BBA3MAB. 93 



■were selected which were sent to England as " Gray Shanghies." Mr.' Chamber- 

 lain's claim is supported by the following statement by Charles Knox, Esq., 

 lately resident of Toledo, Ohio, but at that time of Hartford, Connecticut: 



" Early in the fall of 1847, while I was clerk on the propeUer ' Sachem,' of 

 the Hartford and New York line, Captain Qeorge Doming, master, on invitation 

 of a friend I went on board a full-rigged East-Xndiaman, lying near Old Slip, East 

 Biver, to look at a remarkable collection of poultry which we had heard About. 

 I never knew or thought to ask what port the vessel sailed from, nor her name, 

 for that class all bore the same name in common conversation — ' East-Indiame'n.' 

 Among the poultry I saw two pairs, one gray, the other red, which attracted a 

 great deal of attention on account of their large size. After some trouble I 

 learned that they were to be exhibited at FrAnklin Market. The next trip, after 

 reporting te Mr. Chamberlain (who had some time previous requested me to 

 keep a lookout for something of this description, and wished to get some new 

 breed), at his request, on my return to New York, I went and bought the gray 

 pair, and took them to Hartford." Mr. Knox states further that these gray fowls 

 very closely resembled the Light Brahmas of to-day. 



It seems a little singular that if these birds were actually brought from India 

 there should never have been a second importation of the same stock, and that 

 those who have so hotly contended for the honor of originating or first introduc- 

 ing the breed have not been able to prove to us whether it is actually found on the 

 banks of the Bnrrampooter, (or Brahma-pntra,) or in some more secluded spot. 

 Considering how long the ports of India, and many of those of China, have been 

 open to western commerce, if there were such a striking breed of fowls in ex- 

 istence in any of those lands, we should have had some record of it from 

 disinterested parties. Upon this point Mr. Tegetmeier says: 



"There is not a particle of evidence to show that they (the Brahmas) came 

 from India. The banks of the Brahmapootra have long been in possession of the 

 British — at least the lower part of the course of the river — and no such fowls 

 were ever seen in the locaUty. 



"In fiuit, Brahmas originated not in India but in America; and the two va- 

 rieties of the breed now known as light and dark Brahmas, had unquestionably 

 very distinct origins. The Light Brahmas undoubtedly originated in, or were 

 identical with, those gray birds that from the very first importation came over 

 from Shanghse with the buff and partridge birds now imiversally known as 

 Cochins." 



Mr. Knox's word is unimpeachable, however, and we suspect that the breed 

 was simultaneously originated in two diflferent strains, afterward amalgamated — 

 as is claimed by some parties to the controversy, and as is indicated by the fact 

 that Mr. Bamham's " Gray Shanghses " had single combs, instead of pea-combs. 

 Whatever may have been the origin of the Brahmas, however, there are few 

 fowls which to-day breed more true to their characteristic color and markings, 

 and can be depended upon more implicitly to perpetuate their qualities of habit 

 and dispontion. Like most of the Chinese breeds, they are very quiet and do- 

 cile. Thev are easily confined, as they have but little ability to fly, and a fence 

 three feet high will turn them. As layers they are excellent, beginning, under 

 favorable cirenmstances, when five or six months old, and laying from thirty to 



