JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



mc ; but it will not answer in even - case." Now, when a man writes I 

 thus fairly yon believe all he says in the bird's favour, and do not set 

 him down as too great an enthusiast. This chapter is ably and prac- 

 tically written. Chapter III. treats of " The Characteristics of Dark 

 and Liu'ht Biahraas as Bred for Exhibition." To show the tone in I 

 -which Mr. "Wright writes we must beg leave to make a rather long ' 

 quotation. 



"He is no true fancier— ho is altogether unworthy the name— who 

 merely seeks to win prizes: still less is he one whose only object is 'to 

 have the best stock in England, and boat every one else,' as is the case 

 with those who 'decline to sell etr^s at anv priue '—a lui^ernble spirit and 

 a miserable ambition this. Forfar higher en ds do the real brethren of 

 the craft breed and show their fowls. They believe that the feathered 

 objects of their interest arc calculated to "render important service to 

 their country ; that poultry is an important link in God's grand economy 

 of nature, and destined to play no small part iu that great * food question ' 

 which is ever pressing more deeply on the minds of those who study the 

 social welfare of man; and they patiently work and study, each in his 

 degree, so to improve and maintain their favourite breeds as may make 

 them better adapted to serve mankind, while at the same time their ex- 

 ceeding beauty shall be so increased as to render them still more attrac- 

 tive in the eyes of that softer sex to whose care and supervision they are 

 so particularly adapted. One woo works with such objects— and many 

 do— will always be unselfish. When a brother fancier shows at last a 

 better pen than his own, he will rejoice that a step has been gained ; and 

 whatever knowledge he may have acquired will be cheerfully and readily 

 communicated. A real fancier is a tine patriot; and if Jonas Webb is 

 remembered and extolled for having improved the word and iocreased 

 the carcase of the sheep to which he devoted such attention, men like 

 John Douglas, who raised the standard weight of the Dorking fowl 

 several pounds over what was known before, or Mr. Hewitt, who has 

 devoted years of hi<< life gratuitously to aiding, by his vast experience and 

 knowledge in awarding prizes, the general improvement of poultry, have 

 also deserved well of their country, and done good work for their day and 

 generation." 



Tbis is a tone and spirit which we wholly like. 



Having given the characteristics of the two varieties of Brahmas 

 with great nicety, Mr. Wright passes onto "The Practical Breeding, 

 Rearing, and Management of Brahmas for Exhibition." This i3 a 

 knowing chapter, and Brahma exhibitors will well thumb it, unless we 

 make a great mistake, as also the one on " The Judging of Brahmas." 

 Our author concludes with a passage we entirelv agree with. 



" Finally, we would repeat that there has been of late an increasing 

 tendency to show birds too fat. All large breeds are subject to thi- evil, 

 and years ago, when it was even more prevalent than now, Mr. Hewitt did 

 good service by passing over in a marked manner several over-fattened 

 pens, and thereby discouraging the practice of feeding show fowls to the 

 highest possible point, to their utter ruin. Again, however, the same 

 vicious -vstem appears to be gradually creeping in : and as the practice 

 is really dishonest, it should be cheeked as far as possible bv never award- 

 ing prizes to pens which evidently carry more f.it than is consistent with 

 real health and condition." 



On carefully reading Mr. Wright's work we would say— It is able, 

 just, and very readable ; the style of writing clear and attractive, 

 while the illustrations are. as we have said, most excellent. Unless 

 we greatly mistake, " The Brahma Fowl " will increase the number of 

 Brahma breeders. If all the latter now living buv and lend the work, 

 Brahmas, Light and Dark, will be bought np fast enough. "We think 

 " That those now will love who never loved before, 

 And those who Brahmas love, will love them more." 

 — Wiltshire Rector. 



THE GLASGOW PIGEON SHOW 



(North British Coluurarun- Society's). 

 {Oond; I fro e 119.) 



Defective Structure.— Perfection of structure has ever been put 

 forward as the cardinal virtue of the Pouter, and especially is it so 

 emphasised whenever the so-called " colour-and-markings*" fancier 

 dares a remark iu the interest of plumage development. The attitude 

 of the structuralist is, in point of fact, apologetic ; admitting the sacri- 

 fice of plumage, he pleads as a set-off "compensation" in structure. 

 As advocates of the standard, whole and indivisible, we are, there- 

 fore, entitled to exact to the fullest extent the pleaded set-off, and we 

 roundly assert on unmistakeable evidence that such compensation is 

 not apparent in proportions at all equivalent to the continuing degra- 

 dation of plumage. 



The victories won iu the department of structure are no longer of 

 yesterday s date, and the question for to-dav is, Are those victories 

 bemg turned to proper accouut? We think "not. For taking Pouter 

 shows as a whole, too often are missed those after-effects and refine- 

 ments which should always be the sequence of structural breeding 

 Giving, then, every credit for attainments in structure now long since 

 established, and conceding as invaluable, in their degree and place, 

 size, strength and even coarseness, we must again and aqaiu insist 

 that undivided standard alone should be encouraged in the^show pen. 

 Twenty inches in feather will not suffice, it must be 20 inches in 

 feather combined with the race-horse and not the dray-horse build, for 

 the ultimate of structural breeding is not mere size, but is the utmost 

 refinement of form on the largest possible scale. 



Defective structure yet exists to an extent hardly credible. Especi- 

 ally is it noticeable in the crop, so often contracted in size and want- 

 ing in rotundity and carriage— a fact the more remarkable since tie 



Pouter derives its very name from this noble property. Boldly 

 defined and pliant globes, majestic in size, readily dilated, poised aa 

 it were on the shoulders, forward in carriage, and situated at a suffi- 

 cient distance above the insertion of the limbs, are the exception; 

 while hags flabby and pendaut, or stiff-winded and egg-shaped, are the 

 rule; these latter in particular making no disliuctive start from the 

 breast, but maintaining an almost nnbroken line from the limbs to 

 the upper curve of the crop. There is something in a name. Let us 

 hope that the word " globe " will be used more frequently ; for all 

 Pigeons have crops, hut the globe belongs only to the Pouter, and 

 without it no Pouter however lengthy can aspire to be a truly grand 

 and representative specimen. Defective structure may again be found 

 in the disproportion between limb and feather. Indefinite extension 

 of feather without a relative lengthening of the limb i=; a distortion to 

 be avoided, not, however, by curtailing feather, but if possible by ex- 

 tending limb. And here we may advert to the increasing number of 

 birds with limbs short in the lower joint, a defect detracting much 

 from nobility of carriage. Passing over for brevity's sake slenderness 

 of girtb, compactness of shoulder, closeness, height, and stoutness of 

 limb, stockiug-bootiug, length of pinion, and many other properties 

 always to be sedulously maintained, we venture a word in deprecation 

 of "hog-back," that most hideons of Pouter deformities. Fortunately 

 this defect in all its enormity is seldom glaringly visible at Glasgow, 

 hut here and there au ominous tendency to this evil, and to the kindred 

 evil of round shoulders, warrants a precautionary record. Lastly, we 

 may bespeak the attention of structuralists to the head properties, 

 three of which being of primary importance — viz., delicacy of shape, 

 fineness of wattle, and meekness of look. High foreheads, great 

 breadth, hawk beaks, or coarseness of any kind are destructive of 

 feminine expression, and that piquant look of almost wicked innocence, 

 so attractive in this variety. 



Structure versus the Whole Standard. — Could structuralists 

 show that to their earlier successes they were adding refinement to re- 

 finement, and that artistic results in form are now as wide-spread and 

 established as defects in plumage are rampant and notorious, then 

 the compensatory theory might avail. But they can make no such 

 exclusive claims. Refined development of structure is neither wide- 

 spread or established, and where it is achieved, it is as much due to 

 the conservative efforts of the "whole-standard" fancier as to the 

 coarser methods of one-sided breeding, for such structuralism must be 

 called. Structural compensation for an impaired standard is a fallacy 

 almost too transparent for analysis. Even when unencumbered by in- 

 tricate considerations of plumage, structuralists are producing no ex- 

 ceptional superiority either of size or symmetry. The White classes 

 are a case in point, congested as they are with an extraordinary 

 proportion of inferior birds. On the other hand, whole-standard 

 fanciers with all the difficulties of plumage superadded, are from time 

 to time presenting in the Pied divisions, specimens satisfying exacting 

 conditions alike of plumage and structure, showing that a due regard 

 for plumage is not incompatible with development of form. Especially, 

 too, is this Show remarkable for a general improvement of markings, 

 obtained in a marvellously short time and without any sacrifice of 

 previous gains in size or contour. To refinements of structure may, 

 therefore, be added refinements of plumage, and we look to future ex- 

 hibitions for colours heightened and purified without the abatement of 

 a single standard virtue already attained. 



The much abused — nay. the almost scorned — colonr-and-markinga 

 fanciers are really the " whole-standard " advocates misnamed. Their 

 demand for improved plumage implies no disregard of structure, but 

 is rather a natural re-action in favour of underrated properties. It is 

 not that they like structure less, but that they love " whole standard " 

 more. They claim even in structure equal merit with the structuralist, 

 but contendfor artistic effects and the operation of good taste in every 

 department. They recognise that with the improved stamina and 

 constitution of the stock more selective methods of breeding are 

 demanded, and thfy fed justified iu opposing that sectional treatment 

 of the standard which first mars attractive properties, and then vaunts 

 a compensation empty and uuproveable, or at any rate of but past 

 significance. 



Even in the abstract no logic can be found for the affected leaning 

 to structure at the expense of plumage. The eye which exacts satis- 

 faction in colour and comeliness in markings is not likely to content 

 itself with distortion of form. To indulge a detraction of plumage 

 iu the interest of symmetry, is really to foster restrictions in the 

 region of taste, where always the most generous latitude should be 

 allowed. It involves also a disintegration of the standard, which 

 should be treated as whole and indivisible, and it leads to the ab- 

 surdity of affixing relative values to sections wholly dissimilar and in- 

 capable of comparison. This affectation is working infinite mischief 

 in practice. First, it robs plumage of all its attractions, and then 

 makes it the object of damaging contrast. It is time, therefore, that 

 conflicting interests should be accommodated. There is room for all, 

 even within standard boundaries Let the structuralist confine his 

 energies to the White class, leaving the plumage divisions to his 

 brother structuralist — the "whole-standard" fancier. For plumage 

 development is yet in its infancy, and we have only a foretaste of the 

 beauties it will reveal. But little is known of the adornment and 

 effect of well-contrasted markings, aud we have but glimpses of the 

 splendour, purity, radiance, and diversity of colour with which the 

 superb Pouter lines may yet be enriched. 



