, 119 



** they could give me the weight of the great Crowned 

 "Pigeon, I mentioned five were sold at the sale of 

 '' the late spirited Fancier the Earl of Derb3^ Mr. 

 " Gastang went into his counting-house and brought 

 " out the catalogue, I referred him to lot 461, he was 

 "at the sale, I could not §0, it was arranged at the 

 " sale to divide the birds, one lot a pair sold for twenty- 

 " pounds, the lot of three sold for thirty-pounds, to 

 "return to the weight of a pair of these birds, Mr. 

 " Castang said ; to the best of his recollection, they 

 " were the size of middling turkeys, he thought they 

 " would weigh about sixteen pounds per pair, . . ." 



In contrast with the above prices it is interesting 

 to note that last year a pair was bought, to the best of 

 my recollection, by one of our members for eight 

 pounds from a Florentine dealer. 



According to Professor Newton the name Goura 

 is presumably of Eastern origin and was given to this 

 bird by Sonnerat in 1776. This authority' states that 

 it has been bred in captivity but " has as yet evinced 

 *'no readiness to domestication, which is to be re- 

 " gretted when we consider its large size and the 

 "becoming appearance it makes with its erect crest, 

 " its colouring of lavender-grey with a chestnut mantle 

 " and white wing-patch, to say nothing of its stately 

 " gait." 



