62 
THE POULTRY BOOK. 
many parts of the field where the birds had never been. The Brahmapootras 
wander over acres, and, except to bask in hot weather^ never keep at home. 
‘‘ The Cochin-China fowl, although a great eater, must have his food provided 
for him, while the Brahmapootra will go abroad to seek it. A lady lately 
imported some of these birds, and after they had been in charge of the man (who 
had looked after Cochins for years) some days, asked his opinion. ‘ Madam,’ said 
he, ‘ these will get fat where the Cochins will starve.’ The Cochin-China fowl 
seeks its roost early, and besets the hen-house door; the Brahmapootra always 
roams far from home till almost dark. We have seen them following a man at 
plough, and picking in the newly- turned furrows, three fields from home. We 
believe a similar thing was never witnessed in the others. 
‘‘It is an old axiom in breeding, that if like produces like, it is a proof of 
purity ; because where there is a cross, however remote it may be, the parents will 
throw back. We have bred a great many, and everything indicates distinctness of 
breed. The chickens are all hatched either black or yellow; at the age of six 
weeks a change takes place, — the black get gradually grey, and look as if their 
feathers were covered with a cobweb ; while the yellow become white, and then 
speckled like a silver-pencilled Hamburg chicken. At a more mature age they all 
become grey, some more pencilled than others. There is no doubt they are even 
hardier than Cochins. In November, often during the hard frosts and little snow 
we then have, chickens will do very well in an open field, without any other cover 
than that afforded by the rip in which the hen is placed. At daybreak they may 
be seen, in spite of the cold, running about in perfect health ; and an amazing 
small number die. They are less expensive to keep, and are quite as prolific in 
eggs as the Cochins. 
“ The only difficult point is the variety of comb — viz. the pea-comb and the 
single : while we give the preference to the former, therein following the judg- 
ment of the best of the recognized judges in America, we do not see why both may 
not be pure, as in Dorkings. But there are other points in which these cocks 
differ from their Cochin brethren : the head, the prominent breast (almost pro- 
tuberant), the carriage, and shape of the tail. Close observers will notice that not 
only is it more upright than in Cochins, but the feathers that would be sickles in 
another breed more resemble those in the tail of the black-cock, and, like them, 
spread outwards from the centre. 
“As in the early days of the Cochins, these birds have been mated with those of 
other breeds, and the produce has been exhibited as pure specimens. We know 
many instances of it, where it has been openly admitted that they have been bred 
between Brahma cocks and buff hens. Such will lead to disappointment ; and no 
opinion can be a just one based on such an exhibition. 
“ It may safely be left in the hands of amateurs to decide whether they are or are 
not a valuable addition to our poultry stock. Seeing, as we do, the vast difference 
in many essential points between them and the Cochins, we believe them to 
be distinct from them. 
