October 0. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
13 
Brahmas or Grey Shanghaes. His birds are what are 
denominated by some Cuckoo Shanghaes, and are not un¬ 
common ; at least, I have seen a good many such. Mr. 
Higgs, of Southampton, had some very similar last year; 
and two years ago, I had a young imported cock of, I think, 
precisely similar plumage, sent me by a gentleman in town, 
along with an inferior, but true Grey Shanghae cock, also im¬ 
ported from China, but which, approving of neither, I returned. 
Mr. Simpson, of this place, some two years ago, bred some 
very handsome birds of the same variegated cuckoo and 
gold plumage, from a large yellow Shanghae cock and a 
Malay hen, the offspring partaking so little of the Malay as 
not to be distinguishable in shape from good Shanghaes: 
some of these were sent to a Mr. Walker, of Gosport. The 
Brahma Poutra strain of Grey Shanghae have none of this 
party-coloured feathering; they are simply black and white; 
the black in the best specimens being principally confined 
to the neck hackles ; the tail (which, in the cock, is often 
beautifully shot-green)-, and the tips, or pen feathers, of the 
wings, and the chief beauty of the birds, to my mind, c»n- 
sists in the striking simplicity of contrast between the dark 
marking on the parts mentioned, and the pure white, or 
sometimes rich cream-colour, of the rest of the body. Some 
of the Brahmas which were sent me from America were 
much darker than would answer to this description; hut 
these, or part of them, were certainly not genuine Shanghae, 
but I believe the produce of a cross with the original 
Brahmas, or some of their offspring, and either Malay, 
Chittagong, or perhaps some other breed. Two or three of 
the Queen’s birds, however, are considerably darker than the 
rest, although there is, I believe, no question of their 
genuineness ; that is, of their being from the unmixed strain 
from which it is acknowledged by all U.S. fanciers the best 
specimens of Greys are derived. I enclose feathers, from 
the neck of the cock and hen of my birds. With regard to 
what you say of the efforts making to give these birds a 
fictitious value, I shall be as ready as yourself to protest, 
as far as my individual opinion and experience go, against 
enhancing their worth by representing them as a distinct 
breed, possessing qualities other than those common to the 
best strains of Shanghae; but, on the other hand, I would 
not withhold from them that extrinsic or “fancy” value to 
which, as a new variety of one of our most esteemed breeds 
of poultry, they are, in all fairness, entitled, particularly if it 
shall be proved, as I confess I think it will, that they are 
excelled by no other variety of the same breed either in size, I 
or, in the general estimation of poultry breeders, beauty, i 
If when my own birds have been fairly exhibited, as I trust I 
they will be in the course of our winter shows, they fail to 
come up to this standard, I shall be content to forfeit what - 
little claim I may be supposed to have as an authority in 
such matters.— Wh. Cost Gwynne.” 
This letter from Dr. Gwynne will serve as an answer to 
some of the statements in the following :— 
“ It would puzzle ‘ C. II. B. ’ to find a ‘ Grey Shanghae ’ 
in this country, equal in beauty, form, colour, Ac., to the 
splendid birds in the possession of Dr. Gwynne, myself, and 
a few others. AVhelher they are really entitled to the name 
of Brahma Poutra, or not, I maintain that the birds called 
by that name are far superior to the Cochin or Shanghaes, 
in many points; they certainly do carry more tlesh forward, 
and do not present that flat, nipped-in appearance in the 
chest, as is so frequently seen in the Cochins or Shanghaes ; 
they have a beautiful, round, and full appearance from the 
neck to the legs, and are altogether noble and magnificent 
birds ; as layers, and for gentleness, they are not to be sur¬ 
passed. In short, I believe they are the most to be admired 
of any variety of fowls that have ever been introduced into 
this country. The first time they made their appearance 
before the public, after their arrival in England, was at the 
Baker-street Show, in J anuary last; there they were scarcely 
noticed, as Cochins, or Shanghaes, at that time held a 
position above every other fowl. This was not to be 
wondered at, as no one had ever tried the new variety called 
Brahma Poutra, and, therefore, had no practical knowledge 
of their value ; but now that some few amateurs have given 
their attention to the birds, I think their opinions ought to 
have more weight than the opinion of those who write 
against the birds, without ever troubling themselves to test 
their superiority over other varieties. 
“ I know it to he a fact, that many write against the 
Brahmas through prejudice, and first sight; but notwith¬ 
standing all this, I am quite certain of these birds taking a 
high position in the poultry-yards next season. 
“The numerous enquiries after them shew that the 
amateurs are not to be gulled and governed in their choice 
of fowls by the poultry dealers, who attempt to write down 
the birds which they know to be difficult to come at, and, 
consequently, do not offer an opportunity for them to make 
large profits by them. And as to your correspondent’s 
remarks relative to the cross-bred birds between a ‘ Game 
hen and Cochin-China cock producing chickens scarcely to 
be distinguished from Brahmas,’ I do not believe this to 
be true. I have taken the trouble to try various experi¬ 
ments, by crossing the Brahmas with other birds, and not 
in one instance did I obtain a bird anything like the real 
Brahmas. I have crossed and recrossed Cochins with 
various other birds, but never obtained anything approach¬ 
ing a Brahma. This has strengthened my opinion in favour 
of the latter being a distinct breed. Then, as to their 
colour being bad, the person who would make such a state¬ 
ment must have surprising bad taste, for I am sure the 
colour of their plumage is very beautiful. This is not only 
my own opinion, but the opinion of a large number of 
amateurs who have visited my poultry-yard. 
“ Before a person presumes to write against any variety 
of fowl, I think that person would do well to enquire closely 
into the merits and demerits of those he condemns, and 
then there would not be half the erroneous statements cir¬ 
culated as there has been in the case of the ill-used 
Brahmas.— A Norfolk Amateur.” 
The last letter which we shall quote, until next week, 
upon this subject, is from “ C. H, B.,” alluded to in the 
preceding. He says:— 
“In explanation of my remark, that the Grey Shanghaes 
were deficient in many of the beauties noticed in good Buffs, 
I have to offer you the following:— 
“ With all the Greys I have seen (no few), I have in¬ 
variably noticed not only a coarseness generally, but that it 
was more apparent in the head and comb, and that there 
was, generally, a forbidding expression about the eyes; quite 
opposed to the small, neat head, and thin neck and comb, 
with the gentle, amiable sort of a look the Buff hen has. 
The Greys are never so short in the leg and thigh, so full 
in the thigh, nor so well breeched and broad in the rear. 
The wing, also, is not so short, and closely tucked in, and 
there is a total absence of what is now considered so ne¬ 
cessary with a first-class bird, viz.—the falcon hock, Ac., 
which is so striking an ornament with a few of Mr. Stainton’s 
Buff birds. I admit, the Greys are large, which produced 
the word splendid, in reference to Mr. Stainton’s Greys, but 
| they are long in the leg, and, to my eye, not to compare in 
form with the before-mentioned. 
“ As better Buffs were already in this country than 
America had it in her power to send, I can only suppose Her 
Majesty was presented with the Greys as the greatest novelty 
she could accept; and seeing that the Windsor Cochin- 
Chinas, in 1843, lent such a powerful influence towards the 
future fortune of the breed, and from the subsequent 
demand from Mr. Burnham, by private individuals, for the 
same kind of birds, it would not require any very great 
stretch of perception to notice another very good reason for 
the present than that mentioned.—C. H. B." 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER’S PONY. 
(Continued from Vol. x., page 471.) 
Captain G-, Southampton, complains that London job 
masters, dealers, Ac., will not let a gentleman have a little 
horse under fifty guineas. Just so ; and it is as bad as paying 
six shillings for a little bottle of middling wine, or seven- 
pence for three glasses of bottled beer. 
One of my earlier papers contains a pen-and-ink sketch 
of the cottage gardener’s pony, and I mention the north of 
England; and Ireland as his habitat. Ballinasloe fair, 
Brough-hill fair, or, possibly, Ormskirk fair, near Liverpool, 
are the places where these nags are to be bought. A good 
judge, on a commission of five per cent., will select just the 
