96 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t February 3, 1870. 



Staffordshire potteries. 1 have not " the pen of a ready 

 writer," and if " Wiltshire Rector " lived within reasonable 

 reach of this part of the world, should take the liberty of ask- 

 ing him to spend a day or two among the fancy and give yon 

 an account of the same, for the subject is worthy of better 

 treatment than I can give it. 



The fancy has very much degenerated within the last ten or 

 fifteen years, but seems to have passed the worst now, and is 

 likely to be popular again. I am sorry to say that Pigeon- 

 flying, although a very beautiful and interesting fancy in itself, 

 is patronised by very few respectable men, and is disfigured by 

 a greater amount of rascality than even dog or poultry-exhibit- 

 ing, or horse-racing. The birds kept in this neighbourhood 

 seldom tumble, and are small compact birds with very short 

 beaks, self colours and splashed. They are paired without any 

 regard to colour, and are generally flown two or three times 

 a-week. The chief point is, of course, the length of time flown, 

 but a good flight always have a leader and fly in a solid pack, 

 almost touching each other and at a great height. If anything 

 happens to the leader it spoils the pack for a time. 



I fear that "Old Bon Ridley " and "Reader" will not 

 believe me, but I can assure them it is not unusual to fly seven 

 or eight hours ; and I know a man on whose word I can always 

 place the most perfect reliance, who has flown a pack of twenty- 

 one for upwards of seveu hours, and a flight of three chokner 

 (birds with black and white flights) Tumblers for eleven hours 

 forty minutes. lam not aware that this has ever been equalled, 

 but of course a flight like the above could only be made under 

 the most favourable conditions as to weather, and by birds 

 which had been carefully bred for many years and at the very 

 highest pitch of training and condition. 



I can produce several respectable working men to speak to 

 these flights. I am aware that birds sometimes go off to a 

 neighbouring town, drop there, and come home in the evening, 

 thus getting the credit of along flight, but I am speaking of 

 bond-fide flights where the birds have never been lost sight of 

 for many minutes by parties interested both for and against 

 them, and where " drumming" has not been resorted to. Con- 

 ditioning tho birds is a very important point, and is made a 

 great secret of by the crack men. 



There is always great danger of losing first-rate flyers when 

 the clouds aro low. In this case the flight frequently drops at 

 some neighbouring town, and is generally appropriated. If the 

 owner come3 to look after his birds he usually finds that they 

 have either been sent out of the way for a time, or in some 

 cases are so cleverly dyed that he cannot own them, and the 

 man in possession has always a long history of each. They 

 are then carefully " used " — in fact they are rarely flown until 

 they are paired or have bred, and even then very often return 

 to their old quarters. 



The power of sight acquired by Pigeon-flyers is something 

 wonderful. I always know one of the fancy by a sort of bend 

 in the neck and habit of star-gazing. 



First-rate flyers are frequently bred so fine that it is next to 

 impossible to breed from them, and the young ones feather 

 very badly. The breeders then have to resort to a coarser cross, 

 and to breed it out again as quickly as possible. — Brows Red. 



FANTAIL PIGEONS. 

 I believe white to be the original colour in Fantail Pigeons 

 for the following reasonB : — 



1, It is, so to speak, the universal colour of these birds. 



2, These Pigeons came originally from Hindostan, and 

 Anglo-Indians, themselves bird-lovers, tell me that the uni- 

 versal colour there is white. In reply, it may be alleged that 

 coloured birds have been imported from India. So, excellent 

 Norwich Canaries I have known to be imported from Madeira, 

 but they were exported from England first. 



3, The white of the Fantail, like the black of the Barb, is a 

 unique colour ; it is snowy, and will bear the comparison ; the 

 blaci of the Barb is also perfect, but a white Barb is tinged, 

 and a black Fantail is not a good black. 



i, Setting aside my own personal experience in fancy Pigeons 

 for now thirty years, Mr. Brent, the best of all Pigeon writers, 

 and the author of the only original work on the subject sinoe 

 Moore, and who was an ornithologist as well as a fancier ; in 

 his classification of Pigeons (vide page 105 of " The Pigeon 

 Book ") says, " I have placed what I believe to be the original 

 colour or variety of each breed first." Then follows his list : — 

 " Carriers, 1, black; Pouters, 1, Blue Pied; Fantails, 1, white," 

 Arc. His whole list is to my belief correct. 



5, There is a tendency in birds to return to the original 

 colour; in Canaries to grey or green, in Fantail Pigeons to 

 white. 



I further believe that colour other than white is obtained 

 from a cross with the Runt, 1st, because the Runt has the same 

 trembling motion ; a male Runt would give colour, and then 

 breeding with white Fantails would recover the tail. 2nd, The 

 ablest old Tigeon fancier I ever knew told me he so crossed 

 them and bred them for gentlemen fancying a certain colour. 

 The dark cock brings dark, a white cock white. 3rd, The 

 dark birds are runlish in shape. — Wiltshire Rector. 



The subject of Fantails having being mooted simultaneously 

 by " Wiltshire Rector " and your able reporter of the Glasgow 

 Show, I am induced to ask for the opinion of fanciers upon the 

 quastio vexata — What should a prize Fantail be ? We have at 

 least two well-established sub-varieties of this breed — viz., the 

 graceful Scotch variety, which seems almost to realise perpetual 

 motion, and the larger and coarser English variety, with the 

 flat, circular, almost horizontal tail; and between these two ex- 

 tremes there are, of course, an infinite number of gradations. 



Now, this leads to great confusion with both judges and ex- 

 hibitors, the former hardly knowing what to exhibit, the latter 

 puzzled how satisfactorily to award the prizes. If by common 

 consent a " Standard of Excellence " could be established, 

 fanciers would know what points to breed for, and judges would 

 be able unhesitatingly to perform their duties. Theoretically 

 a Fantail should combine the excellencies of each type, but 

 from some mysterious law, which we may call the law of correl- 

 lation of parts, it would appear to be impossible to obtain more 

 than mediocrity of carriage with excellence of tail ; and, in the 

 same way, the converse holds good. The idea of a perfect Fan- 

 tail is perhaps even more Utopian than tbat of any other perfect 

 Pigeon ; so that, could a decision bo come to as to which end — 

 head or tail — is to have precedence, this popular breed might be 

 raised from the present somewhat inferior position to which 

 too great laxity of taste has degraded it. 



If some of our principal exhibitors, breeders of the Fantail, 

 such, for instance, as Mr. Balpin and Mr. Huie, would do as 

 "Wiltshire REcioi:"has done in the closing paragraph of 

 his interesting letter, and let us know whether we are to con- 

 tinue to breed chiefly for the fiat circular tail, or are to strive to 

 obtain such " broad-tailed shakers" as are justly eulogised in 

 your report of the Glasgow Show, much good would result to 

 the fancy. — J. E. S. 



P.S. — Such minor matters as colour, plain-heads or point 

 crowns, &c, may be safely left open for the present ; at any 

 rate until the more serious part of the question Bhall have been 

 settled. 



SKY TUMBfcERS AND BIRMINGHAM ROLLERS. 



I did not include Birmingham Rollers in my description of 

 Sky Tumblers. What I did say is not affected in the least 

 by what has been said since. It is nothing new for me to hear 

 that broken Baldpates are good flyers. I have generally found 

 that when a Sky Tumbler and a Baldpate breed together, both 

 birds being strong, and, moreover, good soarers, the offspring 

 Burpass the parents in flying, or in tumbling, and sometimes 

 in both, and I have no doubt if careful selection were made of 

 the best birds, a very good high-flying, long-flying set of 

 mongrels could be established. The thing has been done 

 again and again. 



I have no doubt, if Birmingham would speak out, it could 

 tell of cotes in its vicinity, of this high-flying, long-flying 

 character. The owners might not in every instance descend 

 to the consideration of whether the birds were selected transi- 

 tionals, or an established breed ; because a Tigeon is a Pigeon, 

 no matter what its ancestors may have been. 



It is with the knowledge that one is always liable to over- 

 rate "one's pets, that I consider a man is pardonable if he 

 happen to dignify with the appellation of " pure breed " birds 

 which are pearl-eyed, hazel-eyed, odd-eyed, feather-legged, 

 clean-legged, mottled, and pied. At the same time, I think he 

 would not necessarily be an ignorant Pigeon-fancier who should 

 be puzzled to say what breed this is. Nature does now and 

 then disport herself in strange sort, but to this extent in a 

 "pure breed" — no, no, no! This law of accidental tran- 

 sitionals being superior to, or rather let me say of being aggra- 

 vated from, both parents, may be shown to obtain in other 

 "breeds" than the Birmingham Roller. The Pouter claps, 

 but he oannot clap like his son, with a Tumbler hen for the 

 mother. Other parallels might be adduced. Mind, I am 



