352 



JOUENA.L OF HOBTICULTDBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



( May 7, 1868. 



aud well-qualified writers on tlie subject, and who have justly 

 earned the thanks of the Pouter-fanciers in general. 



Carriers seem evidently to be still in good hands, for many 

 of the birds exhibited last year were as fine in quality as any 

 that I had hitherto seen ; excellent in colour — erect, yet grace- 

 ful in their carriage, and with splendid wattle and eyes, leaving 

 scarcely anything to be desired, with the exception of a little 

 more variety of colour. The Blues and Whites, though good, 

 being very few, would it not be well for some good fanciers to 

 look after these colours, and breed them before they are entirely 

 lost ? It would be a real boon to this particular fancy. 



Barbs, I also think, fairly maintain their position, with the 

 exception of the Whites, of which colour I have seen much 

 better specimens ; and I think the Yellows are a little on the 

 decline, no birds last year coming up to Mr. Eden's celebrated 

 birds of a few years ago. English and Antwerp Dragons are 

 still strong in numbers and good in quality. 



In Jacobins there is a great falling-off. Where are such as 

 the splendid birds of those excellent old fanciers, Messrs. 

 Bowler, Wicking, Maddeford, Cottle, and some others, particu- 

 larly the strain of the first-mentioned gentleman ? They were 

 the produce of many years of careful and thoughtful breeding ; 

 lengthy in feather, short-headed, down-beaked ; of fine, rich, 

 deep colours — Yellows, Reds, and Blacks — with frills, such frills, 

 that looked at in profile they nearly hid the eye of the bird 

 from view — not as now in very many cases, the feathers of 

 the back part of the head either cut or frilled out to make 

 the hood lay even and well over. Even then they are deficient 

 at the sides, very often not reaching to the eye, and standing 

 away from it ; besides which, whatever exhibitors may think 

 of their birds so trimmed as they often appear in the pens, it 

 does not make them better birds, nor are they any better than 

 a sham and a cheat ; and should they thus obtain a prize, they 

 mast remember that they have come by the same unlawfully. 

 No true fancier will do this, but will by patient endeavour so 

 breed his birds that they shall have in a greater degree those 

 points naturally which he of less tender conscience tries to 

 obtain by artificial means. 



The perfect Jacobin ought to have its frill lying well and 

 closely over the head, also close and flat to the cheeks, reaching 

 at least partly over the eyes, and meeting in front of the breast 

 just below the beak. This quality I observed in scarcely any 

 of the birds exhibited last year, nor were they, with few excep- 

 tions, so good in colour as formerly. The heads were very 

 variable in form, not a few being of the Tumbler shape instead 

 of having, as I have before noted, the peculiar short, square, 

 down-beaked formation of this elegant variety. Many of the 

 birds also had orange eyes. 



The breed has, as far as I have seen it of late, deteriorated ; 

 and this is much to be lamented, as it will take years, even in 

 good hands, to reproduce its former excellence. 



In my last article, " gold-lined beak " should have been 

 " Goldfinch beak ;" and " have not colour in the tail " should 

 have been " have ash colour." — Habby. 



THE POUTER CONTROVERSY. 



WtLL not some fancier come forward and give us informa- 

 tion with regard to the Pied Pouters ' The Pouter being the 

 favourite of the Scotch fanciers, and they having done more 

 than any other breeders to bring that beautiful bird to its 

 present state of excellence, they doubtless have felt themselves 

 aggrieved at the tone of some of the letters which have been 

 published, therefore have written rather warmly in reply. 



Thanks to " Hakkt " for his letter, and I hope he will proceed 

 and do as he has ofiered at once ; then possibly we shall get a 

 controversy on every variety of Pigeons. If it is not asking 

 too much of our ardent fanciers, would it not be interesting 

 if some would take notes of the doings of half a dozen pairs 

 of their birds, and publish those notes at the end of the breed- 

 ing season, stating what they did in the shape of markings, 

 colour, ifec. ? Cannot a fancier be found to come forward for 

 every variety of birds ? Could not a volume of knowledge be 

 revealed worthy of a young beginner's study ? Possibly some 

 may think that it would be teaching everybody as much as he 

 knows himself. 'What if it did ? Would it not show him to 

 be anything but a selfish fancier ? What an interesting paper 

 could be formed by those that make the •• any other variety" 

 class their favourite pets ! What could be said on Satinettes, 

 Fairies, Ice, Spots, Swallows, and many other varieties ! Any 

 one at the last Birmingham Show, and fond of sportive-coloured 



birds, might have stood for any length of time and admired 



the recently imported German Toys with their brilliant colours. 

 Far are the Germans ahead of us in colour. 



I will now say I diiier from Mr. Volckman on the Carrier. 

 Were not the prize and many of the other Blacks all that could 

 be desired for colour at the late Birmingham Show ? Moat 

 certainly so, in my opinion. 



Mr. Volckman asks how many times the Black may be crossed 

 with the Dun. I think that question cannot be answered, 

 because I never knew of any Blacks that have not been crossed 

 with Duns. Do you ask. Why have the Blacks been crossed 

 with Duns .' In my opinion the reason is this — you invariably 

 find developed Duns coarser-headed, heavier-wattled, larger- 

 eyed birds than Blacks ; therefore they have been matched to 

 Blacks, the consequence being far better points in the head, 

 wattle, and eye, and bad colour, which may be remedied in one 

 season's breeding. Whilst speaking on the Carrier, let ms 

 ask the fancy now that there is a separate class for Bluea at 

 some of the principal shows, to study their colour (which is 

 bad), rather more than they have done. 



I certainly coincide with Mr. Vre, that the Birmingham Show 

 has made rapid progress within the last few years, there being 

 better birds and larger entries in all classes. Of course in ail 

 shows we shall meet with some indifferent specimens, for the 

 want of proper information respecting the merits of birds on 

 the part of their owners ; yet, taking the prize birds throughout 

 the show, in my opinion there is a decided improvement in 

 every class. — A YonNG Fakclee. 



ALMOND TUMBLERS. 



I unsT say that I entirely disagree with " Harey's " remarks 

 on the Almond Tumbler. He seems to think that the true 

 Almond Tumblers have deteriorated in many of their qualities 

 of late years. Now, I have kept them for some years past, 

 have been among them as much as any man for the last nine 

 or ten years, and I have seen the Birmingham, Crystal Palace, 

 Glasgow, and moat of the leading shows, and from what I have 

 seen, I certainly must say (with all due deference to " Habby"), 

 that I am quite of a different opinion, and that to me there is 

 a great improvement in them ; for instead of birds with faces 

 seven-eighths of an inch in length, as formerly laid down in the 

 rules of an old society, we have plenty now little over five- 

 eighths, and with other properties equally good. 



As to colour and marking, if " Haery " had been lately to 

 some of the private London shows, where he talks about having 

 seen them "years ago," he might still have seen them. The 

 fact is, " Hir.r.Y," like many others, having once seen a few 

 birds to their own liking, without taking the trouble to look 

 about them, run away with the idea that there can be no others 

 like those they once set their minds on ; and should " Habby " 

 or any other gentleman wish to see some really good Almond 

 Tumblers, they have only to pay a visit to the City Columbarian 

 Society.— J. Foac, Hon. Sec. 



UN.JUST SLAUGHTER. 



I WAS sorely tried and puzzled yesterday. It was a fine day, 

 so I looked into No. 3 nucleus box to see how matters were 

 coming on ; and as I found only a small company of workers 

 along with the queen, and she was laying eggs fast, I took out 

 of my pure Italian stock the ripest brood comb I could find, and 

 placed it with the adhering bees in the nucleus to strengthen 

 it. All seemed right, but two hours, or not more than three 

 afterwards, I went to look, and lo ! the alighting board of the 

 stock — a good-sized one — was covered with bees in a state of 

 excitement, and they were slaying some bees on their attempt- 

 ing to enter, by dozens. 



How is this ? Have the bees from the brood comb returned 

 to their parent hive, and has their temporary absence of two 

 to three hours been looked upon as an act of high treason and 

 resented as such ? It seemed a hard case if capital punish- 

 ment was to be infiicted for such an offence ; but it seemed as 

 though such was really the case, as there seemed no addition 

 to the number of bees in the nucleus. So to make matters as 

 well as I could I fed them in order to quicken them up a little. 

 I cannot seo that I did wrong in removing the brood comb with 

 the bees on it ; but if there is no amendment in the nucleus I 

 must do something to strengthen them, or I may lose the 



