12
July 1984
Dear
Mr Plant,
Thank
you for your letter dated 27/6/84 and I am glad you received the booklets in
good order. Thank you also for writing a review, it is a good thought fanciers
at the other side of the globe reading about the booklet.
You
really did a good job with The Pekin
Bantam in Australia. In your introduction you write about “Cochin
bantams” from the US. I think I have this book from the ABA written or
edited by Roy Van Hoesen, 1945, 46 pages. In fact it is a collection of
articles by several authors, J.B.Hamilton on history, Z.R.Prentice,
B.O.Schilling on type, W.F.Caskey on mating, Henry P. McKean, Art V.Granger on
size, E.S.Porter, Northeast Poultryman
W.H.Silk, Paul W.Benz, George Wege, H.Thomforde, H.C.Fisk, Claude A.Lillie
with a bit of early history. I’ll
quote his little article.
"When
the Anglo-French expedition sacked the summer palace of the Chinese emperor in
Pekin, China in 1860, among the spoils sent back to England were specimens of
bantams that had previously been bred and owned exclusively by the Chinese
emperor.
"They
were very small, red in color, had feathered blue legs, and five toes on each
foot. Because of their origin they became known as Pekin bantams.
"Their similarity to Large Cochin fowls in so many respects eventually led fanciers to attempt to breed them in exact duplicate of the larger fowls, but in bantam size. The color was changed from red to buff, the legs from blue to yellow and with but four toes on each foot. This took considerable time and hard work, but was eventually accomplished, and today we have not only buff Cochin bantams, but all other varieties of Cochin bantams in exact reproduction of the large Cochins."
Other
authors: George Fitterer, an article from ABA Bantam culture Course,
C.L.Sibley on the blues, Jack Stahl on mottleds, and cuckoo, W.H.Brown,
P.A.Gregg, M.N.Capp, Joe Davin, C.A.White Jr., Pacific Poultry-man, R.K.Price
on Columbian Cochin bantams as a very rare non-standard variety without a
single information about the creation of the variety. There is now a reprint
of the Cochin bantam book dated 1979 price 1.50 in English pounds. I found
this on the book list of Veronica Mayhew, The Vicarage, Kidmore End, Reading,
Berks, England.
Your
part of Pekin history in your book is good reading and I like books with many
quotations. I wrote you earlier that in my country we don’t consider the
Cochin bantam to be a real miniature of the large Cochin fowl but we think it
is an original bantam as you do. From time to time I write to Mr Skinner about
these problems and he agrees the Cochin bantam not to be a miniature of the
large fowl because of the difference in type.
There
is also the historical story of the breed. Mr Skinner is planning to visit
Europe this fall and I think I’ll met
him and his wife in October at the Utrecht Ornithophilia
Show. He was here a few times more.
From
the illustrations of your book I learned that there are very good Pekin
bantams in Australia, better as the birds from South Africa. I read that Mrs
L.Hering had passed on. I always got a Christmas letter but not the last
years, so I think she was not so healthy the last months of her life. She
could read my books a little, she had Dutch ancestors, and used a dictionary.
Our
summer is not so good as we want. This weekend there was a heatwave after days
we had to use the c.heater. It ends with thunderstorm and many trees uprooted.
Today
it is 15 July, we went to Friesland a part in the North of our country to pay
the last honour to an aunt of my husband. Now back to your book. About the
Origin of the domestic fowl there are moderner ideas to be found in books of
Dr A.L.Hagedoorn, a Dutch scholar in genetics and his books are translated in
English. It was his conviction, the large variety in type and color of
domestic fowl finds its cause in crossings of wild breeds of jungle fowl.
Primitive men could have kept a from nature tame junglefowl (Gallus
sonnerati) and after emigration these birds taken into places where
crossings took place with related wild fowl as Bankiva.
So
the tame breed became variable and it was possible by selection to breed
different kinds. It is possible extinct breeds of wild fowl had a contribution
to the now known breeds of poultry.
Mr
Plant, I enjoyed your book and there is a lot to write about. May be later.
Sincerely,