CHAPTEK VII. 
BRAHMAS, 
LTHOUGH Brahmas are amongst the latest introductions into our poultry 
yards, there is perhaps no other variety of fowl over which more angry dis- 
cussion has taken place regarding its history and origin : according to one party the 
breed took its rise on the banks of the Brahmapootra or Burrampooter river, 
in India, from which supposed origin it derived its name ; according to the opposite 
view Brahmas, as they are now generally termed, are either grey Cochins, or a breed 
originating in a cross between the Cochin and the grey Chittagong, a large variety 
of Malay formerly common in the United States of America. 
Without attempting in the slightest degree to depreciate the merits of this very 
magnificent breed of fowls, which is now firmly established in public favour, and 
which possesses characters as fixed and as capable of being transmitted as those of 
any other variety whatever, candour, nevertheless, compels us to dissent altogether 
from the statement that these fowls originally came from the region from whence 
they derived their name. There is not a particle of evidence to show that they 
came from India. The hanks of * the Brahmapootra have long been in the 
possession of the British — at least the lower part of the course of the river — and 
no such fowls were ever seen in the locality. 
In fact. Brahmas originated not in India, hut in America ; and the two varieties 
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 grey 
birds that from the very first importation came over from Shanghae with the buff 
and partridge birds now universally known as Cochins. But public attention was 
first called to them in consequence of an acute American fancier, Mr. George P. 
Burnham, presenting a consignment to Her Majesty ; and these birds were subse- 
quently exhibited by His Koyal Highness the late Prince Consort at the Metro- 
politan and other shows as Brahmas. Of the origin of these birds it will be best 
to let Mr. Burnham tell his own tale. In his amusing and unscrupulous work, 
entitled A History of the Hen Fever,” published at Boston in 1855, he says : — 
“ An ambitious sea-captain arrived at New York from Shanghae, bringing with 
him about a hundred China fowls, of all colours, grades, and proportions. Out 
of this lot I selected a few grey birds, that were very large, and consequently very 
fine. I bred these, with other grey stock I had, at once, and soon had a fine lot 
