I 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— May 27, 1856. 
1CI 
and, as you express a wish for subscribers to give each other 
the benefit of their observations and experience through 
the medium of your pages, I purpose giving ‘Cochin’ my 
opiuion of the breed in question. I consider them equally 
good layers with Cochins, and decidedly less troublesome to 
cure of sitting propensities : the plan I adopt is to shut up 
the hens, immediately they shew a desire to sit, in a coop 
without straw; of course, I keep them supplied with clean 
water and food, and three or four days generally suffice to 
. cure them, whilst Cochins take eight or ten. Brahmas are 
1 certainly more industrious, taking far greater advantage of a 
grass run than Cochins, but I have never found them 
: trespassing in my garden, although they might easily do so 
j if they felt disposed. I have kept them two years ; this is 
the third spring I have reared Brahma chicks, and T think 
J it speaks well for their hardiness when I state, that during 
j that time not a single chick has bad the slightest ailment, 
although on a cold soil, and in a very exposed situation. 1 
j think, if ‘Cochin’ adopts this breed, he will have no cause 
to regret the change. It appears to me the ‘ Brahmas’ are 
a very ill-used breed; every one thinks it fair to have a 
: “ fling ’’ at them ; but, after all, they do not accuse them of 
| any bad qualities, only attaching to them the terrible stigma 
i of being a manufactured breed, or, at best, an offshoot from 
the original Cochins. If this is so, will somebody have the 
kindness to inform me why they do not throw back to the 
colour of their progenitors ? Every one who breeds Buff 
| Cochins knows how difficult it is to get even two pens to 
l match, although a large number may be lnvd from well- 
matched parents; and what endless trouble the breeder of 
I Sebright Bantams has to keep bis pets up to the mark; yet 
| Brahmas are always black and white. I should be glad to 
i see this subject discussed in your pages, as it appears to me 
the Brahmas have not yet received their due, although their 
excellent qualities are beginning to be appreciated; as 1 
know two or three gentlemen who are about to get rid of 
their stock of Cochins, and replace them with Brahmas.— 
Flora.” 
“You allude again, this week, to the‘manufacture’ of 
! Brahma Pootras. A relative of mine was looking at my 
fowls last summer, and on my telling him that Brahmas 
(of which I had two or three) were considered by many only 
a variety of Cochins, he remarked, ‘ I remember Brahma 
j Pootras when I first went to India (more than forty years 
j since), long before Cochins were heard of; they were con- 
; sidered a great rarity.’ I feel a particular interest in the 
j matter, but think the remark worth chronicling, as, perhaps, 
! you may also do.—C lericus.” 
CHANGE OF COLOUR IN A HAMBURGH 
FOWL. 
The following notes were read at a recent meeting of 
the Dublin Natural History Society, by 
Mr. Williams, on a remarkable change of colour in a fowl 
of the Hamburgh breed •—“ Gentlemen, I beg leave to bring 
j before your notice this night a remarkable change of plumage 
in a hen of the Hamburgh breed, which is painfully recorded 
in my mind, from the fact that, by whatever affected, whether 
fright or otherwise, I lost the chance of the silver cup in the 
j crested class at the Liverpool show, in January last. When 
I selected this bird, in the beginning of January, as one 
; of a pen fit to compete, she was then perfect in the 
i markings so characteristic of her variety, each feather being 
! accurately marked, as well as having her legs blue, which is 
the proper colour of the breeds. The lot was not commended, 
and on examining the several pens at the show with a critical 
' amateur, and discussing the several merits, and why this pen 
! was passed by unnoticed, he pointed out what, in his opinion, 
j was the cause, viz., that the legs of this bird were white, as 
; he could not detect any other defect; in this view I was 
I obliged to acquiesce, but 1 was not the less astonished, 
thinking it impossible I could have sent a bird with such a 
blemish. On receiving my birds home, I particularly 
: examined her, and saw that her legs were opaque white. 
In about a fortnight after they became vivid pink behind, 
i which colour has since departed. I further observed that 
some of the hackle and back feathers were not laced with 
black, although I am sure they were so before she left 
Ireland. I was about to kill her, as of no further use, but on 
consideration thought it better to retain her, and watch if 
this progressed. Prior to being despatched, she was, as I 
said before, perfect in every respect, in perfectly apparent 
health, and laying sound eggs ; shortly after her return, she 
was constantly looking for a nest, and laying soft eggs, and 
became so fat that her natural shape was altered. I imme¬ 
diately procured some old lime rubbish, and in about week 
her anxiety to lay diminished, and her eggs had the shell 
perfect as usual. I have continued to observe, and found 
almost daily changes, the black markings vanishing and the 
feathers remaining pure white. When despatched to Liver¬ 
pool her tail feathers were pure white, accurately laced with 
black (as in the painting exhibited before you) which 
j almost totally disappeared, but now seem to be in¬ 
creasing, though irregularly. This bird is now in her third 
year,and is oue of the lot with whi, 1. 1 took afirst. prize at the 
December show of the Amateur Poultry Society of this city. 
A sister of hers in the spring of last year presented similar 
features, but not so remarkably, the markings becoming so 
indistinct as to appear as if viewed through gauze. I had 
her killed, and she proved a very superior bird on the table ; 
some of her eggs were set, and of the produce four birds 
were marked as the one now exhibited ; they were the largest 
chickens of the kind I ever saw, being much larger than 
others of the same age, one of which presented features so 
approaching both sexes that until near a year old it could 
not be decided whether it was male or female. When 
hatched they were pure white, with the exception of some 
black spots on the side of the head, but on moulting acquired 
black collars and some spangled feathers, with almost oblite¬ 
rate markings. The exhibition of these will convey to the 
members how varieties of poultry are produced. The bird 
in question, in common with others, was fed on India meal, 
oats, potatoes, and barley occasionally, and had an extensive 
grass run. 
I shall now pass to another portion which demands 
the attention of physiologists to account for, and which, 
as far ns I can discover, is unexplained. I have at various 
times observed changes in the colour of feathers, but from 
not having carefully watched them, thought I must have 
been mistaken, until my attention was aroused by a paper 
given in this society, on the changes that occur in the plumage 
of birds without a moult, as in the case I allude to, that of 
the black-headed gull, Larus ridibundus, where the feathers 
of the head change almost suddenly from white to black, ns 
also in the breast of the plovers. In the bird before you we 
have the reverse. We are all aware that sudden discolora¬ 
tion frequently occurs in the head of man, ami that changes 
in colour appear in several animals from shocks of the 
nervous system, disease, injuries or abrasions; in the case 
of farcy in horses, whence they become spotted all over with 
white, under the collar and saddle, Ac. 1 knew a case where 
a hen, which I still have, was bitten by a dog across the j 
back, and white feathers almost immediately appeared in the | 
shape of the bite. These disappeared on the next moult. I 
J knew a case where a mare was bitten in the crest by a 
horse, and for four generations the foals had a white mark ! 
on the crest in the shape of the mouth. These latter were 
cases of decided injury, I presume, to the cellular tissue and 
the secretions therein contained, and probably have reference 
to the case before you. It has been my anxiety to produce 
male birds of the Hamburgh fowl, whose tail feathers should 
be white laced with black, as shown in the plate of Rees’ 
Cyclopedia (produced), and last year I was successful, but 
was surprised to see that on the moult of the bird for this 
year the body of the feather was deeply mossed ; some time , 
after the bird was moulted, the mossing declined, and some ; 
of the feathers were pure white, laced with black. I was j 
not able to keep this bird from want of space, but shall from 
time to time hear what changes may take place. I presume 
this subject has somewhat to do with Albinism; on which 
question, as relating to the ferret, I read a paper before this 
society some years ago, and now lay on the table specimens 
of several birds in exemplification.” 
