FANCIER S’ JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE 
421 
and son have imported others. Shrenk states that the Man- 
darin Duck is a wild species, appearing about May in the 
various countries watered by the river Amoor, and disap- 
pearing again about August. At this season it is met with 
in flocks, sometimes large and sometimes small, but so shy 
as to rarely come within shot. He also states that he has 
often seen the birds perching upon trees, which is no doubt 
a habit, being common to the Carolina or Wood Duck 
variety. The Chinese mandarins obtain their specimens 
from the country north of Pekin. The Mandarin Drake is 
somewhat quarrelsome, especially when penned for exhibi- 
tion. Care therefore should be taken only to show birds 
which have been previously mated. Recently imported 
specimens can only be shown at some risk. 
(For Fanciers' Journal.) 
Mr. W abe. 
Dear Sir : As there is a prospect of having a new Stand- 
ard of Excellence, I hope there will be a few pages devoted 
to By-Laws, relating to fines, exposure, and expulsion from 
societies ; or rules for the necessity of making good charges 
for poultry and eggs sent out by breeders who rob and dis- 
appoint those who trust to their word, with the expectation 
of getting what they order, by sending money in advance. 
As they advertise now, they mean “ nothing sent C. O. D , 
whether satisfactory or not,” as they do not fear exposure. 
I purchased a sitting of White Leghorn eggs, in Wil- 
mington, Del., for which I sent in advance $3.00. When 
they arrived one was broken ; the other eleven I examined, 
and found but two impregnated; I marked and set them 
all. After ten days I tried them with the egg-tester, and 
the two which I marked had chicks, the other nine were 
clear. At the end of three weeks I got one chick, the other 
was dead, apparently at two weeks’ sitting. 1 described 
the result to the party from whom I purchased them. He 
said he would give me another sitting. They came in the 
same shape as before. Only four hatched : one was black, 
or brown, the other three were spotted. I wrung their 
necks and threw them into the horse-yard; therefore, the 
result of these two sittings was — one Leghorn pullet, and a 
loss of the profit due from two hens, besides the cost and 
freight of the eggs. I again wrote the party, and received 
no answer. Knowing that many others have similar 
experience, I deem an early exposure of such dealings jus- 
tice to all parties. Yours, W. J. Pyle. 
June 4, 1874. 
P.S. — My object in buying those eggs was to select and 
raise a good cock for next year. I intend keeping thirty hens 
and think one cock is sufficient. If you know of any one who 
has a young White Leghorn cockerel, of good stock, suita- 
ble to make a good exhibition bird, please send him to me, 
and notify me of the same, with price, which I will forward 
by return mail. I do not care if he is no larger than a 
pigeon, if he has the appearance of making a good bird. 
You will send him in the right kind of a box — one in which 
he can at least stand up straight, and turn around in, which 
is better than one could do which was sent me by , last 
fall ; and the box was heavy enough for a six months’ pig. 
He is an agent of the , and advertises extensively. 
W. J. P. 
Herring fishing on the Albemarle Sound is. said to 
be a failure this season. 
(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
REMINISCENCES OF TEE “HEN FEVER.” 
BY GEO. P. BURNHAM. 
(Continued from page 406.) 
fowl is unchanged, yet some later writers assume that both 
the Brahmas and the Cochins are an entirely different 
variety from the Shanghais. 
Mere theories, like those of Lewis Wright, may be 
promulgated, and these may be rendered plausible by argu- 
ment, but recorded facts cannot be ignored ; and, in connec- 
tion with this point which I make above, let me quote 
briefly from the report of the judges of the old New England 
Poultry Society, made at their third and fourth exhibitions 
in Boston in 1852 (mark the date, and observe that I was not 
a member of that committee). This exhibition was a fine 
one, and the entries were very large. The Committee of 
Judges say, officially: “At this Boston Show, the best and 
most faultless descriptions of red and buff Shanghais were 
shown by Geo. P. Burnham, Esq., of Melrose. And, of the 
Cochin Chinas, the specimens exhibited by G. P. Burnham, 
were each and all notable, and worthy of public apprecia- 
tion.” This in May, 1852. At the last show of this Society, 
where I did not enter any fowls for premium, but only on 
exhibition, which came off the same year (1852), in the fall, 
the judges, in their published report, speak as follows (I 
quote from the official document) 
“Your Committee would call attention to the fact that 
among the numerous fowls exhibited this season, as upon 
former occasions (noticeably in 1850 and 1851), a very 
unnecessary practice seems to have obtained in the misnam- 
ing of varieties. Cross-bred fowls are called by original 
cognomens unknown to practical breeders, and a host of 
birds well known to the Committee, as well as to poulterers 
generally, have been denominated here by any other name 
than their real and universally conceded ornithological 
titles 
“ In this way many honest, careful breeders may be deceived, 
and this multiplying of unpronounceable and meaningless 
names for domestic fowls is entirely uncalled for. Your 
Committee recommend a close adherence hereafter to rec- 
ognized titles only, and in this connection, allude to cases in 
point. The largest, and unquestionably one of the finest 
varieties of fowls ever shown among us, was entered by the 
owner of this variety, as Chittagong.* * * § Other coops of the 
very same stock, were labelled Gray Chittagongs ; f others 
were called Brahma-Pootras ; J others, from the same 
original birds, (i were Gray Shanghais, etc. Your Com- 
mittee are divided in opinion as to what these birds ought, 
rightfully, be called ; though the majority of the Commit- 
tee have no idea that Brahma-Pootra is their correct title. 
Several cages contained specimens positively known to have 
come direct from Shanghai, || and none are known to have 
come originally from anywhere else. Nevertheless, it is 
thought proper to leave this question open for the present, 
and the Committee accept for them the title of Gray Shang- 
* These were the okl Gray Shanghai pair I sold to Dr. Bennett. Entered 
at this show by G. W. George, of Haverili, to whom the Doctor sold them, 
after he bred them one season. 
t These were the Cornish fowls, contributed by Hatch, of Conn., and 
very good ones they were too, but all young birds. 
f These were Dr. Bennett’s first ones, bred from my old Philadelphia 
Grays, which I sold him the previous year. 
§ These were my light and dark gray fowls, and their progeny. 
|| These were my oldest imported Grays, and other fowls. 
