judge, or should have them well described to 

 him, before he leaves England. I do not 

 mean to say the fowls are not brought from 

 Cochin-china ; but I do say they are not the 

 sort of fowl belonging to that country which is 

 in repute here. There are there, as here, diver- 

 sities of breed ; but there is only one breed 

 which we hold in repute. 



The Cochin-china cock is a bold, upright 

 bird ; with erect, indented single comb, rising 

 from the beak over the nostril — projecting 

 over the neck, and then slanting away under- 

 neath, to allow the root to be fixed on the top 

 of the head. The beak is strong and curved, 

 the eye bold, the face red, the wattle pendant, 

 and the ear-lobe very long — hanging much 

 lower than in other fowls. He is a bird of 

 noble carriage, and differs from most other 

 fowls in the following points : he has little 

 tail ; indeed, in very fine specimens it may be 

 said they have none. They have the hackle 

 large and long, it falls from the neck to the 

 back, and from its termination there is a small 

 gradual rise to where the tail should be ; but 

 where its apology, some glossy, slightly- 

 twisted feathers-fall over like those of an 

 ostrich. The last joint of the wing folds up, 

 so that the ends of the flight -feathers are 

 concealed by the middle ones ; and their ex- 

 tremities again are covered by the copious 

 saddle. The next peculiarities of these birds 

 are, — what is technically called " the fluff," 

 and " the crow. " The former is composed 

 of beautifully-soft, long feathers, covering the 

 thighs till they project considerably, and 

 garnishing all the hinder parts of the bird in 

 the same manner ; so much so, that to view 

 the widest part of the Cochin-china cock you 

 must look at him behind. His crow is to the 

 crow of other cocks, what the railway whistle 

 is to that of the errand boy in the streets ; it 

 is loud, hoarse, and amazingly prolonged. 

 They seem to delight in it ; and will continue 

 it till they are on tip-toe, and are compelled 

 to exchange their usual erect position for one 

 in which the neck is curved, and the head 

 brought down to the level of the knees. View- 

 ing the broadside, it will be seen that there 

 is in this bird a deficiency of breast. It slants 

 off in a straight line, from the end of the neck 

 to the beginning of the fluff that covers the 

 upper part of the thigh. 



The pullet has most points in common with 

 the cock. Her head is beautiful, the comb 

 small, very upright, with many indentations. 

 The face, if 1 may use the term, is intelligent. 

 Her body is much deeper in proportion than 

 that of the cock. Her fluff is softer, having 

 almost a silky texture ; her carriage is less 

 erect. She has none of the falling feathers at 

 the tail ; but the little she has are upright, and 

 should come to a blunt point, nothing like 

 the regular rounded tails of other hens. In 

 both, the legs should be yellow ; well feathered 



to the toes. Very particular fanciers require 

 that the outer toe of the feet should be much 

 shorter than the others ; and that the web be- 

 tween the toes should be larger than in other 

 fowls. Flesh-colored legs are admissible, but 

 green, black, or white, are defects. No other 

 bird shows its shape in feathers so plainly 

 as this does ; and with an old-fashioned 

 Chinese puzzle, composed of a number of 

 small triangular pieces of wood, it would be 

 easy to give a good notion of a Cochin-china 

 hen. In buying them, avoid long tails, clean 

 legs, fifth toes, and double combs. Above 

 all, take care the cock has not, nor ever has 

 had, sickle feathers. 



I have endeavored to describe the be*-t 

 birds of their species. Such may be always 

 obtained, and afterwards bred, but they will 

 be the pickings of the yard. 



Next as to color. Yellow, buff, and nankin 

 are the favorites ; and I think them certainly 

 more beautiful than the darker, grouse, par- 

 tridge, and chesnut birds. But \ do not 

 believe they are types of greater purity. The 

 earlier imported, were darker than the later 

 ones ; and the cross has produced birds of 

 exceeding beauty. 



They are very good layers ; and I have 

 proved they sometimes lay twice in a day. 

 I have known two instances of it ; but I think 

 the explanation I can give, will bear out the 

 opinion that it is not in the nature of any hen 

 to do so. The fowl in question more than 

 once laid early ; and again ( in summer ) just 

 before dark. One, probably, at four in the 

 morning, and another at eight in the evening. 

 Thus, two eggs in sixteen hours ; but she 

 never laid the following day. Several times 

 she did this ; but very often the second egg 

 had an imperfect shell, yielding to the slight- 

 est pressure. They seem to lay at a certain 

 age, without any regard to weather or time 

 of year ; beginning soon after they are five 

 months old. I have had pullets of that age 

 laying regularly in very cold frosty weather, 

 when those of the same age, of other breeds 

 running with them, showed no signs of fol- 

 lowing their example. 



They do not lose their qualities as they 

 get older, but they lose their beauty sooner 

 than any other. Every year seems to increase 

 the difficulty of moulting. I am convinced 

 the age of beauty in a Cochin-china fowl is 

 from nine to eighteen months. After this 

 the hens become coarse, their feathers grow 

 with difficulty, their fluff is a long time 

 coming, and the beautiful intelligent head 

 is exchanged for an old careworn expression 

 of face. I am also sure that the tails of the 

 cocks increase as they get older. I have 

 always found them hardy. The little naked 

 ostrich-looking chickens will do well even in 

 bleak spots, and without any unusual care. 

 They are excellent mothers. I know an in- 



