62 



JOUENAL OF HOKTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



( January 16, 1868. 



The competition in Cage Birds -was first-rate, Mr. James Thorpe 

 gaining seven of the first prizes for Canaries. 

 We gave a list of the awards last week. 



POUTERS AT CALNE. 



Not having seen Jlr. Heath's Pouters for two years, and 

 inowing that ho had greatly increased his stud during that 

 time, I paid him a visit recently. I was fortimato in having a 

 bright, sunshiny, mild winter's day, which the birds enjoy, 

 and upon which they show up well ; also, I arrived when all 

 the stock was at home, and before Mr. Heath had sold off a 

 number, which he does annually before the breeding season. 



I was prepared to see fine birds, as not only Mr. Heath 

 bought some of the stock of the late Mr. Bult, bat he has 

 risen in the fancy, frequently taking prizes at the largest 

 shows. Nor was I in the least disappointed, but exceedingly 

 gratified. 



A house for Pouters should be set differently from that for 

 any other Pigeons. It ig best on the ground floor, with lofty 

 and roomy pens, in front of which the fancier can walk, his 

 pets being thus easy of access for taming and caressing. Hence, 

 a loft above a stable or coach house is unsuitable, as in such 

 a man often cannot stand upright, and the Pigeons' nests are 

 on the floor. Mr. Heath has made an excellent house for his 

 birds by advancing a building from the south side of a high 

 ■wall. The pens are arranged chiefly with their backs to the wall. 

 The floor of the house is well boarded, and all very clean ; there 

 is plenty of air and light, and every ray of sun is admitted. 

 A large sash window is in the centre of the front, which in the 

 daytime is opened, and the birds come out into a square wired 

 court, in the middle of which is a fountain, the basin being 

 kept the right depth for the Pouters to wash ; and a pretty 

 sight it is to see the elegant birds wading about, splashing, 

 drinking, and enjoying themselves. 



I found Mr. Heath particularly strong in White Pouters. 

 They are long fine-shaped birds, of apparently great constitu- 

 tional vigom-. He has also Red Pieds, Black Pieds, Yellow Pieds, 

 and Mealies. Even those not long enough to secure a prize would 

 be famous birds for a beginner, or one keeping Pigeons only 

 for amusement. Mr. Heath has invented a machine for mea- 

 suring Pouters, which is a great improvement upon the old 

 plan of stretching them along the front of a pen. 



After spending much time in examining the birds, I fed them, 

 and it was a beautiful sight to see the floor covered with weD- 

 jbred Pouters of good contrasting plumage. The feeders were 

 mingled with them, and, I own, did take off a little from the 

 beauty of the scene, but when it is possible, I incline to the 

 plan of hand-feeding. 



The stock of Mr. Heath is well worth seeing, and I might 

 travel many miles before I saw one equal to it. May he long 

 prosper, and may his careful and judicious management of that 

 noble variety of Pigeon, to which he is devoted, bring him all 

 the success he desires. And I hope his example (and that of 

 a spirited fancier is always contagious), may stir up others to 

 cultivate that finest and most striking of all Pigeons — the 

 English Pouter. — Wiltshire Eectoh. 



PIGEONS. 



At the request of several of our principal Pigeon fanciers in 

 Glasgow and in Edinburgh, I have been induced to examine 

 the merits of the book entitled " Pigeons : their Structure, 

 Habits, and Vaiieties. By W. B. Tegetmeier." 



When first advertised I looked forward to its publication 

 with no small interest, the breeding, rearing, and study of 

 " domestic Pigeons " having been my principal pastime from 

 boyhood. Having read all the old works on " fancy Pigeons," 

 all the books I could lay hands on pointing in any degree to 

 that subject, and knowing that these books were open to all 

 inquirers, I felt hopeful that Jlr. Tegetmeier would offer to 

 the present generation something new, if not important, 

 founded on his own experience ; that now the long-felt want 

 was to be supplied — a work so composed as to excite the in- 

 terest of general readers, to unfold fully the beauties and pecu- 

 liarities of that handsome class of birds, and thus aid in 

 creating a love for them, and possibly swelling the ranks of 

 our fanciers and breeders. 



In the first part of this book we have an account of the struc- 

 ture and general character of Pigeons, and, in connection with 

 flight, a quotation from the Duke of Argyll's " Eeign of Law," 



and Chapter I. closes with a needless quotation from John 

 Hunter, and a page of remarks on the Doves indigenous to 

 Great Britain. 



Chapter II. consists of two quotations : one from MacgU- 

 livray, and the other from Henry D. Graham, on the Bock 

 Dove. 



In the Introduction to this book a very interesting statement 

 is promised us — something really new to me — viz., " The evi- 

 dence which proves all our varieties to have been derived from 

 one and the same wild species." This statement Mr. Teget- 

 meier is to consider. The so-called evidence occupies twelve 

 pages. Ten of these pages are quotations from Darwin, Hux- 

 ley, &c. (and Mr. Tegetmeier here introduces himself very in- 

 geniously as "a great authority"). This so-called evidence — 

 the mere opinions of two or three scientific men (all of which 

 we have read before), amounts to nothing as far as proo/ is 

 concerned. The most guarded, and, I think, sensible writer 

 on this subject, quoted in the pages referred to, seems to bo 

 Professor Huxley. He says, " I daresay there may be some 

 among yon who may be Pigeon fanciers, and I wish you to 

 understand that in a))proaching the subject, I would speak 

 with all humility and hesitation, as, I regret to say, that I am 

 not a Pigeon fancier. I know it is a great art and mystery, 

 and a thing upon which a man must not speak lightly.'' 



Mr. Tegetmeier, however, shows a bolder front than the 

 learned professor does on this subject, and among the few re- 

 marks he makes we have the following : — " Some Indian fan- 

 ciers in distant ages (for Pigeons have been kept as domestic 

 pets many hundreds of years in India), observing that cer- 

 tain Pigeons were produced with extra feathers in the tails, 

 mated them together, and again selecting those of the offspring 

 that showed the desired characters, succeeded eventually in 

 creating the Fantail." (The ancient Indians referred to seem 

 to have had nothing to do with the " creating " of the tremu- 

 lous motion in the neck of this bird). I do not know whether 

 Mr. Tegetmeier intends to offer this as a fact, or merely as his 

 own idea ; but really it reads like some baby story, such as we 

 have heard in the nursery, beginning with " Once upon a time, 

 long, long ago," &c. However, I speak with reserve ; Mr. 

 Tegetmeier may have the advantage of me. It is possible he 

 has in his possession, or may have obtained a sight of some 

 unpublished manuscript of our old friend Baron Munchausen ; 

 if so, I give up this point. No one can find fault with, or for 

 a moment doubt the correctness of the information Mr. Teget- 

 meier gives us regarding his own paternal parent : what he 

 was, and where he lived ; but when he attempts to father all 

 the beautiful varieties of our domestic Pigeons on the small 

 Blue Fiock Pigeon, it comes to be quite another question. 

 There is no intention, nor is this the place or time to argue 

 this subject ; but at a future period I hope to be able to enter 

 fully into it. 



Part III. of this book, with the exception of two pages, is 

 on the " Pouter." The principal portion of it is made up of 

 quotations, and of the few remarks made by the compiler, 

 some of them had better have been left out. I refer more 

 particularly to the matching of colours. Mr. Tegetmeier re- 

 commends matching a " Black Pied with a Mealy." If this 

 be done the consequence would be, in the produce, a sooty or 

 blue black, showing the bars on the wing. Then a " Bed Pied 

 and Mealy, but with some risk to the bright red." Of course 

 in the produce the fine colour would not only be destroyed, 

 but the bar would also appear. Then " Yellow Pied may be 

 matched with Mealy with advantage." The produce would be 

 mostly Mealy Yellows, with strongly-defined bars. If yellow, 

 pale in colour — lemon, in fact, showing the bar. And again, 

 worst of all, " Blues may be matched with Reds." Here, 

 again, would the colour be destroyed, and the bar introduced 

 where it would be most objectionable. Lastly " Blue Pied and 

 AVhite are not a desirable match, as very white pied birds, or 

 white-splashed, or speckled with other colours would most pro- 

 bably result." This last is a most desirable match; it wiU 

 sometimes produce perfectly marked Blue Pied, and at other 

 times perfect Whites ; but if splashed or speckled with other 

 colours they will prove the finest stock birds for both Bine 

 Pied p.nd Whites that can be had. See the Pouter? bred in 

 Scotland. But I fear Mr. Tegetmeier does not icnow the colour 

 in Pigeons termed " Mealy," as no one who understood colours 

 would advise such combinations. 



The compiler talks of the " slavish fear of breeding away 

 from some one particular colour," and refers to " the late Mr. 

 Bult," an ardent fancier, ,"who rejected this practice" of 

 conficing himself to one particular colour in matching, or even 



