394 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( November 21, 1867. 



foreigner in the class, the Judges did not trouble which pen of 

 White was third. Now, had there been a separate class for 

 White, most likely they would have had more attention. 



Amateurs certainly cannot continue to enter Blacks or 

 Whites in the Any variety class, seeing how badly they are 

 served; and if Committees will look at the entries, they will 

 find that Black and White will pay for a class to themselves, 

 especially at any large show. I hope, if not too late, to yet see 

 a separate class for them at Weston-super-Mare, in January 

 nest ; if so, I shall enter two or three pens ; if not, they must 

 stay at home, as it will not pay to send them, with the sure 

 chance of being beaten. 



I see they have classes for Game, Sebrights, Whites, and 

 Blacks, at Hanley. There they exclude foreign Bantams al- 

 together.— G. T. 



EXHIBITED FOW^LS INJURED. 



My White Dorking cockerel, which, with a pullet, took the 

 only prize awarded in that class at the Bristol and Clifton 

 Show last week, was returned to me on Sunday morning with- 

 out a feather of any description left in his tail ! The Secretary 

 assm-es me that four men were engaged to watch the birds ; 

 still some mischievous or malicious person or persons succeeded 

 in_ pulling out the tails of some of the cocks. Whether this 

 injury is done as he supposes, or by the gross carelessness of 

 those engaged to catch and repack the birds, is not for me to 

 say; but, surely, exhibitors are entitled to the proper protection 

 of the valuable birds they send to the Shows.— A Subscriber. 



[One or more of the Committee should attend whilst their 

 men are taking the birds from the pens, for the purpose of 

 insuring care. Fowls should travel iu close baskets, for rail- 

 way officials, or boys at the station, are too prone thoughtlessly 

 to ill-treat poultry.] 



BRISTOL AND CLIFTON POULTRY SHOW, 



Few sliows of the present season have been so complete a success as 

 that held at Bristol. The Drill Hall is unquestionably one of the 

 very best of hnildin;:s for the purposes of sueh a show, being nnusnally 

 light, very well ventilated, and so larfje, that were it necessary as many 

 as fifteen or sixteen hundred pens of poultry might be easily accom- 

 modated. The Committee being entirely composed of ivell-known 

 poultry exhibitors, the public had full confidence in their management 

 of the many valuable specimens tbat were entrusted to their superin- 

 tendance, and we may truly say we never saw a body of gentlemen 

 more unremitting in tlicir efforts to carry out their duties satisfactoi-ily. 

 The weathei*, too, was remarkably fine for the season, and everything 

 went on most pleasantly. 



In the Grey Dorhinfis not only was the number of entries unusu- 

 ally large, but the quality of most of the fowls shown was extraordi- 

 narily good — so much so, that many of even the only highly commended 

 pens at Bristol could easily take principal positions at most of our 

 local shows. We have no doubt that the next few months will prove 

 the present year to have been remarkable for the production of early- 

 hatched first-rate Grey Dorkings. "Wo should have been pleased could 

 we liave mentioned aa favourably the White Dorkings. A more in- 

 different class throughout, however, we rarely if ever met with ; and 

 in respect to size, those shown at Bristol were scarcely larger than 

 small Hamburghs. They were, iu fact, so unquestionably bad, that 

 both the first and thhd prizes were withheld. 



Cochins were good, and a few pens remarkably so. It is rarely that 

 Cochin pullets have been shown of equal excellence, and so generally 

 good as on this occasion ; but we regretted to find several instances in 

 which the whole of the principal tail feathers had been purposely ex- 

 taacted, possibly with the mistaken view of improvement ; but" this 

 practice, whilst now becoming so general, is by no means permissible, 

 and lost several pens the opportunity of appearing among the prize 

 winners, which they assuredly would have done had they not been thus 

 tampered with. The Cochin cup was awarded to a very good pen of 

 Partridge -coloured. 



The Game classes were of considerable merit, and some pens were 

 snch as have not this season been equalled. Mr. Boyes's Duckwings, 

 Mr. Aykroyd's pullet, and Mr. Charles Chaloner's single cockerel, 

 ■were most praiseworthy. Mr. James Fletcher, of Manchester, exhi- 

 bited most excellent Brown Red Game, that wei'e the most notable in 

 the Show, as being not only the winners of the first prize in their own 

 particular class, but also of the seven guinea cup for the best pen of 

 Game fowls, and the President's cup for the best pen of any variety 

 of poultry in the Exhibition. 



The Spdiiish classes, which at last year's Bristol show were the 

 gems of the exhibition, on the present occasion were not so well con- 

 ditioned as we had hoped for, the greater proportion of the birds 

 evidently being still far from the completion of their moulting. This 

 difference, however, ia easily explained, as last year's show was held 



fnlly two months later, and. consequently, these Spanish birds having 

 their plumage then fully restored, the faces were necessarily in their 

 highest beauty — a result quite unattainable so Jong as they remain in 

 pen feather. From this circumstance alone many noted exhibitore, 

 finding themselves incapable of sending their Spanish fowls in their 

 accustomed condition so early in the season, wisely prefen'cd to let 

 them remain quietly at home instead of hazarding them at the Show, 

 where success would be so uncertain ; consequently man}- pens were, 

 empty, that a month or six weeks hence would have contained 

 such specimens as the Bristol Spanish-breeders can exhibit in mid- 

 winter. Messrs. Parsley, Lane, Newton, Jones, and Heath managed, 

 nevertheless, to support the claim of the Bristol Show to superiority 

 iu Spanish. So good iudeed were the first-named gentleman's birds, 

 that had he made a little different arrangement iu the selection of his 

 own pens of Spanish fowls, most probably the President's cup would 

 have remained in Bristol. 



Then came the Unihuta classes, and certainly such a display of one- 

 year-olds of this breed was never mtnessed at any poultry show, the 

 Light-feathered being in such number and of such excellence as to be 

 suiqu'ising, and, as will be seen by reference to the prize list, they were 

 chiefly from the yards of new breeders. Experience proves, however, 

 that the Light -feathered Brabmas are usually worsted in a general 

 competition agamst the Dark ones. In the Dark variety the selected 

 cues, pui-posely kept back especially for Bristol by that noted exhibitor 

 Mr. Boyle, of Dubhu, made good their position in classes where win- 

 ning was by no means an easy task. Yet this gentleman, with only 

 three pens, stood first in all three of the classes iu which he had 

 entered ; but a still more unexampled achievement awaited him, for 

 the magnificent specimen of a Brahma cockerel, exhibited by Mr. 

 Boyle, took precedence for the seven-guinea silver cup, given to the best 

 single cockerel of any breed in the Exhibition. The silver cup for 

 the best pair of Brabmas was also taken by birds from the same yard. 

 Brabmas certainly foi-med a most important feature of this Exhibition. 



The Jlomhvn/hs were scarcely in the first-class feather that they 

 might have been ; but, still, there were many unexceptionally good 

 pens. The Spangled Hamburghs proved the better varieties. Some 

 excellent PulQi and a strong class of Freudi fowls were on view, and 

 iu the Variety classes were some perfect Cochin Bantams, and a pen 

 of the now so rarely-seen entirely Black Cuchins, It is worthy of 

 remark that the cocks of this variety usually assume a mixed plumage 

 at their second moult, though the hens remain black as ever — a fea- 

 ture that, perhaps, more than all else has tended to render them un- 

 popular to all but the most persevering of Cochin amateurs. 



The Game Bautiivis were very good, as were likewise the Sebrights ; 

 the Black Bantams were scarcely up to the mark in feather. 



In Aylesbuiy Duels the competition, so far as the prizes alone were 

 actually concerned, lay exclusively between Mrs. Mary Seamons and 

 Mr. J. K. Fowler, both of Aylesbury, aud who, it is well known, ax'e 

 the two principal breeders in the kingdom. Each of these exhibited 

 a cou])le of pens, all four alike, as being faultless iu bills, plumage, 

 Arc. The result of weights, however, told extraordinarily in favour of 

 the Ducks belonging to Mrs. Seamons, being respectively 17 lbs. and 

 HU lbs. the pair, whilst her opponent's were 15 lbs, and 13 lbs. In 

 the class for irccsc even gi'cater rivalry existed between the same exhi- 

 bitors ; a pen each was shown, Mr. Fowlers being Toulouse Geese 

 and Mrs. Seamon's the Embdens. Here, again, so perfect were each 

 of their variety, that the scales were again brought into requisition as 

 a tell-tale, but proved worthless altogether, for each pen weighed e© 

 precisely 41A lbs., that even a single ounce weight drew the scale in 

 favour of either party. It might, therefore, have been justly deemed 

 " a dead heat ;" but by the rules there was no help for it, the prizes 

 must be given one way or the other, aud eventually after a useless 

 waste of time in close scrutiny to discover any defect, the Greys were 

 victorious. The Titrheys -were admirable, and the display of Pifjeona 

 unusually good. 



A complete list of the awards, together with the remarks of 

 our correspondent " Y. B. A. Z.," appeared last week. 



HAMPSHIRE ORNITHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. 



The extent to which the Show of this Association has advanced in 

 public favour is remarkable, and undoubtedly this result is well 

 merited, for few Committees are more desirous to perform eveiy duty 

 required of them ; aud Mr. Phihp Warren has proved himself to be a 

 truly model Secretary in all the manifold duties that throng so heavily 

 at the last moment on such an official. The Hampshire Oruitho- 

 logical Show has not only become a large and important exhibition, 

 but one that for the arrangements cannot be surpassed. There are 

 two features which contribute to its popularity, even among a large 

 number of risitors who are not especially fond of the culture of 

 either poultiy or Pigeons. We allude to the appointment of two 

 classes, one for Pheasants or Game of any variety, foreign or English ; 

 and the other for foreign or British birds of any kind, including every 

 description of those highly-coloured ones that so strongly attract the 

 admiration of all comers. The marked attention these specimens in- 

 sure, few persons except those who annually visit the Southampton 

 Show could imagine ; in fact, the continually thronged avenues de- 

 voted to these specimens, prove beyond question, how gi-eatly they add 

 to the interest. As regards the care bestowed on the birds, nothing 



