534 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. I December 80, 1869. 



tho one pranj styl» is Bimply and nncompromiaingly mdispcn»able. 

 Without it this bird most coaso to enjoy its preeminence ae the " King 

 of Pigeons, " a title which it had desorvedly earned long before tho 

 head points were so highly developed as at present. The pemicions 

 effect of tho novel doctrine in question is becoming more and more 

 apparent, even at onr greatest shows, and it is scarcely an exaggeration 

 to assert that some of the birds in the Dragoon classes have more pre- 

 tensions to a genuine Carrier style than many of onr prize-taking 

 Camers themselves. Our fanciers may well, then, devote their nlmos't 

 attention to the maintenance of the undulating serpent neck, the pro- 

 minent chest, stout shoulder, long pinion, slender girth, tinht feather 

 brilliant plumage, the upstanding defiant attitude, and all "those other 

 items of style characterising this noble variety. 



As usual, the fame of Mr. Montgomery was offectivoly heralded by 

 hiB J rumj,,t,rs— oil the awards in Blacks and all the prizes in Mottles 

 falling to kis share. The success of this gentleman is mainly dno 

 to an extraordinary pair of Trumpeters which some seasons ago found 

 their way into the English market from Kussia. where this quaint 

 variety is held m groat estimation. The parent bird even now main- 

 tains his snpenonty over all comers, and, with his heavily crowned 

 head obscnnng beak and eye, his shaggy booting and squat carriage, 

 may not inaptly be described as the - Skye Terrier" of the Pigeon 

 kmd. Mr. Montgomery, who has made tho most of his opportunity, 

 must continne to lead in Blacks and Mottles until other fanciers meet 

 with his good fortune, or until his strain he dispersed. In Whites 

 however, Messrs. W. Gates and P. }l. Jones were unopposed, standing 

 respectively first and second. 



Much discussion was eicited by the awards in tho F,uit„;i class 

 Janciers of this popular variety do not appear agreed as to the strain 

 for cultivation. Thus, whUe the majority affect birds comparatively 

 coarse, of large dimensions, and of somewhat upright bearing, a select 

 lew headed by Mr. Huie, have been endeavouring to establish a strain 

 of inaian extraction, more delicately framed, and of surpassingly 

 faeantiful carriage. Two such pairs, exhibited by Mr. Huie, would 

 nnquestionably have taken the highest honours, but for the fact that 

 they had been shghtly cUpped, merely, however, for the purpose of 

 personal identification, and because at last years show the ownership 

 of some birds in this class was disputed. Displayed in the show pen 

 they caUed forth the admiration of all who saw them, and, although 

 neither pen nor pencU can do justice to peculiarities only to be esti- 

 mated whilst the birds are in motion, we may state that they differ 

 favourably from the ordinary variety in diminntiveness, gracefuhiess 

 of form, and piquancy of carriage. In this latter particular they are 

 simply nmqne. Stepping daintily on the tips of their slender toes, 

 they seem subject to an incessant and uncontrolled tremulous motion 

 of the neck and head. Meantime, their breasts, compact and prominent, 

 are much elevated, while their meek-looking heads. weU thrown back 

 and touching the very base of the tail feathers, are mostly curicd over 

 to one side or the other of deUcately shaped necks. Between drooping 

 fcghts is poised the spreading fan of their taUs, and in whatever direc- 

 bon the birds are viewed they present a series of the most exquisite 

 curves^ A variety so interesting mnst in the long mn supplant its 

 hitherto successful rivals. In the present instance it was a matter for 

 general refn'et and sympathy that the happy possessor of such 

 specimens should have been debarred the prize by the accident named. 

 iJnt in these days of unscmpalous marking for sinister purposes, 

 judges are beginning more and more to fee! that they mnst rigidly 

 disqualify all entries open to objection; thus it has frequently 

 happened of late that exhibitors of unimpeachable honour have inno- 

 Mntly fallen victims, and a more conscientious exhibitor than Mr. 

 Hnie does not exist. 



The remaining standard classes brought forward little or nothing of 

 exceptional merit. Mr. .T. 11. Frame, however, a member and very 

 keen fancier, showing but three pens, had the credit of carrying off 

 first, second, and third prizes for Harb.^ of US69, leaving but a com- 

 mendation for his feUow exhibitors. Messrs. Montgomery, Wheriand, 

 Jones, and Meff shared the awards for old Barbs, the birds requiring 

 no comment, being in several cases already well known. 



In the nnclassed varieties a pair of 'Dumasmns, shown by Mr. 

 WaUace and said to be from one of the palaces of the Sultan, 

 deservedly attracted much attention. These birds displayed much 

 charaeter about the head, which is of the Owl type, and is relieved by 

 a dark beak and thm slatey-colonred eye wattle. There are no other 

 StSit'^Tefct."' ""'"''''■ '■" "'^P'-^Seis particularly soft 

 As a whole, the general classes must be considered as decidedly 

 nnder average merit, but this deficiency finds a compensation in the 

 supenor excellence of the Pouter classes, to which we shall direct 

 attention m detail next week. 



NOTES ON FANCY PIGEONS.-No. 15. 



THE LADY'S PIGEON, THE F.iNTAlL. 



Hating spoken of the three higli-cIaBg Pigeons, the Pouter 

 the Carrier, and the Tumbler, I must next speak (as in chival- 

 rous duty bound), of the lady's Pigeon, the Fantail; for certain 

 It IS that all ladies greatly admire this bird, whether thev be 

 fanciers or not. Among all the varieties a lady's eye at 6nce 

 picks out this graceful, striking-looking, and swan-like Pigeon 



— indeed the bird itself looks especially fit to be a lady's pet; 

 and the hen Fantail, if well bred, looks in her extremely 

 delicate beauty the very lady of the whole race. 



It is strange how we come to associate persons, or creatures, 

 or things with places. Thus I have a particular local associa- 

 tion with the Fantail. Above thirty years ago, when a little 

 lad, I was accustomed to pass through, and sometimes stay at, 

 a village or small town in the very heart of the Fens of Cam- 

 bridgeshire, called Thomey. It is known as the " Gem of the 

 Fens," and the contrast it presents to the bare, black, treeless 

 earth, and black wide drains of the country around, is certainly 

 remarkable. Thomey, like every place in the Fens ending in 

 •' ey," whether Ramsey, or Whittlesey, or Gedney, is an island, 

 or rather was one when in olden times the Fens were nnder 

 water, and these islands have a different surface soil and sub- 

 soil to the fen country around ; on them grow the oak, and the 

 elm, and the beech, and especially giant ashes, and wherever 

 these trees grew they marked out to the eye some island amid 

 the watery waste, having a firm rich earth wholly unlike the 

 shaking Fens around. Not nnfrequently, too, as at Whittlesey, 

 there are fine strong old houses of massive stone, and heavily 

 timbered. These were built at great expense bj- the lords of 

 the manor, for no stone was near, and were inhabited by them 

 during parts of each year while they and their friends came 

 down to the Fens and amused themselves with wildfowl-shoot- 

 ing and fishing. In those slow-travelling, or rather no-travel- 

 ling days, these Fens were what the Scotch moors are now to 

 the sportsman. 



But to return to Thomey. You crossed the Wash, or an 

 extreme inland part of it, and crept along by a straight road 

 running parallel with a sluggish, black-looking, black-bottomed 

 leam or drain cut by the Dutch drainers, and passing on you 

 entered a wholly different country, for you were at Thomey, 

 amid trees well grown, highly cultivated gardens, houses of the 

 most respectable kind, well built and with a crust of old age 

 upon them, all saying, "This was a respectable place a hundred 

 years ago, and a hundred years before that, just as respectable 

 as now." To add to this look, there stood Thorney Abbey, at 

 least what remained of it, now the parish church. The secret 

 of the look of the place, beside what nature had done, consisted 

 in this, that the monks of old had been there ages ago, and a 

 great duke had held the abbey lands (very broad ones), ever 

 since the monks lost them. In the centre of an open space 

 stood the great duke's great steward's house, as great a man as 

 the dnke, and infinitely greater to the trembling tenant back- 

 ward in his rent ; greater because the great dnke never came 

 there. He lived far away at Wobnm Abbey, in Bedfordshire — 

 very far away indeed in those pre-railway days ; and at the 

 steward's house I first saw a flight of Fantail Pigeons. I con- 

 nect them, therefore, with that place. 



A white pole-house octagonal and ornamental stood on the 

 lawn ; but the pretty, graceful, white Fantails loved to prome- 

 nade and coo all along the flat broad top of the wall that sepa- 

 rated the steward's house from the road. Ah ! I should have 

 liked to have seen the Thorney boy who had dared to have 

 thrown a stone at the steward's lady's Pigeons — that boy would 

 have been of a marvellously independent nature. Well, dtike, 

 and steward, and steward's wife have long since passed into 

 another world. But, as I said, there I fell in love with Fantail 

 Pigeons, and thought them, and still think them, the most 

 ornamental of all Pigeons for keeping loose about a pretty 

 country place. Their colour, white, looks well whether the 

 birds are promenading on a lawn, or a gravel walk, or on a wall, 

 or whether they are basking on a building ; and especially beau- 

 tiful do they look if tame and feeding in a group at yonr feet. 

 Indeed, they are perfect ornaments for a residence ; never 

 straying or flying far, their beauty is always present. They 

 have not, indeed, the cleverness of Tumblers, but are tho- 

 roughly dependent pretty little dears, like their lady admirers. 

 They will also become remarkably tame if pains be taken. The 

 Fantail is one of the few varieties in which the hen is superior 

 to the cock, for a well-bred Fantail hen has a super-delicate 

 and graceful look which no cock can boast of. Her head is 

 thinner, her neck more slender, and she is smaller in size. 

 Yet the cock has his special merit, for when perfectly clear, as 

 all Fantails ought to be, there is on his neck a particular, bright 

 silver hue, which glitters in the sun as he swells his throat to 

 coo. This is seen, also, even to greater perfection, in white 

 cock Pouters. 



In Fantails white is the original, and therefore the best 

 colour, and its whiteness is dazzling and snowlike — so different 

 to the white of any variety of bird in which black is the origi- 



