226 CHICKENS AND DUCKLINGS. 



All persons conversant with poultry matters 

 allow that, in order to secure early-hatched 

 chickens, it is a necessity to have Cochin hens to 

 act as mothers. Dorkings, &c., may lay during 

 winter, but they rarely sit until their usual time, 

 which is spring. Cochins, on the contrary, sit 

 three or four times a year, and as they are good 

 winter layers, if young, they can be depended 

 upon to hatch the eggs of all tardy sitters. For 

 this purpose alone, therefore. Cochins would be 

 valuable additions to our stock ; but I consider 

 them besides very beautiful birds. Their soft 

 downy feathering, of such exquisite tints of 

 yellow and maize, all ladies must admire, and 

 the true types of the high-caste Cochins are of 

 handsome, massive build, majestic carriage, large 

 size, and (which is but little known) very short 

 on the leg. They are hardy, docile, and very 

 productive ; their eggs are not large, but by no 

 means so small as those of the Hamburgs. 

 They bear confinement well, and a fence three 

 feet high is sufficient to keep them within bounds. 

 They require no perch in their houses, preferring 

 the floor, which must, however, be littered down 



