78 



JOUENAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ .Unnorj £7, 1870. 



■with in producing one of the required colour ; the chances nre, 

 if he has a Rood stock, that the majority of his young birds 

 will be good in rose, hood, and limb, but ont of a dozen he may 

 not have one bird of the dark mottled colour now most approved 

 of. Taking this fact into account, I think the Judges ought to 

 pay more attention to the marking of this variety than they 

 have hitherto done. 



One of onr first Trumpeter fanciers assured me a short time 

 since that he bred especially for white flights, but I presume 

 this may be accounted for in the same way as the man who 

 fancied that all his Geese were Swans. — Fleur de Lis. 



ANTWERPS. 



I am a Pigeon fancier, and have no garden nor any spare 

 ground in which I could cultivate flowers ; yet I read the 

 various articles on rose-growing, which appear from time to 

 time in the Journal with as much interest as the most en- 

 thusiastic amateur, and am pretty well up in the names of the 

 leading varieties, together with the aspect and soil best suited 

 to their successful cultivation ; and it is not at all unlikely 

 that if I bad the necessary appliances I should, in addition to 

 breeding Pigeons, become a grower of roses. 

 *• My present object, however, is to offer a few remarks on 

 showing, in connection with my favourite breed of birds, the 

 Antwerps. That shows are beneficial to fancy breeds and 

 Toys there i3 no doubt whatever, but, the Antwerp, I think, 

 occupies much the same position at Pigeon shows as the fox 

 terrier occupies at dog shows, in both cases quality beiug too 

 frequently sacrificed to fancy points. I notice that the Birming- 

 ham Columbarian Society is about to publish engravings of 

 the winning birds at their recent Show at Birmingham, in the 

 Dragoon and Antwerp classes, such engravings to be considered 

 as the future standard in the respective breeds. With all 

 respect, and without wishing to give offence to those who breed 

 show birds only, I would caution fanciers against sacrificing 

 stoutness to obtain a new and fancy style in appearance. Let 

 the chief aim of Antwerp fanciers be to breed stout birds ; if 

 handsome, so much the better, but at all events retain the dis- 

 tinguishing characteristic of the breed, " the homing faculty," 

 which has hitherto rendered the birds such favourites with 

 those who keep them. MaDy of the show birds to my knowledge 

 would not travel half a dozen miles ; indeed, I have purchased 

 some in the town in which I live, and they have not had suffi- 

 cient pluck to return a mile, although regularly flown and bred 

 from at the place from whence I purchased them ; and to my 

 mind they are not half so handsome as some plucky little fellows 

 I have in my pen, which can and have travelled twenty or thirty 

 miles without previous training. Pluck is to be desired in 

 the Antwerp, and if well-bred a gamer bird does not exist, as 

 in more than one instance I have had birds thrown up some 

 miles away from home that have returned on the third day 

 completely tired out. I do not know anything more pleasing 

 to a real lover of this breed than to toss up one of his birds 

 at a distance from home, and see the determined, resolute 

 manner in which it starts on the return journey — no skulking, 

 no dropping upon the first high building that presents itself ; 

 and rival fanciers stir their kits in vain ; the bird, soaring high 

 in the air, shakes his tail and seems to say, "I am for home, 

 and if I do not find it, I will at all events have a hard fly for it." 



At most of the shows I have lately attended there seems to 

 me to be a leaning on the part of the judges to large, coarse- 

 headed birds, too much warted for the genuine breed, and not 

 the style that old fanciers have been accustomed to consider as 

 perfect.— B. F. C. 



interest the Edinburgh public take in all branches of natnral 

 history, we believe this Association will be well supported , and 

 it has our best wishes for its success. 



SCOTTISH COLUMBARIAN ASSOCIATION. 



At Edinburgh, on the 21st inst., a meeting of the Pigeon 

 fanciers resident in that city was held, for the purpose of ar- 

 ranging for an exhibition at the end of the present year. The 

 meeting was largely attended, and such arrangements entered 

 into as we have no doubt will insure success. The Scottish 

 capital was at one time the principal seat of the Pigeon fancy 

 in Scotland, and from the enthusiastic character of the meeting, 

 and the determination of the members to have their opening 

 show arranged and conducted on the best principles, the exhi- 

 bition bids fair to recall the glory of former years. 



The Scottish Columbarian Association was established at the 

 beginning of last year, and hitherto its exhibitions have been 

 private and the birds exhibited by members only. From the 



THE HIMALAYAN RABBIT. 



" DucxwrxG " (page 36) pooh-poohs what I thought to be 

 pretty clear evidence, that the Himalayan Rabbit exists in its 

 wild state, and in great numbers, both in the Himalayas and in 

 China; but, I believe, if he had questioned my two intelligent 

 witnesses as I did, they would, to say the least, have puzzled 

 him, and 1 am sure their evidence would have told powerfully 

 with any jury of Rabbit fanciers. I admit, that if the fact were 

 fully established that they thus existed, it would not be proof 

 positive that they were indigenous, but it would be strong pre- 

 sumptive proof, and infinitely easier to believe than that a 

 certain person or persons had at some time or other in England 

 managed to obtain a cross between a Silver- Grey Babbit and 

 an animal that is no Rabbit at all, and that it " may possibly 

 have been imported from England, and become feral." " Duck- 

 wing " not only believes that the Himalayan is a cross be- 

 tween the Chinchilla and a Silver-Grey Rabbit, but states that 

 " it has been proved by experiment here." This flat assertion 

 ought to settle the question for ever, but unfrtunately there are 

 stupid people in the world, who when they find some monstrous 

 improbabilities staring them in the face, reject the clearest 

 statement unaccompanied will proof. I happen to he one of 

 these, and will now proceed to give the reasmsfor my incre- 

 dulity. Let us go to the Chinchilla itself, and see in what 

 respects the Himalayan Rabbit resembles it more than any other 

 prick-eared Rabbit, and especially more than the Silver-Grey, 

 which "Ductcwing" appears to take for granted to be a pure 

 and distinct breed, though if space permitted 1 shoul 1 give good 

 reasons for disputing even that. It would, however, not affect 

 the present argument between us. 



In January, 1S66, two Chinchillas might be seen in the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens, Regent's Park, and they or others may stUl be 

 there for anything I know to the contrary; but, at all events, 

 some of your readers will have seen stuffed specimens in the 

 museums, and I appeal to them as to the accuracy of my de- 

 scription. The Chinchilla is about the size of a squirrel, varying 

 in length from 6 to 9 inches from the point of the nose to the root 

 of the tail. The head is very wide upwards, and resembles that 

 of a f-male cat, or rather very small kitten, quite as much as it 

 resembles any Rabbit's head. The eyes are black, and larger in 

 proportion than any Rabbit's, and they are placed frontwards, 

 and not so much at the side of the head as a Rabbit's. The ears 

 are proportionately shorter, and very much wider, especially at 

 the tip, than those of any Rabbit, and they are perfectly spread 

 open like a rat's, and have hardly the least semblance of hair 

 upon them. The body and legs may, perhaps, remind one of a 

 Rabbit, hut this proves no consanguinity. The toes ore very 

 long like those of a rat. The fur, even where it is shortest, 

 is longer than that of any Rabbit, except the Angora, and is 

 often long enough to be spun and woven into cloth. It is ash 

 grey in colour all over the animal, and is not so thickly set as 

 that of the Himalayan. We now come to the tail, which I must 

 lay hold of as one of my best arguments. The tail is as long in 

 proportion as a cat's, and of precisely the same shape. If turned 

 over on the back it would reach to the nape of the nerk, and it 

 could put its tail in its mouth with the merest turn of the head. 

 Are my readers able to see why the Himalayan Rabbit with its 

 peculiar marking should be fixed upon as a cross from this animal, 

 while the Silver-Grey, which at all events bears a great simi- 

 larity in colour, should not he thought of? 



Now, it is a well-known fact, that most animals to some 

 extent breed back (to use a well-understood expression), and 

 that if any peculiarity is introduced into a breed it will ever 

 and anon crop out. For instance, if a short-haired doe is put to 

 an Angora, the progeny may be all short-haired, all long-haired 

 like the Angora, or something between the two ; or it may be that 

 many generations of them may e'apse before there is any in- 

 dication of the Angora breed being in them, though it will most 

 assuredly develope its existence sooner or later, and often after 

 an incredible lapse of time. I ask, then, how it comes to pass 

 that the longer hair of the Chinchilla does not at times indicate 

 its origin ? Has the colour been so entirely eradicatrd, that it 

 does not by some chance show itself in the Himalayan, and 

 above all, how has that terrible tail become reduced to the ortho- 

 dox size and shape ? Will anybody believe that the Himalayan 

 owes part of its origin to the Chinchilla, but inherits no part of 

 its tail ? "What Rabbit has a shorter tail than the Himalayan ? 



