164 THB HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVBE. 



be brought to believe those fowls Trere anything but mon- 

 grels ; and, while these interlopers contrived to murder the 

 trade there, they at the same time " cut off their own noses," 

 for the future, with those who knew what poultry was, upon 

 the other side of the Atlantic. 



I had my shy at the Britons, seasonably ! 



But, a few months afterwards (as I shall show in a future 

 chapter), through the mismanagement of an ambitious dealer 

 in other fancy live-stock, the trade with England, from this 

 side of the water, was completely ruined. Oyer two hun~ ' 

 dred American fowls were thrown suddenly upon the 

 London market, and were finally sold there, at auction, for 

 a very small sum ; and we were subsequently unable (with 

 all our chicken-eloquence) to make John Bull believe that 

 even the Grey, Shanghaes were any longer "scarce " with 

 us, here I 



