May 19, 1ST'). ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



367 



atlantic brother fanciers know how to work, anil may teach ns a wrinkle 

 or two yet. 



The Bulletin proposes amongst other matters to insert a list of 

 poultry importations from this country. 'Pre-eminent amongst all 

 these are the Brahruas, and indeed every page of your new American 

 contemporary shows conclusively that this, my own pet breed, is at 

 present " cock of the walk " in the United States. I think it will re- 

 main so, being not only suited to the climate, but likely to be fostered, 

 from the national feeling, as an American fowl. Of one gentleman it 

 is said that he " has hfteon Dark Brahmas of Boyle's Btrain to arrive,'' 

 and many others announce their importations through the advertising 

 columns. There are also several American breeds. One — the Leghorn, 

 is beginning to be known here, and is in my opinion a White Spanish 

 in the main, but what the Danvers White, the Bay State, or Back's 

 County — all distinct breeds, may be, I cannot tell. An American 

 friend wrote me la^t year they had a fowl they called the " Big Breed,"' 

 and I would like to see it. 



In the advertising columns I see an announcement which may be 

 worth mentioning of " granulated carbolic acid powder," which is 

 stated to safely and effectually destroy all insect vermin in the poultry 

 yard, while it is likewise a powerful disinfectant and purifier, and of 

 pleasant odonr. It is stated to have been patented in February, 1S68. 

 Can any reader inform me whether any similar article is to be had in this 

 country ? The information would be a boon to myself and many others. 

 But the advertisements are a study in themselves ; intensely amus- 

 ing in their direct and simple address to the reader, they may teach us 

 a lesson in many respects. They come to the point at once, no beating 

 about the bush with brother Jonathan, and generally are in the first 

 person singular, which reads strange to English eyes. " Here goes " 

 for a few specimens. One breeder, after his bare name and address 

 simply adds, " Houdans a specialty. I aim to breed birds as good as 

 can be found. I shall be ready to deliver birds nest fall from imported 

 stock." Another words his announcement thus — " Dorking cocks : I 

 have two young cocks of my prize stock for sale, ten dollars each," 

 followed by name. In brevity and point nothing could be better. 

 Another, well known as one of the best and most honourable breeders 

 in the States, advertises thus — " Buff Cochin eggs tor hatching. I will 

 spare a few clutches, at twelve dollars for thirteen eggs, from sis hens 

 (three of which are imported), weighing 10 lbs. each in ordinary flesh, 

 all perfectly marked, and a young cock recently imported without re- 

 gard to cost, invoiced the best Buff Cochin cockerel in England at the 

 present day." I would like to know what this bird was, and as the 

 price charged is very high, may remark that the regulation price for 

 high-class eggs seems to be half the above, or sis dollars per dozen. 

 Another noted breeder says, " In order to keep up with the times I 

 have secured a breeding stock (cock and four hens each), of Partridge 

 and Buff Cochins, first-prize winners at the last Birmingham Show, 

 England (specimens that could not be bought escept to go out of 

 England). I hope to be able to benefit the stock of this country by 

 having a few choice specimens to spare nest fall." That is not bad in 

 its way either. The announcement, '* No fowls or eggs sent C. O. D." 

 meets the eye continually, and looks odd, but the mysterious initials 

 of course mean simply " cash on delivery," and the hint might be 

 taken here with advantage. Another advertiser announces what I 

 have often thought would be very useful with us, and might be well 

 published by yourselves, ' ' a catalogue of poultry breeders and fanciers." 

 Altogether, to borrow a simile from the present chicken season, it 

 seems to me that our friends across the water, though many of them 

 new to the poultry fancy, are on the whole a decidedly " downy lot," 

 and I trust this brief notice may not only gain many readers for their 

 new journal, but leal to porsonal intercourse between them and some 

 of your readers of a profitable and pleasant^kind. The office of the 

 Bulletin is, Post-office Box 316, New York City, and the subscription 

 one dollar per annum. — L. Wright. 



SUBSCRIPTION CUPS FOR THE SOUTHAMPTON 

 SHOW. 



In yonr issue of February 10th, Mr. Maynard, of Holmewood, Ryde, 

 Isle of Wight, asks for contributors to the Light Brahma cups for this 

 year. Without encroaching too much upon your space, I wish to in- 

 form those interested in this subject, that if the required sum of ten 

 guineas be subscribed, and divided into two five-guinea cups, one for 

 adults, and one for chickens, the Committee will add second and third 

 prizes to both classes. Thus the adults and chickens will be placed 

 upon an equal footing this season. I have not the least doubt, from 

 the support accorded in previous years, that the sum asked for will be 

 easily obtained. I trust should anyone feel disposed to assist, he 

 will not tail to communicate as early as convenient to Mr. Maynard, 

 the amount of the intended subscription. I cannot refrain from 

 noticing the spirited esample set by Mr. Seymour Fraser in pro- 

 moting a similar undertaking for the French varieties, and as it is 

 well known these classes of poultry are making great strides in public 

 favour, I have no hesitation in thinking that Mr. Seymour Fraser's eser- 

 tions will be cro vned with complete success. — PrnxipWABREX, Hon . Set. 



SKY TUMBLERS. 



Ix the pleasing contribution of Mr. J. G. Levison, at page 



23G of the Journal of March 24th, I observe that he "never 



had a bird with feathers on its legs," as he thus states. No*, 

 Tumbler Pigeons with feathered legs are often met with, and in 

 lofts, too, where their congeners and relatives are clean in the 

 leg, the feathered leg being a sport of nature, but a sport 

 transmissible to offspring, and so multiplying this variety of 

 Tumblers. Mr. Delamer, author of "Pigeons and Rabbits," 

 says, at page 65, that " Tumblers with feathered feet and legs 

 are not at all uncommon," nor are they, though, perhaps, they 

 prevail more in some lofts than in others. The Macclesfield 

 Tumblers, perhaps the purest Eng'hh birds, being all Almond, 

 Tippler, Bald, and Beard blood, show occasionally feather legs 

 amongst their cotes; and Mr. Noye, Secretary to the Birming- 

 ham Columbarian Society, considers the muffed or feathered 

 leg the tendency of all carefully and closely-bred Pigeons, and 

 mentions that he has seen numbers of Owls and Turbits with 

 muffed or feathered legs, kept, too, as a unique and special 

 class of such birds by fanciers who kept them as a peculiarly 

 pure strain, to the exclusion of, or rather in preference to the 

 clear-legged birds of these pretty Pigeons. This fancy of the 

 grouse-muffed leg (not long-feathered) is prevalent in Bir- 

 mingham, and hence we have the Sky Tumblers of that town 

 called " high flyers," so frequently grouse-muffed in the leg, a 

 variation I like myself in a flight of Tumblers. Moreover, if 

 powers of flight are at all indicated by muffed legs in birds 

 generally, we have the Eagle, Falcon, and Hawk, the Grouse, 

 the Owl, Swallow, and Swift, all strong on the wing. I think, 

 therefore, that Mr. Levison's observations as to feather legs 

 will not carry any inference of impurity of blood in our grouse- 

 muffed Tumbler Pigeons, as, if unnoticed, it might otherwise do. 

 Mr. Levison also refers to birds that crack the wings like a 

 whip, as of poor breeding, but evidently confounds cracking 

 with flapping, the habit only of hoatiDg, skating, or sailing 

 birds, called duffers and shutterers ; cracking the wings being 

 quite the opposite feature of flight. If Mr. Levison is a sports- 

 man, and has the knack of bringing his gun to bear on Snipe, 

 just as this bird reaches the summit of its first mount, from 

 gutter, pond, or marsh, he will comprehend what a cracking 

 wing is ; and if he miss his bird, too, he may realise the same 

 idea, in the whirriog. zigzag flight of his lost game. The crack 

 or whirr of the Sky Tumblers' wings is given as the birds wheel 

 and mount, the result of close, rapid stroke.-*, Snipe-fashion, to 

 be heard even when the birds are at a considerable height, or 

 from an odd bird that loses flight by a tumble or roll, and 

 rapidly soars again to join the pack. On a calm day I have 

 often heard such cracking far over head, just as I have heard 

 the whirr of wild fowl flights on a still u'ght in their feeding 

 grounds and migratory humours. So that I conclude there is 

 no poverty of breeding in Tumblers that crack the wings as 



In reference to the Birmingham Roller, again, I may refer to 

 Mr. Brent's "Pigeon Book," second edition, pages 33 and 36, 

 as corroborating my former assumption, that our Birmingham 

 Sky Tumblers are a cross breed betwixt the continental and 

 old English Tumbler Pigeons. Be that as it may, the Bir- 

 mingham High Flyer or Roller (Sky Tumbler) is in select 

 flights, a splendid flyer and tumbler, in height and duration 

 of flight, and in beautifully executed somersaults, and many 

 of the birds are models of the Tumbler form, too, the grouse- 

 muffed leg and clean leg being common to all alike. Some 

 have odd eyes hazel and pearl, the hazel eye derived from 

 hazel- eyed Bald, or Magpie, in crosses for changes, still all 

 Tumbler blood. The Leicester birds are of Birmingham de- 

 scent ; the Gloucester birds little, if any, different apparently ; 

 and Macclesfield birds, old English, as described — all good 

 birds ; but the Birmingham, Leicester, and Gloucester birds 

 expert acrobats, which the Macclesfield birds, except in odd birds, 

 are not, being bred for flying only, irrespec!i?ely of the tumbling 

 property. 



My own intention is, to mingle the Macclesfield and Bir- 

 mingham blood, a suggestion my brethen may adopt if worth 

 their attention. — Reader. 



TWO QUEENS IN ONE HIVE. 

 To the " Devonshire Bee-keeper " belongs, as stated in 

 page 217, the honour of having first announced to the readers 

 of " our Jonrnal " the peaceable occupation by two queens of 

 the same hive, at a period of the year when such a circumstance 

 was not to be looked for. On making the discovery, Mr. Wood- 

 bury at once removed the supernumerary queen— a procedure 

 I rather regretted at the time, thinking that if the two queens 

 had not been parted an end would have been speedily put to 



