"A great hue and cry," says Miss Watts, "has been raised against the Cochin-Chinas as fowls for the table, but we believe none have bestowed attention on breeding them with a view to this valuable consideration. Square, compact, short-legged birds have been neglected for a certain colour of feather, and a broad chest was given up for the wedge-form at the very time that was pronounced a fault in the fowl. It is said that yellow-legged fowls are yellow also in the skin, and that white skin and white legs accompany each other; but how pertinaciously the yellow leg of the Cochin is adhered to! Yet all who have bred them will attest that a little careful breeding would perpetuate white-legged Cochins. Exhibitions are generally excellent; but to this fowl they certainly have only been injurious, by exaggerating useless and fancy qualities at the expense of those which are solid and useful. Who would favour, or even sanction, a Dorking in which size and shape, and every property we value in them, was sacrificed to an endeavour to breed to a particular colour? and this is what we have been doing with the Cochin-China. Many breeders say, eat Cochins while very young; but we have found them much better for the table as fowls than as chickens. A fine Cochin, from five to seven months old, is like a turkey, and very juicy and fine in flavour."
A peculiar characteristic of these birds, technically called "fluff," is a quantity 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 that the broadest part of the bird is behind. Its quality is a good indication of the breed; if fine and downy the birds are probably well-bred, but if rank and coarse they are inferior. The cocks are frequently somewhat scanty in "fluff," but should be chosen with as much as possible; but vulture-hocks which often accompany the heaviest feathered birds should be avoided, as they now disqualify at the best shows. "The fluff," says a good authority, "in the hen especially, should so cover the tail feathers as to give the appearance of a very short back, the line taking an upward direction from within an inch or so of the point of junction with the hackle." The last joint of the wings folds up, so that the ends of the flight feathers are concealed by the middle feathers, and their extremities are again covered by the copious saddle, which peculiarity has caused them to be also called the ostrich-fowl.
A good Cochin cock should be compact, large, and square built; broad across the loins and hind-quarters; with a deep keel; broad, short back; short neck; small, delicately-shaped, well-arched head; short, strong, curved beak; rather small, finely and evenly serrated, straight, single, erect comb, wholly free from reduplications and sprigs; brilliant red face, and pendant wattles; long hanging ear-lobe, of pure red, white being inadmissible; bright, bold eye, approaching the plumage in colour; rich, full, long hackle; small, closely-folded wings; short tail, scarcely any in some fine specimens, not very erect, with slightly twisted glossy feathers falling over it like those of the ostrich; stout legs set widely apart, yellow and heavily feathered to the toe; and erect carriage. The chief defect of the breed is narrowness of breast, which should therefore be sought for as full as possible.
The hen's body is much deeper in proportion than that of the cock. She resembles him upon most points, but differs in some; her comb having many indentations; the fluff being softer, and of almost silky quality; the tail has upright instead of falling feathers, and comes to a blunt point; and her carriage is less upright.
Cochins lose their beauty earlier than any other breed, and moult with more difficulty each time. They are in their greatest beauty at from nine to eighteen months old. The cocks' tails increase with age. In buying Cochins avoid clean legs, fifth toes, which show that it has been crossed with the Dorking, double combs that betray Malay blood, and long tails, particularly taking care that the cock has not, and ascertaining that he never had, sickle feathers. The cock ought not to weigh less than ten or eleven pounds, and a very fine bird will reach thirteen; the hens from eight to ten pounds.
The principal colours now bred are Buff, Cinnamon, Partridge, Grouse, Black, and White. The Buff and White are the most popular.
Buff birds may have black in the tails of both sexes, but the less there is the better. Black-pencilling in the hackle is considered objectionable at good shows. The cock's neck hackles, wing coverts, back, and saddle hackles, are usually of a rich gold colour, but his breast and the lower parts of his body should match with those of his hens. Buff birds generally produce chickens lighter than themselves. Most birds become rather lighter at each moult. In making up an exhibition pen, observe that Grouse and Partridge hens should have a black-breasted cock; and that Buff and Cinnamon birds should not be placed together, but all the birds in the pen should be either Buff or Cinnamon. The Cinnamon are of two shades, the Light Cinnamon and the Silver, which is a pale washy tint, that looks very delicate and pretty when perfectly clean. Silver Cinnamon hens should not be penned with a pale Yellow cock, but with one as near to their own tint as can be found. Mr. Andrews's celebrated strain of Cochins sometimes produced both cocks and hens which were Silver Cinnamon, with streaks of gold in the hackle.
In Partridge birds the cock's neck and saddle hackles should be of a bright red, striped with black, his back and wings of dark red, the latter crossed with a well-defined bar of metallic greenish black, and the breast and under parts of his body should be black, and not mottled. The hen's neck hackles should be of bright gold, striped with black, and all the other portions of her body of a light brown, pencilled with very dark brown. The Grouse are very dark Partridge, have a very rich appearance, and are particularly beautiful when laced. They are far from common, and well worth cultivating. The Partridge are more mossed in their markings, and not so rich in colour as the Grouse. Cuckoo Cochins are marked like the Cuckoo Dorkings, and difficult to breed free of yellow.
The White and Black were introduced later than the others. Mr. Baily says the White were principally bred from a pair imported and given to the Dean of Worcester, and which afterwards became the property of Mrs. Herbert, of Powick. White Cochins for exhibition must have yellow legs, and they are prone to green. The origin of the Black is disputed. It is said to be a sport from the White, or to have been produced by a cross between the Buff and the White. By careful breeding it has been fixed as a decided sub-variety, but it is difficult, if not almost impossible, to rear a cock to complete maturity entirely free from coloured feathers. They keep perfectly pure in colour till six months old, after which age they sometimes show a golden patch or red feathers upon the wing, or a few streaks of red upon the hackle, of so dark a shade as to be imperceptible except in a strong light, and are often found on close examination to have white under feathers, and others barred with white.
The legs in all the colours should be yellow. Flesh-coloured legs are admissible, but green, black, or white are defects. In the Partridge and Grouse a slight wash, as of indigo, appears to be thrown over them, which in the Black assumes a still darker shade; but in all three yellow should appear partially even here beneath the scales, as the pink tinge does in the Buff and White birds.