DOMESTIC POtTLTRT, 



Another in portant member of the poultry -yard is the Spanish 

 ft wl, which, us its name indicates, was imported from Spain. 

 He is a proud, gallant-looking bird, and is generally a favourite. 

 The only drawback in rearing these fowls is the dehcaoy of 

 the young chicks, which renders it necessary to be very carefnl 

 in bringing them up. There are several varieties of the Spanish 

 fowl, of which we shall presently treat. 



Of all the breeds of fowls, none has ever created so great an 

 excitement as the Cochin-China. Its introduction to this 

 country was the signal for a mania more closely resembling what 

 inight be rather expected of the landing of a Prench host than 

 of an over-grown, ill-shaped specimen of poultry. In the 

 year 1846, the first pair that was brought to this country from 

 Shanghai were presented to the Queen, who exhibited them 

 at the Dublin poultry show. Immediately the " Cochin " 

 fwrore commenced. As soon as it was discovered, despite the 

 most strenuous efforts to keep the secret, that a certain dealer 

 was possessed of a pair of these birds, straightway the avenues 

 to that dealer's shop were blocked by broughams, chariots, and 

 hack-cabs, until the sly poulterer had been tempted by a suffi- 

 ciently high sum to part with his treasures. Bank notes were 

 exchanged for Cochin chicks, and Cochin eggs were in as great 

 demand as though they had been laid by the fabled golden 

 goose. Philosophers, poets, merchants, and sweeps, had alike 

 partook of the mania, and although the latter could hardly 

 come up to the price of a real " Cochin," there were plenty 

 of vagabond dealers about, with counterfeit birds of all kinds, 

 which were advertised to be the genuine article, For to such 

 a pitch did the excitement rise, that they who never kept a 

 fowl in their lives, and would hardly know a bantam from a 

 Dorking, puzzled their shallow brains as to the proper place 

 to keep them, and the proper diet to feed them on. An ac- 

 quaintance of mine related to me an anecdote, connected 

 with the " Cochin " mania, in which the interest of a whole 

 family were involved, and the nicely-baJanced order of the 

 household shockingly disturbed by the eniree of one of these 

 formidable birds. 



In the year 1846 (he says), he was living at the west end of 

 London, with an uncle, a retired merchant, who had amassed 

 a considerable fortune in the opium trade. He was a man of 

 great shrewdness, and one who prided himself on never being 

 " taken in " aU his hfe. He visited the Dublin poultry show 

 that year, and was, in common with others, greatiy fascinated 



