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JODBNAIi OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAaE GABDENBB. 



I June 25, 1868. 



one book on poultry got him into more hot water than every 

 other act of his life. Half the poultry-keepers in France fell 

 foul of him. He said too much for one breed, not enough of 

 another. He was overwhelmed with unprofitable correspon- 

 dence, pulled down hia houses, sold his stock, and turned to 

 other pursuits ; nevertheless, he remains the greatest authority 

 we have on these breeds. 



We will now give the principal points he describes as belong- 

 inp to the CrC-ve-Cceura, 



Ample body, square-built, wide, standing well on substantial 

 legs ; back almost horizontal, falling slightly towards the tail ; 

 breast, thighs, and wings well developed; limbs short; very- 

 large head ; top-knot, whiskers, and beard ; double comb in the 

 shape of horns ; wattle long and pendant ; deaf ear small and 

 hidden ; four-toed ; breast and belly feathers long and plenti- 

 ful ; flight feathers of the usual length ; sickles and tail coverts 

 very long ; in excellent specimens plumage quite black, in ordi- 

 nary ones yellow aad whitish. Gait proud and serious. 



An adult should weigh from 7 to S lbs. The flesh should be 

 very abundant, bones weighing only one-eighth of the whole. 

 Top-knot, ample, voluminous, heavy. The pointed feathers 

 should fall all round the head in good specimens ; the middle 

 feathers should stand upright, and some should fall in front. 

 Whiskers very f till. 



Beard long, voluminous, and falling below the wattles. 



Comb variable, but always forming two horns ; now parallel, 

 upright, and fleshy ; now joined at their base, slightly uneven, 

 pointed and dividing at their summit, but always having some 

 interior ramifications like the horns of a young stag. 



Deaf ear whitish, of ordinary size, nearly hidden by the 

 feathers of the whiskers and top-knot. 



Wattles long, fleshy, and pendant. Nostrils open, large, 

 and prominent. 



Physiognomy of the Lead: — The eyes nearly disappear be- 

 neath the feathers of the top-knot. The comb, taking the form 

 of horns, gives to the face of a Crove-Coeur the appearance of 

 a satyr. 



Colour of the leg black, or deep slate blue. 



The plumage should be entirely black, relieved by metallic 

 reflections, blue or greenish about the neck, on tlie hackle, 

 wings, tail coverts, aud large and small sickles. The rest is 

 dead black save the featheris of the abdomen, which are of a 

 brownish black. The top-knot generally becomes whitish at 

 the back after the second or third moult. 



Many specimens have the hackle, saddle, and tail coverts 

 straw-coloured. They are pure, and breed pure birds, but they 

 are less esteemed by judges. 



Such is the description of the cock. The full-grown hen 

 should weigh Gibs., should have a large head, and full top-knot. 

 The latter differs somewhat. In some cases the feathers are 

 short, leaving the eyes uncovered. In others the feathers are 

 80 abundant that the head is hidden in them, and the bird can 

 only see things that are on the ground. Beard long, pendant, 

 and strong, larger at bottom than at top ; gills very small ; 

 deaf ear small and whitish, hidden in the top-knotand the 

 whiskers. 



The top-knot, which is black at first, becomes whiter and 

 whiter each time after moulting. 



GAME FOWLS IN FORMER YEARS.— No. -i. 



The most celebrated cock-fighting feeders of the last gene- 

 ration, before the sport was abolished by law, were (HUiver, 

 of Coleshill ; Potter, the late Earl of Derby's man, Gilliver's 

 principal opponent ; the two Hashes, Walters, Leycester, Neale, 

 Tom Spring, Peter Crawley, Harry Gomm, Frank Redmond, 

 Mountain, and others, chiefly provincial men. Gilliver was 

 the most successful of them all, bought a house out of his 

 earnings, and died in 1.932, leaving a son, or nephew, who lives 

 at Polesworth, North Warwickshire. Gilliver, senior, was a 

 really good and well-known authority on all matters connected 

 with Game fowls, though he fought "far better birds, it is said, 

 than he ever bred himself, and so was a better fighter and 

 feeder than a breeder. Gilliver won seven of the largest and 

 best-fought mains in England. Coleshill (1), Lichfield (2), 

 Chester (3), Newton, Lancashire (4), Oxford (5), Manchester ((i), 

 and Preston, Lancashire (7). The one fought at Manchester 

 was his best-fought main and was only just won. He was 

 once well beaten at Manchester by the celebrated Manchester 

 Brown Beds, and the Dark Greys and Cheshire Piles (white 

 legs). 



Cmiiver won prinoipftUy with the Brown Reds, aud he classed 



the beet breeds of Game fowls in his district, the midland 

 counties, as follows:— For the pit— 1st, Brown Beds, brown 

 breasts, greatest winners ; 2nd, Dark Greys, hardest, least beaten 

 of any — these two breeds the best birds ; 3rd, Piles, red eyes, 

 white legs, quite as sharp; 4th, Black-breasted Reds, white 

 legs, less sharp ; 5th, Duckwings, red eyes, willow legs, not 

 quite so good. Black-breasted Reds (willow legs), Blacks, and 

 most other colours he classed as inferior birds. 



A Cheshire correspondent sent me the following list, classed 

 in quality for the pit, at the present time in his district in 

 Cheshire, the first-named not common : — 1st, Birchen Duns and 

 Reds, quickest (dun breasts, however, are softer), provincial ; 

 2nd, Brown Reds, most used for the pit ; 3rd, Dark Greys, not 

 common ; ■1th, Blood Piles, red eyes, yellow legs ; 5th, Black- 

 breasted Reds, dark birds, willow legs. Duckwings inferior 

 there, and white-legged birds scarce, as are Whites. He says 

 Game cocks run 6.j lbs. there as an average, which, I think, is 

 heavy. This is a much higher weight than the old Cheshire 

 white-legged or other Che.-ihire breeds used to average. 



In London these three sorts were chiefly used for the pit : — 

 1 st. Brown Reds, most common and most used ; 2nd, Dark 

 Greys, hardest and best birds of all ; 3rd, Black-breasted Reds, 

 red eyes, white legs, with the wheaten hens. These last not 

 quite so good. 



In my own district in the country the strains stand aB 

 follows, as good winners in the pit at present : — Ist, Eed- 

 breasted Ginger Reds, bright red eyes, yellow legs ; cocks bright 

 red, hens light ginger partridge colour, a peculiar provincial 

 strain, bred in East Suffolk, and formerly at Newmarket, 

 Cambridgeshire side. These have not been beaten for thirty- 

 five years, and are ^ ery fast. 2nd, Dark Greys, grey breasts, the 

 hardest birds of all; 3rd, Brown Reds, red-brown breasts, the 

 most fought of all; Ith, Bright Red Blood Piles, marble- 

 breasted cocks (bred from Ginger Red hens originally), with 

 white legs and bright red eyes (the old Cheshire Piles). 



Of these. Ginger Reds and Piles are quickest, and Dark 

 Greys and Brown Reds the hardest. We have also two strains 

 of Black-breasted Reds with willow legs and red eyes, with very 

 red cocks, that beat the Brown Reds. The hens of one strain 

 are wheaten, and in the other Partridge-coloured. Both are 

 originally from Newmarket, and are, 1 think, the best in 

 England. 



I hear that yellow and willow-legged Piles are now preferred 

 in some places to the white-legged. I prefer the white-legged 

 as gamer birds myself. I also hear that English Game fowls 

 are now fought in France, the French breeders near Paris 

 buying them up through their agents in London, especially 

 about Hanworth, Hounslow, and Hampton Court. I have 

 been informed that the English jockeys at Paris have brought 

 this about. 



I have quoted a little though not much, from " British 

 Sports," by Capt. Delamere Blaine, as to the Duke of Leeds's 

 breed, and some of the titled breeders and the feeders' names. 

 The characteristics of the fighting qualities, and the notes on 

 Gilliver, are copied chiefly from the old sporting records in 

 London and Newmarket, and will, therefore, be found to be 

 quite correct. 1 have, however, chiefly quoted from my own 

 notes and experience. — Newm4iiket. 



PACKING EGGS. 



Having read in .your paper the letters of " Constant Beadeb " 

 and Mr. Cooper, I can fully verify their statements as to the 

 safety of packing eggs in sawdust ; at the same time I wish to 

 mention that the eggs when boiled taste of the sawdust. I 

 now use bran. — J. G. I. 



PRIZES FOR BRAHMA POOTRAS. 

 At this season the committees of some of our leading winter 

 poultry shows are revising their schedules to meet the growing 

 claims of the more popular breeds. Permit me, very briefly, 

 to remind secretaries and committees of the strong and general 

 expression of public opinion which was manifested during the 

 winter months by a great number of letters in your columns 

 and elsewhere in favour of liberal and equal prizes to both 

 Light and Dark Brahmas. These letters came from various 

 sources, from breeders of one and of both varieties, from secre- 

 taries of shows, from those who were impartial and who kept 

 no Brahmas at all. Differing as they did in their origin, they 

 were heartily unanimous in their demand that the growing 

 popularity of the liight birds should be recognised byjj^eir 



