214 



JODBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Marcli G, 1873. 



and turned the bend of the river, -^-hich brought us in sight of 

 Garden Reach, it was near sunset. By-and-by we were abreast 

 of the King of Oude's houses, fancifully coloured blue, yellow, 

 and red. The Calcutta houses are built of brick and covered 

 with plaster, which is repaired about every third year and white- 

 washed, and the King has a fancy for tinting "the whitewash 

 with gay colours, leaving the mouldings of the doors and wiudows 

 either white or a different sliade of colour. I observed a great 

 many boxes on poles scattered about the grounds for the accom- 

 modation of a host of monkeys. On inquiry I was disappointed 

 to learn that no European was ever admitted within the walls 

 to see the large collec^n of birds and beasts ; but some years 

 afterwards, in the colcf weather of lSG8-fjU, I noticed an ad- 

 vertisement in the newspapers, saying that His Majesty would 

 throw open his grounds on a certain dayto all Europeans whose 

 names were on the Government House list, so I lost no time in 

 applying to Moonshee Ameer Ali, the Grand Vizier, for a ticket, 

 and in due course I availed myself of it. 



Ou arriving at the principal gateway I was received by a num- 

 ber of gaudily dressed officials, who greeted me with courtesy ; 

 and on entering I was surprised to see the care and taste dis- 

 played in the laying-out of the grounds, and the many beautiful 

 and rare animals and birds located in them. It is said that the 

 King has spent upwards of a quarter of a million sterling on his 

 menagerie, and I knew a dealer in Calcutta who assured me that 

 he sometimes made sales to him amounting to 30,UUU rupees at 

 a time. From the bargaiued-for amount, however, about half 

 has generally to be returned to iinderstrappers, no business 

 being done without their interference. It is impossible to ap- 

 proach a great man direct in eastern climes ; the underlings 

 would soon put a stop to such a proceeding unless sweating dus- 

 tooree was handed over to them. This will give your readers 

 an idea how good a thing His Majesty's taste for live stock'has 

 been for his oflicials. 



As my object is to give an account of His Majesty's flying 

 Pigeons, I shall be very brief in dealing with the rest of what I 

 saw. In one part of the grounds is a small mosque-shaped 

 building surmounted by a gilded dome, the apartments of which 

 are floored with marble iu inlaid designs, and hung round with 

 pretty cages containing beautifully coloured birds. What struck 

 me most was the cleanliness they were kept in ; and this applies 

 to all the birds and beasts about the place. Of course they 

 m,ight have had extra attention on such a show-day, but, from 

 the healthy-looking appearance of them all, I think they are well 

 attended to. In the cenire room of the building the floor was 

 hoUowed-out to contain water, iu which were a number of small 

 gold, silver, and other fish, all so tame as to eat from the hand. 

 I was told that the King takes great delight in feeding them, 

 and does so almost every day. In front of the building is an 

 oblong marble tank, measuring, as far as I can remember, about 

 40 by lUU feet, and containing a great assortment of aquatic 

 birds, many of them of gi'eat rarity and brought from great dis- 

 tances, i^ot far from the tank is a place devoted to the larger 

 feline animals — a lion, tigers, leopards (spotted and black), 

 hyenas, Sec. I noticed three jackals, one of the usual colour, a 

 second pure white with red eyes, and a third a melanoid jet 

 black. For any freak of nature of this kind the King will pay a 

 good price. A cat-fancier would have been delighted with the 

 assortment of Persian and Affghan cats. The usual colour 

 of those brought down hy the Cabul fruit-sellers, every cold 

 weather, is pure white, but I saw pure black aud tortoiseshell 

 ones of great size aud length of hair. Among the l^arrots, of 

 which there is a splendid collection, especially of Australian, 

 Bornean, and Sumatran kinds, I saw two albinos of the common 

 ring-necked Bengal Parroquet. They were of the most lovely 

 canary yellow with red eyes. 



I must now come to the Pigeons. His Majesty's fancy Pigeons 

 are kept in some of his best houses, the lofty verandahs of which 

 are enclosed by wire netting. They were not ou view, so I can- 

 not describe them. He has recently acquired a good many 

 European varieties, and his taste for them lies chiefly iu Kunts 

 and Jacobins, both kinds being entirely different from anything 

 to be found in India. He had some very fair Jacobins, which 

 were shown in cages on tables laid along some of the garden 

 walks. They came from France ; and besides having birds of 

 the colours and markings known here, I saw very good Bhxe and 

 Black self-coloured ones, Baldpated ones with feathered legs, 

 and one pair of Reds with both feathered legs aud a Trumpeter's 

 moustache or rose above the beak. This x)air was very good in 

 hood and chain. I must now come to the flyers, of which, I 

 daresay, the King has four of the largest trained flocks in the 

 world. Each flock contains about a thousand birds, and is kept 

 in a separate house, aud at a distance of *2U0 or 300 yards from 

 each other. I have no doubt these birds, which I shall en- 

 deavour to describe, have been bred for generations for flying. 

 The first thing which strikes a fancier about them is the won- 

 derful hardness and close-lying appearance of their feathers, 

 and the bold upstanding look of the birds. In this respect 

 there is a gi-eat deal of the character of the highly-bred Carrier 

 about them ; but they differ in the head and beak, which is some- 



thing like that of an Archangel, being long and thin. And with 

 reference to the Archangel, as I have seen it stated somewhere 

 that it originated in Germany, where it is called the Bullfinch, 

 I may correct this opinion by saying that it is well known iu 

 India, having been bred there for generations, and I believe 

 many more of the German Toys originated in the same country, 

 where a gi-eat many wonderfully feathered birds are bred. 



But to return to the flyer. In colour it is invariably pied, aud 

 almost always the head and neck as far down as a Nun are 

 coloured, the other pieces of colour being disposed without re- 

 gularity over the body. The colour is never in mottles but iu 

 splashes, and the eye is orange. Of these birds the Kiug has, 

 as I said, four great thghts, one each of Blue, Black, lied, and 

 Yellow Pieds. For beauty of colour — a deep metallic shining 

 black, clear blue, rich mahogany red, and bright yellow — they 

 are worth going far to see. Attached to each flight there is a 

 keeper, whose duty it is to feed and fly them ; and for the latter 

 purpose he keeps beside him a jar of some small seeds, of which 

 the birds are extremely fond, and a long bamboo with a small 

 red flag attached to it. Throwing a small quantity of the seed 

 on the ground, and at the same time uttering a peculiar call, 

 the keeper of the flight I watched brought his birds out of the 

 house iu a heap, and in a few secouds the seed was gone, when 

 he began to diive them on a large wooden rack, shaped like a 

 greenhouse rack for flower-pots standing on, which stood near 

 the house. They evidently iinderstood him, for in a short time 

 they all rose from the gi'ouud and settled on the rack, which, 

 though by no means small, was so crowded with birds that 

 there seemed no room for one more. All of a sudden, placing 

 his first and second fin^rs in his mouth, the keeper gave a 

 shi-ill whistle, and at the same time waving his flag, the great 

 flight rose iu the air. They neither flew very high nor very far 

 away, but they kept together iu a compact mass with scarcely a 

 straggler, so that each time they passed over the house they cast 

 a great shadow on the ground, aud the noise of their many 

 wings was like music to my Pigeon-fancier's ears. At the time 

 I saw them flying the other three flocks were going through the 

 same performance to the amusement, I daresay, of some of the 

 other visitors, and more than once the flock I was watching 

 mingled with another in their flight and separated again. They 

 were evidently lazy, being well fed and ready to come down when 

 wanted ; but the keeper had them well under command, aud by 

 the motions of his flag kept them going as long as he liked. At 

 length I asked him to bring them down, which he did by lower- 

 ing his flag and throwing a small quantity of the small seed on 

 the ground, uttering his peculiar call as he did so. They seemed 

 to stop instantaneously in their flight, and with a rush "like 

 Doves to their windows," the whole mass settled at my feet, 

 moving the air vrith the fluttering of their many wings. As 

 soon as they were on the ground I noticed the man dart at and 

 catch up one, which he shook and tossed up. It was a Yellow 

 which had got into the Blue flock as they mingled in their 

 flight, and I daresay a young one not yet educated. — B.vLnrATE, 

 Monijiethf Dundee. 



CANARIES AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE BIRD 

 SHOW. 



"Why the usual critique on the judgment of the Canaries and 

 Mules, ferming the larger portion uf the Bird Show attbe Palace, 

 has this year been omitted from the Journal I cannot under- 

 stand, especially as the exhibition fully equalled any previously 

 held as regards the quality and condition of the birds, and so 

 far as the entire arrangements were concerned. That the Show 

 was a large one may be ascertained from the fact of the catalogue 

 containing the number of 10(13 entries. 



The first ten classes, confined to Norwich birds alone, were 

 furnished with 290 specimens, giving an average of twenty-nine 

 birds for each class. The Norwich birds, which were much 

 admired for their gay plumage, formed the principal feature of 

 the Exhibition, the Clear and Even-marked birds iu many 

 instances being rich in blootn aud in beautiful condition. 

 Classes 5 and 0, Ticked or Unevenly-marked Norwich, were 

 well represented, many very showy birds being exhibited. In 

 these two classes a couple of birds (Nos. 187 aud 21(3), caused 

 quite a seusation, owing to the very unnatural appearance they 

 bore as regards their colour. On this account the Judges de- 

 clined to entertain them as proper sxjecimens for competition, 

 which opinion was backed generally by fanciers from various 

 parts of England after the Exhibition was opened to the public. 



The four Belgian classes were represented by forty-six birds, 

 nearly the whole of which were of high-class quality. There 

 was a goodly array of London Fancies, the prizewinners in each 

 of the two classes showing evidence of much time and trouble 

 having been devoted to the bringing of them out. There were 

 also several fii'st-class Lizard birds, rich inquahty, with faultless 

 caps, and "kreeled" to perfection. The two classes of Cinna- 

 mon birds (numbering sixty-four in the whole), occupied the 

 attention of the Judges for some time iu selecting seven of the 

 number for prize--^. A new feature in the Palace Show was the 



