88 TMM COMPLETE POULTRY BOOK. 



much sought afterj and for a time the "hen fever" threatened to assume the, 

 dimensions of the tuHpomania of the seventeenth century; a hundred guineas 

 according to Mr. Wright, being frequently paid for a single cock, and not being 

 at all an uncommon price for a pair of really fine birds. 



Among the earliest offehoots of this variety were the Buff and White Cochins, 

 and these were foUowed by several others, formed by selection and fresh impop. 

 tations from China, until now there are quite a number of sub-varieties, of which 

 the principal are as follows: 



Partridge Cochins (See illustration, page 27), in which " the cocks should have 

 bright-red hackles and saddles, with a well-defined black stripe down the 

 middle of each feather; the back and wing bow of a dark, rich red, with 

 a wide, lustrous, greenish-black bar across the wings. The quills should 

 be rich bay on the outer ends, the secondaries ending in black tips. The 

 taa should be glossy black; not unfrequently, however, some white appears 

 at the base of the feathers; this is always to be regarded as objectionable 

 when found in a show pen, ^though not a positive disqualification to 

 prize-taking. Fashion demands imperatively a black breast on a Partridge 

 Cochin cock, mottle-breasted birds being disqualified, according to the. Poul- 

 try club "standard of excellence," in exhibition birds. The Partridge 

 Cochins originally imported had brown breasts, resembling those of brown-red 

 game cocks, and the hens much more closely resembled brown-red than 

 black-red hens. The judges, however, demanded black breasts in the cocks; 

 consequently, such birds were bred by crossing a partridge-feathered cock with 

 a pure black Cochin. Nevertheless a reversion to the more natural color occa- 

 sionally takes place, and some of the best partridge cocks show the brown 

 feather not unfrequently. 



" In the Partridge hens the neck hackle feathers should be bright gold, each 

 having a broad, black stripe down the centre. The remaii)der of the plumage 

 should be light brown, well and distinctly penciled with dark brown. It is an 

 important point that the penciling should be well marked on the upper part of 

 the breast. The shafts of the feathers should be creamy white, contrasting pleas- 

 ingly with the darker color of the webs of the feathers."* 



The Grouse Cochins are a sub-variety of the Partridge Cochins, in which the 

 hens have a darker ground color, with feather-shafts which offer no contrast to the 

 other parts of the feathers. 



The Pea-combed Partridge Cochins are a sub-variety originated in 1871, by Mr. 

 Charles F. Edmonds, of Melrose, Massachusetts, and are distinguished 'by, hav- 

 ing pea combs instead of the ordi;iary comb. The following account of their 

 origin is given by a correspondent of the PouUry World, in January 1874: 



"At the establishment of Mr. Charles P. Edmonds, in Melrose, I saw a fine 

 flock of superior Partridge Cochins, which struck me as being among the very 

 best lots of this popular variety that I had ever seen. Upon a closer examina- 

 tion of Mr. Edmonds' fowls I discovered that all of them, old and young, were 

 pea-combed. 



"I had never seen elsewhere, any of this variety of Partridge Cochins, and I 

 expressed surprise at the fact, when Mr. Edmonds informed me that three years 



*Tegetmeier. " 



