A Little Queen's Pet.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVI, Issue II, 12 January 1901, Page 95

A Little Queen's Pet.

When Queen Victoria was a little girl. before thoughts of the English throne had ever entered her head, she was the owner of a very fine coop of Cochin China fowls. There were very large white roosters, beautiful, plump hens and downy chicks by th* dozen, for the coop was a very large one. But the pet of all the pets was a big rooster, who had learned to know his little mistress and to follow her around the inclosure where he was kept. Many photos were taken of the Cochin China fowls, and later, when the little Victoria grew to be a woman and was called to the English throne, sh" took her Cochin China fowls with her. and had them installed at Grasse, one of her country seats. They are still at Grasse, and for a generation the Queen’s children and grandchildren have played with them and admired them. Last summer little

Lady Alexandra Duff, the Queen’s little great-granddaughter, was taken to Grasse, and one day her nurse led her out to where there was a coop of beautiful Cochin China hens and chickens, all descender! from the ones the haby \ ictoria played with sixty years ago.