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,