January 20, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



55 



Dove, York ; W. E. & H. O. Blenkinsop. English.— 1, J. J. Wilson, Darlington. 

 t, W. R, & H. O. Blenkinsop. 



Tumbleks (Common).— 1, W. Harvey. 2, H. Morrow (Balds). Jtc, W. Petrie 

 (Yellow); E.Horner, c , H. Yardley. 



(■Dragoons.— 1, F. Graham. 2, S. N. Challoner, Newcastle, he, W. Harvey; 

 J. Percivall, Peckham ; M-MoGnire, Wert sherburn. 



Any other Vabiety.— 1, W. Harvey. 2. T. W. Kilburn (Swiss), he, J. Field- 

 ing, jun. ; W. U. Van Haannl>tTi."'n H'.lHL'k Nuns); H. Yardley; J. Cundale ; 

 J. Watts (Maine and Swallows); W. K. & H. O. Blenkinsop (Magpies); E. 

 Horner. 



Selling Class.— 1, W. H. C. Oates (White Trumpeters). 2 and 3, R. Whitr 



CAGE BIRDS. 



Belgians.— Clear iYeUow.— 1, R. Forsvth, Edinburgh. 2. J. Baxter, New- 

 castle. Clear Buff.— I, J. N.Harrison. 2, T. Bennett. Variegated or Marked. 

 —1. J. Baxter, Seaton Burn, Belper. 



Glasgow Dons.— Clear TeUow.—l, J. Stewart, Newcastle. 2, W. Clark, New- 

 castle. Clear Bu'T. — l, W. Clark. 2. .1. Soulshv, Newcastle. 



Goldfinch Mules.— Yellow.— 1 and 2, J. Baxter. Buff.— 1 and 2, J. Baxter. 



Linnet Mules.— 1 and 2, J. Baxter. 



NoawicH.— Ch ar Yelljir.—i. Moore & Wynnp, Northampton. 2, Irons and 

 Gayton, Northampton. Clear Buff.—}, I.ons A Gayton. 2, Moore & Wynne. 

 Variegated or Marke*l.—l, Moore A Wynne. 2, J. Bexson, Derby. 



Cinnamon.— Jonque.—l, J. Bexson. 2, J. Smart, Newcastle. Buff,—l, J. 



Bihd : 



! Me 



-1, Moore &. Wynne. 



Jodges. — Pigeons: Mr. T. J. Charlton, Bradford; and Mr. G. 

 Fletcher, York. Canaries : Mr. T. Lowrey, Gateshead Low Fell. 



THK GLASGOW PIGEON SHOW 



(North British Columbarian Society's). 



{Continued from page 36.) 



THE POUTER CLASSES— Continued. 



In our resnmed report of last week (interrupted by the heavy 

 demands on our columns) we reminded our readers that the Yellow Pied 

 strain from an inferior condition had rapidly risen to an equality with 

 the other standard classes. No department, indeed, illustrates more 

 emphatically the resources, perseverance, and skill of the modern 

 Pouter-fancier; and if in some degree it shares the common failing 

 in regard to plumage, it is for the most part a defect accidentally 

 derived, rather than a purposed infringement of sound principles of 

 breeding. Solidity of colour has ever been sought, and most properly, 

 through the Red strains, on the purity of which very much depends. 

 Valuable, however, as this cross is to the Yellows, and in its degree 

 to the Reds also, it is especially liable to deterioration from its re- 

 actionary and diluting effect on the Red, unless due precautions be 

 taken to support the Red blood in fulness and richness. In the haste 

 to obtain Yellow in quantity rather than quality, such precautions 

 have sometimes been neglected : hence colour has not always kept 

 pace with other notable improvements in this class, and is not so 

 determined in tone a3 it might have been had onr friends contented 

 ihemselvt a with fewer but more trenchant matches. While recording 

 with congratulations the advanced position of the Yellow class, we 

 may, speaking generally, ascribe the occasional weakness of tint and 

 frequent ashiness of feather to the neglect of Red blood, or its use in 

 an impoverished or a polluted state. By a natural transition this 

 brings us to the allied strains, and to the consideration of that pollu- 

 tion which, accidentally to the Yellow Pied fancier, and beyond his 

 responsibility, has marred his labours, and to this section of our re- 

 port we invite serious attention. 



The weak point of the Show was decidedly the Red Pieds. Present- 

 ing little that was exceptionable on the score of the structural pro- 

 perties, as compared with the other classes, our remarks may be 

 addressed with the more purpose to the one distinctive feature — colour. 

 In this particular Mr. Montgomery's birds — heretofore so great, and 

 although still above the general average of excellence — were equalled 

 if not surpassed by a single specimen (No. 193), exhibited by Mr. D. 

 Stewart. Notwithstanding the unusual depth and richness of its hue, 

 this bird was probably overlooked by the majority of visitors, it being 

 much out of condition. Ranking next, but of only comparative merit, 

 may be placed the first-prize hen of Mr. Volckman. Viewed, how- 

 ever, as a whole, the Red classes were almost a burlesque in the de- 

 partment in question, every possible imperfection tainting the feather. 

 Even in the best a whitish grizzled effect too often asserted itself, 

 whilst the inferior specimens donned coats so questionable that only 

 the largest-hearted courtesy would dare to pronounce them Reds. 

 Instead of a solid unmingled colour, a weak composite effect prevailed, 

 and sound red gave place to a pale, washed-out, spurious ground tint, 

 dappled, chequered, and shaded by every possible degree of ashen- 

 leaden dullness. 



This deterioration is much to be regretted, for in Reds, perhaps, 

 more than in any class there is a scope, we think, for much variety of 

 taste and gradation of tint. Providing in each case a simple, and not 

 an amalgam is produced, such gradations might include many shades 

 pure in effect, from a soft, rich, downy colour to a deep lustrous red, 

 brightened throughout the feather, and especially in the hackle, by 

 glancing tints of green, purple, and gold. Such a gamut of colours is 

 occasionally observable in the best Jacobins, but only at rare intervals 

 In the Pouter classes. 



The present decadence of colour ia not altogether a blameable 



matter, for the necessity of breeding Yellows over to Reds has occa* 

 sioned a dilution of the red blood, which careful matching may rectify. 

 Yellows, however, may safely be allowed for a season or two to take 

 their chance unassisted, in order that by mating the best Reds together 

 the red colour may be renovated and intensified. Yellows, indeed, 

 will be the gainers by this policy, for when again crossed over to such 

 improved red their own coats will be the brighter and richer. As 

 in the Blacks, so in the Reds, much mischief may be traced to the 

 Blue cross ; not that the Red Pied fancier of to-day is ever guilty of a 

 proceeding so monstrous. So extremely dominant, however, is the 

 Blue or Blue Mealy blood when once infused into a strain, that for 

 generations after its use, or rather misuse, it will continue to assert 

 itself, and in the case under review the evidences of mistakes, probably 

 dating back many years, are almost as apparent now as if the mischief 

 had only been perpetrated yesterday. Such a cross could only have 

 been designed for the purpose of strengthening the Rod strains on the 

 side of the structural properties — size, shape, &c. ; bnt it is worthy 

 of especial note that any gain in this direction is probably more than 

 counterbalanced by the injury occasioned to another cross in every re- 

 spect more legitimate, and good alike for structure and plumage — viz., 

 the cross of Red to Black. The true effect of this cross in Pouters is so 

 impaired that it cannot just now be fully realised. Instead of being 

 a cross from pure red to pure black, it is too frequently only a cross 

 from disguised blue to disguised bine (or including blue on one side or 

 the other), with results fully maintaining that grey ashen dull effect 

 peculiar to the Blue or Blue-Mealy admixture. Disappointment should 

 therefore take into account the extreme tendency of Blue blood to 

 reappear by reversion, notwithstanding its dilution through many 

 generations. There can be hut little doubt that the cross of really 

 pure red and black would be inestimable in the department of 

 structure, while in plumage it would help in time to relieve the Black 

 Pieds from foul thigh feathers, and would possibly be a means of 

 establishing brilliant and highly burnished colours. Of what advan- 

 tage, may we inquire, is "one-Bided breeding," or the culture of one 

 set of properties at the expense of another? Fanciers (!) of this type 

 may at least learn that the "more-haste" is but a ''worse-speed" 

 method after all, imposing on the artistic breeder an amount of 

 undoing labour which might be spared him, and which would be the 

 better devoted to the attainment of higher standards, and the develop- 

 ment, by legitimate means, of pure unsullied pedigrees. 



The conservative policy we indicated as so necessary for the Black 

 Pieds is even more imperative in the case of the Red strains. It will 

 be the careful selection of the very few for a high standard that will 

 renovate this department, rather than the mating of the many inferior 

 specimens with which our lofts are overcrowded. Purity, always purity, 

 must be the watchword, and Blue blood must be rejected with the 

 utmost inflexibility, no matter in what form it present itself, or how- 

 ever diluted, for it stays not with the Red strains, but through them 

 imports its pollution into the Yellow, to the great disadvantage of that 

 delicate but advancing colour. 



The White classes brought out some very handsome birds, and, 

 alas ! some very dirty ones also. Now, while we can thoroughly 

 sympathise with fanciers in smoke-polluted towns in their very natural 

 craving for the clean, the chaste, and the innocent — so fitly emblema- 

 tised by " spotless white " — yet we submit that the selection of white 

 varieties rather aggravates than ameliorates the disadvantages under 

 which they strive. And although this craving may be solaced by the 

 insertion of sweet suggestive names in the Society's catalogue — " Snow- 

 drop," " Snowffake," and the like — we further suggest that " Chimney 

 Sweep" or " Scavenger," in many cases, would have been more ap- 

 plicable. The successful exhibitors taking first prizes were Messrs. 

 D. Stewart, Ure, and Sanderson ; and taking inferior awards, Messrs. 

 Sanderson, Montgomery, Ure, Ruthven, M. Stuart, Volckman, Wallace, 

 Hnie, Bruce, and Rose. 



In the absence of plumage points the attention of the breeder is 

 confined exclusively to the structural properties ; but notwithstanding 

 this concentration of aim, we do not as yet find the Whites as a class 

 exhibiting any superiority of size or structure over the Pied depart- 

 ments — a fact the more remarkable since strength may legitimately 

 be derived from every quarter bythe judicious ciossto colour. Colour, 

 however, has been too often used as a mere economising of the pair- 

 ing, regardless of the principle that a very clear gain on the side of 

 strength, size, or symmetry alone justifies the expedient in question, 

 and that unless the selection for these cardinal ends is most choice 

 and severe, the class will not only remain unprogressive, but will 

 become hampered by numberless grizzles and splashes. The stand- 

 ard, in short, is purely structural ; all the possibilities of the true 

 Pouter lines and carriage should therefore be found to perfection 

 in the White variety — the small meek-looking head, gently cushioned 

 on a boldly defined and globular crop ; the neat body, compact 

 shoulder, grooved back, and slender girth ; the long and delicate 

 flights just meeting over a well-formed and lengthy tail ; and, greatest 

 point of all, the tall, closely set, proportioned limbs, gracefully ele- 

 vating and poising the symmetrical body-structure. That such beauty 

 of form should have enticed so many fanciers to the Pouter classes 

 cannot be surprising, enhanced, as it is, by a familiar and playful 

 carriage, erect yet pliant, and abounding in the utmost variety of 

 elegant gesture. 



With this feeble resume of cardinal properties (common to all the 

 Pouter varieties, and well represented at the Glasgow Show), we prefer 



