Grey 

 Cochins ; the Dark, by crossing Cochins with Grey Chittagongs. Of this, Burnham says, " no one 

 entertains a doubt ;" and Mr. Tegetmeier takes him at his word, his account being supposed to 

 acquire a certain value from the fact that late in 1852 he sent over a consignment of so-called 

 Light Brahmas to Her Majesty the Queen, and in the following year a number of dark birds to 

 various breeders. The cool effrontery with which he relates how the present, which was graciously 

 acknowledged by Her Majesty with the gift of her own portrait, was designed simply and 

 solely as an advertising puff, is somewhat remarkable in poultrj' literature. Both sets of birds 

 were engraved in the Illustrated London Nczvs of the period, and to an ignorant e)-e justify 

 Mr. Tegetmeicr's assertion that the two had "unquestionably very distinct origins;" but to every 

 skilled breeder of the Brahma it is at once apparent that one set of fowls (the Dark) are Brahmas, 

 while the others are not ; and the inference would be that some time after the first exportations of 

 birds, which, however fine, were not Brahmas, Burnham had got hold of the genuine strain. The 

 question of dates hence becomes of much importance ; so far, at least, as such testimony can be, 

 considered worthy of discussion. 



It appears then, from Burnham's own book, that it was in 185 1 and 1S52 he had such "a run 

 of luck" with his grey birds ; while we have already seen that so early as 1850 the pure strain of 

 Mr. Cornish was publicly exhibited. At the New England Society's show in that year, in fact, as 

 we have ascertained through the kind assistance of Mr. F. Crook, on unimpeachable testimony, 

 Burnham endeavoured to pnrcJiase some of the Brahmas there exhibited, but failed ; and on that 

 occasion admitted to Mr. Morse, the secretary, and to Mr. Cornish, who was also there, that he had 

 " never seen the pure Brahma-Pootras before." That he afterwards bred tolerable imitations is not 

 denied, nor that he may in 1S51 and 1852 have had a "good run of luck" with them ; but tlicse 

 birds were not Brahmas: and at the New England Society's show in 1852, Dr. De Gruy stated that 

 he had bought some of Burnham's strain, and they " were no more like the true Brahmas than an 

 owl is like a hawk." There is plenty of English evidence to the same fact. In TJie Cottage 

 Gardener (now amalgamated with Tlie Poultry Chronicle, and which is still the recognised English 

 poultry organ) of 1853, Mr. P. Jones states the fact of a pair of " Brahmas " he bought breeding 



