JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGK GABDENEB. 



[ May 16, 1872. 



fowls in a confined state, inasmuch as the increased pnce eggs 

 obtain in the winter months will compensate for te^n'^'f^ed 

 cost of keeping fowls depending entirely upon hand-feeding. 

 (To be continued.) 



EXIT END OE AN EGG. 

 I HAVE seen eggs chipped at the smaU end, but I have never 

 kno^ a chicken make its exit from that end. This season I 

 Sid one such case, but the chicken failed to chip the sheU suffi- 

 ■ciently to admit of its escape, and so it died before I was aware 

 ofTts position. On opening the shell I foimd that the chicken s 

 body was in the natural position, but its head was unusually 

 low down, and on that account it could not work round m tne 



^ It is not unusual to find eggs chipped about the mime, out of 

 seventy eggs hatched this year I had three such ; the bubble, 

 in each was much below the shoulder of the egg, but not entirely 

 on the side. , . ,, , n . .^n, ifo 



The natural position of the chicken m the sheU is with its 

 •caudal extremity in the smaU end, its feet drawn up against the 

 sides and front of its abdomen, the neck bent forwards ana 

 downwards, the left side of the head against the thorax a 

 Uttle to the right of the central Une, the right wing covering the 

 right eye. AU living thing,.?, oviparous as well as vi-nparous, 

 come into the world head foremost. The large end of an egg 

 ■comes first, and from that end the chicken makes its exit. — 



■p s —Since writing the above I examined the eggs that I 

 iave set— about fifty— and found one with the air-chamber 

 near the small end. It was set on the 20th. X will examme 

 it occasionally untU it comes to maturity, and if of any interest 

 ■to you, I will send you my notes of the case. 



1 his pubUc official duties. The subscribers to the testimonial 

 included not only his friends and members of the Association, 

 but also the exliibitors at its exhibitions. That it has thriven 

 during his secretaryship is testified by the foUowmg statement : 

 At thiir first Show they had 150 exhibitors ; second 213 ; third, 

 270; fourth, 380; fifth, 490; sixth, 510; seventh, 600; eighth, 

 650 ; ninth, 700 ; tenth, 900. 



CEYSTAL P.VLACE CAT SHOW. 

 A Cat Show was held at the Ci-ystal Palace, which opened yes- 

 terday, and will be continued to-day. The number of entries is 

 not so great as at the last exhibition, but what has been a f aUing- 

 off in number has been correspondingly an improvement m the 

 quality of the animals exhibited. In futm-e Mr. "Wilson intends 

 that these exhibitions shaU take place in the autumn, when the 

 entries wiU be much gieater. Among the animals exhibited 

 was a fine specimen of the Eoyal Cats of Siam, which are only 

 known to exist in the palace of the King ; also a fine specimen 

 of the rare Tortoisehell Tom Cat. The arrangements were ad- 

 mirable, and such as to enable the curious pubUc, who look and 

 linger at these interesting exhibitions, to see the whole m com- 

 fort. The Judges were Lady Dorothy Nevill, Mr. Harnson 

 TVeii-, F.E.H.S., Mr. Jeuner "Weii-, F.Z.S., and Dr. Hogg. 



BraSriNGHAM SUMMEB EXHIBITION OF POUI^TEY AND PiGEONS.— 



A schedule is just issued, and one more enticing to exhibitors 

 could scarcely be conceived. The silver cups, of which there are 

 ali-eadyuolessthanforty-oneadvertised,willno doubt be even yet 

 considerably augmented, being throughout the gifts of private lu- 

 di-viduals ; and as the Ust of subscriptions is not yet complete, it 

 is probable there will eventually be but few if any classes with- 

 out their plate prizes. The number of classes is ninety, and their 

 arrangement foUows pretty closely that of the Birmingham De- 

 cember meetings. Among the special novelties of the Show, to 

 be held simultaneously and adjacent to the Boyal Horticultural 

 "Society's Exhibition, is a class open to any variety of Pheasants, 

 which it is expected will be of great pubho interest ; and be- 

 sides this, the ladies of Moseley and King's Heath have con- 

 tributed a handsome piece of plate for the best pair of fancy 

 Ducks— that wiU, beyond doubt, insure a large enti-y of the 

 most valuable specimens. The Show being entirely under the 

 management of long-experienced amateurs, the owners of choice 

 poultry may safely depend on the most careful and constant 

 attention— in fact, as advertised in the schedule, " Members of 

 the Committee will be in attendance both day and night," though 

 another rule will be rigidly enforced, " that no exhibitor or any 

 member of the Committee will be allowed in the Show during 

 the judging." The entries close on Saturday, June the 8th next. 

 The Show itself will be held under spacious tents, on Jime 2oth 

 and three following days, and the Judges appointed are, for 

 Poultry, Messrs. Hewitt and Teebay; for Pigeons generally, 

 Messrs. EsijuUant and Child ; and for Flj-iug and Muff-legged 

 Tumblers, Mr. Beardsmore, of Birmingham, t'uder so careful 

 -an arrangement a great success appears certain. 



Hampshire Ornithological Association. — After acting as 

 Honorary Secretary for ten years Mr. Philip Wan-en has re- 

 signed. A very handsome silver epergne and other articles 

 have been presented to him at a public dinner, and he explained 

 that the cause of his resignation is the claim upon his time of 



SILVER DEAGOONS' BAES. 



The question at issue on this subject is. Which is the proper 

 colour for a Silver Dragoon bar-brown or ^ack? Ml^ Grah^ 

 does not bring foi-^-ard any evidence fl^^it'^'^^-.^'jy *^^i^\X 

 bar should not be upheld, much less why the black should take 



''^Mr!^ Graham says my precedent is " no argument, for no 

 black-barred were exhibited, and therefore they (the judges) 

 were obhged to give prizes to the best of their abihty , and sup- 

 posing judges make L en-or one year, is that any reason why 

 they should always do so ? " I say the judges were "ght then 

 and are right now, in gi.dng brown-baii-ed ^»^-^l^^%^^l%l°l 

 there are So black-ban-ed birds now any more than there were 

 then; and to prove this assertion I quote Mr Crrahams own 

 lettei- of December 21st, 1871, page 498, i-Y"^^ 1,1 b^f beeS 

 reply to your correspondent (who, I may here add has been 

 one of the best Dragoon breeders in existence, and to whose 

 opinion I would sooner give way than to that of any man m the 

 fancy), " Now I maintain that they cannot be too black and 1 

 should only be too glad to meet with a. P^"; li^^^^S J^'i'^f i 

 bars." What does this mean ? Does it not coufirni what i 

 have said in my former letter, that what Mr. Graham has 

 written up as black is not black— far from It ? , ,t i,tf„,. 



I should be glad if Mr. Graham would read my last lettei 

 again, evidently he misunderstands me. I then asked, How is it 

 so successful a fancier as Mi-. Graham has never (as far as my 

 personal experience has gone, and I have visited many shows) 

 fxhibited other than brown-barred birds until he pm-chased the 

 second-prize pair- at the Palace Show Mr. Graham himself 

 exhibiting brown-barred birds there ? Mr Graham s'lys tins ^ 

 contraiT to the truth, for the only pair of Silvers at the Cijstal 

 Palace which I exhibited were black bars. Will Mr. Giaham 

 admit there were only two pairs of Slivers m the class (Blue oi 

 SUver), and that Mr. Gibson obtained the second prize.' 1 again 

 state the others were Mr. Graham's, having brown bars. These 

 birds, too, I saw at a show a few weeks before, and looking ovei 

 the class at the Palace before opening my catalogue, I remarKea 

 to a friend, " Why, Graham has done nothmg -with his aUvers . 

 ! Mr. Graham also says Mr. Allsop, in his conteoversy with Mr. 

 PercivaU, in your Journal a few years ago advocated a w;hite 

 ' rump for a Dragoon. Now I can assure Mr. Graham he is as 

 much in ei-ror on this subject as he is m stating bladv is the 

 proper colour for a Silver Dragoon bar. It was Mr Ludlow, and 

 not myself who took part in that controversy ; and if I remembei 

 aright on this subject (I have not the con-espondence by me to 

 refer to) Mr. Ludlow, also, never did advocate the white inimp 

 for a Blue Dragoon. Perhaps Mr. Ludlow -mil put us right m 

 this matter; and as Mr. Graham has to caU on his fi-iend Mr. 

 Gibson to come to the front and support the black bars, i 

 respectfully ask Mr. Ludlow to give his experience in breeding 

 SUvers, and to say which is the proper colom- for their bar. 



Mr. Brent, in his book on Pigeons, says that Silver Owls 

 Baldheads, &c., should have black bars. Mr. Graham asks. If 

 correct in other breeds why not so in Dragoons ? I may as weU 

 ask As the Silver Dun Antwerp has red bars, wny should not 

 the SUver Dragoon have red bars ? I think one argiiment is as 

 good as the other— that is, worth nothing at all. In the first 

 Slace may I ask Mr. Graham, Is the " Silver " colour of the Owl, 

 Baldheads, or Tui-bit of the same colour as the Silver ot the 

 Dragoon ?— unquestionably not. Do not the -white flights ot 

 the Baldhead or Turbit enhance the colour of their bar by the 

 contrast there is in black and white? Is it .not different 

 altogether with the Silver Dragoon ? Do not theii- flights have 

 to match with their body ? Should not the neck feathers of the 

 ' bird con-espond with the colour of their bar ? In bro^-n-barred 

 birds it does— a point this which Mr. tjraham seems entirely to 

 ignore— as in such birds as the second-prize Palace and Bir- 

 mingham birds were, whilst their bars were of a bad colour, or, 

 to us°e a corrected term, "kite-colouredbars," their neckfeathers 

 were decidedly of a blue cast. This I consider a fatal objection 

 to a show bu-d. , . , c 



Mr Graham also says that Dragoon classes m shows are ot 

 comparatively recent dale, and we must therefore look to the old 

 flving fanciers, who distinctly state that Silver Dragoons should 

 have black bars, and that Mr. Moore, a flying man of twenty- 

 three years' standing, says, " Duu bars were always cUscaraetl, 

 and considered wastrels and only fit for the pie. 1 would 

 remind Mr. Graham that there is an exception to every riUe. 

 Twelve years ago I knew of a bromi-barred Silver Dragoon hen 

 that fled regulariy from Alton Towers to Walsall, a distance of 

 1 nearly fifty miles, under the hour, and lately of a Silver Dun 



