April 24, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GABDENKR. 



319 



in the comb of his hen," a few general items may tend to aid 



him in his investigation. On .January the 1.5th last, this 

 cruelly ill-used fowl was shown with another equally good hen 

 in all points at the Walsall Poultry Show. The second hen 

 was perfect in comb, bnt the one in question had her comb 

 loosely hanging on one side, and for this sole reason I only 

 " highly commended " them. Almost immediately after the 

 decisions were made public at Walsall, a very angry and hotly- 

 worded telegram from Mr. Wood demanded the fowls' " imme- 

 diate return by the next train," with a very abrupt comment 

 on my decision of a high commendation only, that certainly 

 here needs not repetition. From Jlr. Wood's present letter, this 

 telegram seems to have slipped from his memory altogether. 

 Of course the Committee did not comply with the request. 



After the receipt of the telegram, and before learing the 

 committee-room, I answered the inquiry of the gentlemen 

 present by at once referring them to my award-book, and op- 

 posite the number of this pen was the pencil note made by 

 myself whilst judging — "hen's comb over." As after the re- 

 ceipt also from Mr. Wood of a very angry letter to the Walsall 

 Committee, and again another of like nature to myself, it was 

 suggested by some one else present " It would be well to be 

 able to give conclusive proof of the individual identity of this 

 particular hen in case of any prolongation of the dispute " — I 

 myself placed a private mark on one of her feathers ; but 

 nothing farther after that time transpired. At Wigton, after the 

 discovery and extraction of the needle, I at once looked tor this 

 feather, marked by myself at Walsall, plucked it out, placed it 

 in an envelope, and it remains still in my hands. I have per- 

 mitted the needle to be inspected by two medical friends, whose 

 joint opinion it is, "judging from the corrosion of the needle 

 alone, without seeing the bird itself when suffering, it might 

 possibly have been imbedded in the comb some few weeks, or 

 even months, and that though Nature was attempting the re- 

 moval of this foreign substance by a process closely approxi- 

 mating to the exfohation of a splintered bone, it would most 

 probably, if unaided, have taken even yet a considerable time 

 to work out a thorough cure." Any one, therefore, who has 

 suffered from a thorn in the flesh only can give a very faint 

 guess of the suffering endured by this poor hen prior to the 

 extraction of the needle. 



Mr. Wood suggests the question, " That he scarcely thinks 

 the Judge himself would deny that the pen was the best, even 

 after the needle was withdra'STi." I am decidedly of that 

 opinion, and will even also add, that I firmly believe that Mr. 

 ■Wood has the best pair of Silver-spangled Hamburgh hens in 

 England, if the comb of this one hen should now remain as 

 "free from drooping on any side," as represented in his pre- 

 sent letter. Time, I fear, will prove this not to be the case ; 

 the comb's ultimate uprightness, being, to my notions, ex- 

 tremely problematical. 



In conclusion, I did not myself at Wigton (where she was 

 shown singly), recognise this from the fellow hen that with her 

 I have so frequently seen at other poultry shows, for her comb 

 being erect, I passed her with first honours, as, no doubt, most 

 unwittingly, I have many other deceptions of a like character 

 (perhaps far more than I conceive), from different exhibitors 

 at a variety of meetings. 



It is in my opinion, however, the fixed duty of any public 

 arbitrator, when deceptions are in the first instance detected, or 

 afterwards revealed, as in this case, from information received, 

 to visit the offence with open exposure of the affair, and im- 

 mediate " disqualification," carrying out the unvarying rule 

 indifferently to all alike. — Edward Hewitt, Sparkbrook, Bir- 

 mingham. 



NOTES ON PIGEONS.— No. 3. 



FORMER ENGLISH WRITERS ON THE SUBJECT. 

 " THE TREATISE " OF A.D. 17G5. 



After John Moore's " Columbarium," published, we must 

 remember, in 1735, there was, as far as I can learn, a pause in 

 regard to the issue of works on fancy Pigeons. I follow the 

 idea that the book did not sell, or that few copies were printed, 

 and that, as with the works of many disappointed authors, 

 certain copies were destroyed in the writer's own house in a 

 fit of disgust. People do not like to be reminded of a failure ; 

 and a whole bookcaseful of an unsold edition (I once saw such 

 a bookcaseful in an old clergyman's house, whose wife had in 

 an unfortunate hour written two volumes of terrible trash on 

 the Church catechism) — must be a painful reminder. Be it as 

 it may, Moore's work is a marvellously scarce book now; but 



so good a book must have been prized by genuine Pigeon- 

 fanciers ; it must have been welcomed by such, and pored over 

 many a winter's evening by the fireside. But think of what 

 England was in 173-3. George II., of uninteresting memory, 

 was on the throne. Walpole — every-man-has-his-price Walpole 

 — was bribing all round. The state of manners and morals 

 was deplorably low. Gaming was the vice of the age. Gentle- 

 men gambled at their clubs, ladies in their drawing-rooms, 

 and it was no unusual thing to lose or win £10,000 in a night 

 at cards or dice. Within ten miles of where I am writing an 

 estate of great value came into the hands of the noble family 

 who now possess it as a stake won at cards, and its total value 

 then was less than its yearly rental now. If such was life in 

 the higher classes, we may be sure that the lower were good 

 imitators. At any rate, it was a time when the taste was low, 

 and pure home pleasures not much cared for — when there was 

 little love of poultry, though great love for fighting cocks. 

 But much was against the circulation of any book written 

 upon what always has been, and always will be, but the hobby 

 of a minority : thus, each coimty was more isolated from other 

 counties than the whole country now is from France ; books 

 travelled down into the provinces very slowly ; those were 

 the days of slow coaches and bad roads, when a wooden-legged 

 man, being offered a ride by the coachman, declined, saying, 

 " No, thank'ee ; the fact is, I'm in a hurry, and so must walk." 

 Hence, to come down to our subject, Moore's book would have, 

 I fear, few readers out of London. I can, however, well 

 imagine the deUght of, we will say, some Yorkshire fancier 

 (Yorkshire always has been foremost in these things), upon 

 receiving from a town friend and brother fancier — some cousin 

 gone to seek his fortune— a copy of Moore's " Columbarium."* 

 But yet in these days each man with a hobby had, as a rule, 

 to depend on his own immediate neighbourhood for supplying 

 him with friends having a fellow feeling, as means of commu- 

 nication were so difficult. Hence it was that breeds of fowls 

 remained in certain counties and localities ; thus I have 

 heard old people belonging to Lincolnshire tell of zealous Game 

 breeders riding with their favourite birds carried on their 

 saddles ; but these, of course, would be short journeys. 



How many or how few readers old Moore found, he found 

 one who admired and approved his work so heartily, that he 

 reproduced nearly the whole book. This was the author of 

 "A Treatise on Domestic Pigeons," printed and sold by C. 

 Barry, Fenchurch Street, London, in 1765, just thirty years 

 after" the pubhcation of the "Columbarium." I have a first 

 edition lying before me as I write. Strong and very dark with 

 age is the old calf binding, and yellow the substantial leaves. 

 It is by no means closely printed, but contains only 141 pages ; 

 but we must add to them sixteen pages of preface. It must 

 be noticed that the writer does not give his name ; but ha 

 dedicated his work, or rather compilation, to one John Mayor, 

 Esq. In a very lengthy title-page the writer tells us his work 

 was " carefully compiled from the best authors." The plural 

 might almost have been spared, as it is chiefly from Moore, 

 and very frequently even word after word. There was one 

 great addition, however, of which the lengthy title-page informs 

 us in these high-sounding expressions, " Illustrated with a 

 frontispiece, and cuts elegantly and accurately engi-aved from 

 life by the most able and eminent artists, under the immediate 

 inspection of very experienced fanciers." Moore had deplored 

 the want of illustrations. He says " I am very sensible that 

 proper icons [a queer word for pictures] are of very great 

 service to illustrate a work of this nature ; but this piece being 

 in its kind new, and not being able to guess at what reception 

 it may meet with from the world, I knew the expenses of exact 

 cuts would swell the price too high for many that may have a 

 mind to purchase this work ; and on the contrary, that if they 

 are not delineated with the utmost accuracy according to their 

 various characteristics, they only puzzle the mind, and render 

 the description of them more obscure ; and therefore I choose 

 rather to have none than bad ones." Wise John Moore ! But 

 the author of the " Treatise " evidently knew the value of 

 pictures bad or good, and wished his book to catch the eye as 

 well as please the mind. 



The "icons" of the "Treatise" are thirteen in number, 

 and I cannot say much in their favour. First, the frontispiece 

 presents us with a portion, I presume, of the interior of a loft. 

 On the floor is the hopper, on which stands a Pigeon meant 

 to be an Almond Tumbler. In front of the hopper stands a 

 mouse in a supplicating attitude, while a skinny cat is pretend- 

 ing to look at the water-bottle (an inverted carboy), to her 

 right, while of course she intends t» catch the supplicating 



