500 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 20, 1864. 



ants of the poor Brahmas are of two kinds. On the one 

 hand they are hybrids ; »n the other, they may be pure, but 

 only a variety of Cochin. Much has been written on both 

 these points. Were the first position tenable, should we 

 not, long ere this, have arrived at instances of the Chitta- 

 gong, &c, &c. ? and, when I say we, I do not mean I — 

 by myself, I — in my alphabetical capacity — but all those 

 Brahma breeders who have no other object in view than 

 truth; for, in starting, it may be at "once laid down as 

 certain that the question of purity, even if settled adversely 

 to the Brahmas, would not shrink their admirers, whose 

 name is legion. We have learnt to value them for their 

 many useful properties, which, as was lately noticed by one 

 of your correspondents, other breeds do not possess ; and I 

 suspect we shall stick to them. Certainly, if we did so 

 during the many years of suspicion and coolness,, more 

 certainly now, when they may be called the popular fowl, 

 and when schedule-framers are beginning to find out that 

 they enter well. 



Looking to either method of attack, the question of history 

 and origin is a matter of importance ; but is it an essential ? 

 Is it a sine quA non of a pure breed ? If so, our "pures" 

 will be sadly curtailed. Let us turn to the "Poultry-Book" 

 — that beautiful work which one of "our Editors" assisted 

 in giving to us lovers of fowls — what do we find there ? 



Dorking: "We have sought for information as to the 

 time when Dorking and its fowls first became noticed, but 

 our inquiry has been fruitless." The history and origin of 

 the Dorking, though styled par excellence in that book the 

 " English fowl," is involved in uncertainty. 



Spanish : " Best Spanish have been obtained from Hol- 

 land." There is a very probable reason assigned ; still it is 

 very strange that the best should have migrated to Holland. 



Haniburghs : Origin uncertain. 



Game : No account given, simply that they are essentially 

 English. 



Cochin : These seem undoubtedly to have come from 

 Shanghae ; but, despite the efforts made to call them by 

 their right name, Cochin has stuck to them. 



Polands : "Which of these is to be considered the Polish 

 birthplace we are not specially informed, nor does it appear 

 probable that any inquiries, however carefully conducted, 

 are now likely to settle the question." "With Poland, 

 certainly, we have nothing to connect these birds." 



Now, in these two latter breeds we have a country giving 

 its name to certain breeds, yet having nothing to do with 

 them. May not this be the case with Brahmas ? I know 

 nothing of Dr. Bennett, but it is possible that, having got 

 at the source of the Brahma, he may have given it the 

 name of Brahma Pootra for the very purpose of misleading, 

 others, whilst, perhaps, they may be found somewhere on 

 the American continent. Nay ! he may have gone further — 

 he may have stated the descent as a cross for the same 

 purpose of misleading ; and, as Barnum had something to 

 do with them, it is more than probable that all we know 

 from American sources is "Hum!" To all this we can 

 only say, If history and origin are essential, what must be 

 said of the many established and pure breeds that have not 

 got any ? 



Hybrids, it is allowed, return to one or other particular 

 type ; and as the Brahmas have been with us some fifteen 

 years — I have myself kept them some eleven or twelve — it 

 is time they reverted, if they ever intend doing so. Still 

 they show no signs this way; but, on the contrary, they 

 have become more settled, and points of feather are actually 

 being insisted on. This is a hybrid, forsooth ! 



I turn again to the "Poultry-Book" ("Brahma Pootra," 

 page 177), and there I read, " There are birds of the Malay 

 and Shanghae families by whose union such colours would 

 probably appear." To this is appended a foot-note,, that in 

 1853, at Parningham Show a pen of fowls was shown very 

 similar to the Brahmas, and stated to be a cross between 

 Malay and Speckled Dorking. Yes, but were these feathered ? 

 I know not. The " Poultry-Book " then continues — " If the 

 test of like producing like for several generations should 

 be successfully afforded by Brahma Pootras, other grounds 

 must be sought for by those who would consign this alleged 

 variety to the comparative ignominy of a hybrid origin." I 

 would draw especial attention to these words. It appears 

 to me that the Brahmas have bred true to feather — that 



like has produced like : therefore Brahmas, using the argu- 

 ment of " our Editors," are not of hybrid origin. 



If this part of the argument is satisfactorily disposed of, 

 let us see whether they are only a variety of Cochin. Were 

 I asked the question, I should reply as distinctly as I could, 

 Certainly not. To decide this very knotty point, let us see 

 what are the characteristics of a pure breed. According to 

 notes from "our Editors" I gather that many distinctions 

 which our sharp- sighted predilections discover amount to 

 nothing, and only prove a variety. I set these aside, there- 

 fore, not that I consider them of any importance, and I take 

 these words of "our Editors" as my guide — "If a bird is 

 like another in its form and plumage, they are of the same 

 species." While I write these words I fancy I hear my old 

 bird crowing — he happens to be miles and miles away — as 

 though he would say, " Do not spare them. Hit them 

 hard, though they have got plenty of friends ;" and thus 

 encouraged I turn again to the "Poultry-Book." There I 

 find the back of Cochin described as " flat." This descrip- 

 tion is followed by that of Mr. Sturgeon, no mean authority, 

 by-the-by. He says, " drooping forward, with ike hinder part 

 consequently raised." These italics are my own. When I 

 bred Cochins, and loved them dearly for many years, I liked 

 my birds to rise from shoulders to tail. I believe the best 

 birds are so now. I put it plainly to all my brother Brahma 

 fanciers, Is this the form that we desire in our pets ? Cer- 

 tainly not. On the contrary, we desire a drop from the 

 shoulders to the tail ; the very reverse, in fact, and in the 

 "Poultry-Book" I also find this given as characteristic of 

 the Brahma. 



Again I find a decided difference of form in the brow as 

 compared with the Cochin. It may be argued, these dif- 

 ferences come from the Malay origin, but by the previous 

 extracts from the "Poultry-Book" I consider the hybrid 

 ■ question disposed of. 



There is a further difference in form in the tail ; not only 

 is it longer and more upright than that of the Cochin, but 

 the sickle feathers separate, curving outwards like that of 

 the Black Cock. This I have not seen in Cochins. In the 

 Brahma hen I have frequently seen what I consider the 

 equivalent of this — one feather on each side separate from 

 the rest. 



I think, too, there is no question amongst those who have 

 eaten both that there is a greater depth of breast in the 

 Brahma. 



Are these " differences of form " sufficient ? If not, I 

 have failed. To those who do not think them sufficient I 

 tender yet a few observations. Are the differences of form 

 between a reddish-faced Spanish and a whitish-faced Black 

 Hamburgh as marked ? The eombs are immaterial, and it 

 will be observed that I have laid no stress upon the form of 

 the Brahma comb, now generally seen. Again : are not 

 these differences greater than between Game and Game 

 Bantams than those that exist between Black Hamburgh 

 and Black Bantams ? 



When to the differences of form, considered essential by 

 " our Editors," we, who have watched them closely, detect 

 differences of character in the Brahmas to the other variety ; 

 but to all it is but fair to say, if they are not hybrids they 

 are equally distinct from Cochins. The characteristics 

 have been noticed at various times lately in your pages : 

 one that I have not seen noticed is the greater precocity of 

 the cockerel — he crows earlier, &e. All these help to prove 

 the position. But I have chosen to stake my hobby on the 

 difference of form, and as I have said before, prove them the 

 veriest mongrel, I shall not think one iota the worse of them. 

 Were I compelled to resign all save one, tlienBrahmas for me. 



In conclusion, dear Messrs. Editors, let me say that your 

 late quotation of "A man convinced against his will," &c, 

 admits of another application, and may be used against 

 yourselves as well as against those who think with — 

 T. B. A. Z. 



[We have never had a doubt, and we still have no doubt, 

 that the Brahma Pootra fowl is a variety of the Cochin- 

 China, and if ever a fact was satisfactorily proved, then the 

 fact is proved that they are only a variety. In the first 

 place we have positive evidence that the variety was pro- 

 duced by cross-breeding between a Cochin-China and a 

 Chittagong fowl, and here let us remark, that cross-breeding 

 is totally different from hybridising. A hybrid is the pro- 



