JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ Febrnaiy 8, 1872. 



Waddirpt 



1 rMir.His.— 1, 3, and Spfcia], M. Stuart. 2, J. Fieldinfri inn,, Eocbdale. he, 

 W. B. Van Uaantljcrcen : A. Jobiiftone; J. WaJlate ; T. Waddinglcn. 



CilniEBS.— 1. 2, and Special, T. 'WaddinEton. S, A. Eicl.mmd, Kilmarnocl. 

 he. v. siuait, Giatgo-w ; J. G. Dnnn, Newcabtle-on-Tjne; A. Johnstone; A. 

 Richmond. 



Any ctbek Vabiett.-I and Special. A. Croslie. Meliose. 2, J. Wallace 

 (Tiumpcteisl. 3. J. Fielding, jnn. he, J. Wallace (Baibs); W. B. Van Haans- 

 btrpen; T. Waddinptj n (Trnmieleib): J. M. D. BrowTi (Dragoons): T. W ad- 

 dingt< n (Porcelain Ice), c, Miss K, C. Frew : H. Yardlej ; J Wallace (Labores). 



SEL1.1KG €LjS8.-l,E.FobinBon,Airdrie (Pouters). a,J.G Dunn, Newcastle- 

 cn-Tjnc. 3, J. E. f pence, Bronghtj Ferry, he, J. Gait ; J. Frame (Pouters). 



Judge. — Mr. B. Hutton, Garden House, Pudsey, Leeds. 



A EEMAEKABLE INCIDENT. 



Within the last two years I liaye had three consignments 

 of beautiful variegated fancy Pigeons fioin abroad, at ouce 

 handsome, novel, and valuable. Amongst the first collection 

 I received was one bird of a rather singular variety of Pigeon, 

 a match to which, I think, is not to be with in Great Britain, 

 and I am also inclined to think that the variety is not com- 

 mon in any country. A small space will suffice for a brief 

 description of her peculiarities. In general outline she is 

 much after the character of the Jacobin ; her feathering is of 

 a deep glossy black throughout except the tad, which is pure 

 white ; the head is small and unusually round, for it is a 

 proper round head, and is paitiaUy covered from behind by 

 a close-fitting hood, which terminates abruptly at the sides of 

 the neck ; the beak is very short and black. The eye is a 

 pure white, and surrounded by a thin, fleshy, blackish-red 

 lash ; the eye, therefore, from its extreme whiteness and 

 brilliancy is most conspicuous by its suiroundings of intense 

 black. Another peculiarity, which is only observed on close 

 inspection, is, that she is minus the little oil-gland im- 

 mediately above the tail. I have had six other Pigeons from 

 abroad with the same pecuharity, therefore I am not surprised 

 at this somewhat extraordinary feature. 



This funny little Pigeon came to me dh-ect from Turkey, for 

 I helped them all to land, and I was vexed to find only one of 

 the variety, for a pair were shipped to me, but the cock bird 

 died on the voyage. I reached home safely with my birds and 

 placed them in a warm place prepared for their reception, but 

 I resolved on putting this oddity with my stock of Antwerps, 

 and giving her entire liberty. In due course out she came 

 and seemed perfectly satisfied with her English home, and fed, 

 flew, and bred with my Antwerps for the season, but un- 

 fortunately only one young one was the issue of her alliance 

 with the mate she made choice of. That young one was a 

 fac-simile of herself; but notwithstanding my watchful eyes, 

 and her tender care — for she is a capital feeder — it died. 

 Seeing a sign of an established breed from the trial of such 

 an ill-assorted pair, I decided upon placing her in another 

 pen and looking out for a better ancl nearer match ; yet al- 

 though I changed her pen she still was allowed her liberty 

 with the others during the day, but at night her place was 

 with the Toys, and to this abode she soon became accustomed. 

 After each day out with the flyers she would in the evening 

 wait upon the window-frame of her home for me to let her 

 into it. And so things went on for months, until one night, 

 being busily engaged to an unusually late hour, I quite forgot 

 my Capuchin (for such I named her, as in some degree re- 

 sembling that kind), until I was aroused from my writing by 

 a fall of crockery, and then heard the whirr, whirr, of wings. 

 Up I rose and out I went, directing my steps to the paneless 

 portion of the window, hoping to find the bird still there ; but, 

 no ! she was gone, whither I knew not, but my suspicions 

 were soon aroused on seeing by the light of the moon a cat, 

 whose tiger-like foim I clearly beheld as it scaled a high 

 wall in rather too hasty a manner to look innocent. To the 

 cats, then, my bud has gone thought I, and I retued brooding 

 vengeance on the feline race. 



A week or more elapsed, when, as Honorary Secretary of the 

 Bh-mingham Columbarian Society, I attended our periodical 

 meeting, and ere business commenced the following questions 

 were addressed to me by our President (Mr. H. AUsopp). " Mr. 

 Ludlow, have you lost any of your birds lately?" I replied 

 " Yes, unfortunately, a very good Antwerp cock." " But have 

 you not lost any other ? " "Yes, I have," said I, "if a bird 

 can be lost when you know where it is gone," and then 1 told the 

 members about the crash, the rush upon the foe, the hasty 

 retreat, the shadow-like form in the moonlight, &c. Then 

 our worthy President informed me that his reason for asldug 

 the question was that he had caught a bird similar to that 



which he had seen at my place, and had it then m his pocket. 

 Without further questioning he produced the bird, and there, 

 sure enough, was my poor cat-killed Capuchin, who, no doubt 

 frightened from her snooze on the window-frame by the nightly 

 peregrinations of the tabby, had probably flown some distance 

 by moonlight, and so was lost and captured the next day three 

 miles from my place, which had been her only home in this 

 country. Thus it will be seen that although she has never 

 been out of my possession from the time I took her off ship- 

 board, she had flown from the Secretaiy's to the President's, 

 and in her course, whether straight or circuitous, over the largo 

 industrial hive of Bu-mingham and Aston, with its 10G,47O 

 dweUings, inhabited by 489,313 persons, besides the thickly 

 populated suburbs adjoining. When we also take into con- 

 sideration the hundreds of Pigeon-keepers in Birmingham, who 

 between the hours of one and two o'clock turn out theii- 

 immense kits of flyers for their daily airing, it must be con- 

 sidered a remarkable incident that my pectdiar foreigner should 

 have passed from my keeping in so strange a manner, and have 

 been captured at the house of my fellow fancier, friend, and 

 colleague, whilst it was stealing its frugal meal in company 

 with a few birds which are set at large, and kept as feeders for 

 his better bii'ds. — J. W. Ludlow, Vaaximll Road, Birmimjliam. 



PARASITES ON CANAEIES. 



I would supplement the remarks made by Mr. Blakston oo 

 this subject (see page 94) by adding that, as I have aheady pointed 

 outin " The Entomologist," a fruitful and frequently-overlooked 

 source of the very troublesome Acari is the seeds with which 

 the birds are suppUed. There are certainly bird-lice which 

 have nothing to do with the seeds, and which, like fleas, breed 

 in the bnds ; there are others which swarm in the seeds — more 

 at some seasons of the year than at others) — and from these 

 transfer themselves to the birds. I have detected these in 

 canary, rape, and hemp, mostly small; and yet they evidently 

 not only live amongst, but devour the seeds. At the first 

 opportunity, however, they are quite prejjared to betake them- 

 selves to animal food. These Acari do not appear to trouble 

 the bu'ds during the day, when they cluster together in corners 

 and angles, to await the dusk, which sends them out on their 

 rambles. If the seed-vendors carefully sifted their seed before 

 sending it out, and kept it as dry as possible, there would be a 

 diminution in the number of these Acari, even though it might 

 not be possible to keep the seed entirely free of them. 



I do not see what the "worms" could have been to which 

 Mr. Blakston refers, unless, indeed, they were the larvte of 

 some one of the wood-boring beetles. The bird-hee or Acari, 

 though they imdergo some slight changes as they increase in 

 size, do not pass througli any transformations. Besides the 

 adoption of the remedial measures already suggested, it has 

 been recommended to applj' to all the cracks and crevices in 

 the cages a solution of camphor in spirit of wine and turpen- 

 tine mixed. The application of train oil to the infected parts 

 of wooden cages has also been very serviceable. — J. E. S. C. 



EAELY POLLEN— DTSENTEEY. 

 Ml bees carried in pollen on the 2nd of Februai-y. The 

 pellets on the thighs were large and yellow. On that day I 

 changed all the floorboards, brushing off numerous dead bees 

 which had perished from dysentery, owing to the ver.y mild 

 damp weather we have had so long. Some of the healthiest 

 stocks were those on which I have had inverted flower jjots 

 over the central holes in the top-boards, a piece of perforated 

 zinc intervening. By this plan much of the damp air within 

 the hive seems to be able to make its escape. The floorboai'ds 

 of some hives on which there were no flower pots were very 

 mouldy. — S. Bevan Fox. 



Me. Woodbury. — The following extract from a notice of the 

 late Mr. Woodbury appeared in the " Bienenzeitung " of October 

 31st. It well deserves a place in our Journal, and wUl be read 

 with interest by all who remember his labours in the cause of 

 apiarian science. I am indebted for its translation from the 

 German to one of the daughters of the deceased. — E. S. 



" Again, dear bee friends, the sad duty devolves upon me of 

 annoimcing the death of a man who has done much for apicul- 

 ture, and who must have been the first best bee-keeper of 

 modern times in England. Indeed, all the readers of the 

 ' Bienenzeitung ' remember the name — remember the in- 



