March 18, 1875. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOOLTDRE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



225 



size and every fancy point, I would deduct tha following marks 



for the following defects : — 



Want ot shapo from 5 to 23 points 



Want of sizo' M 5 '25 ,, 



Badool.mr , 5 15 ,, 



Badly-formed feet and toe3 ti 2 15 ,, 



Defective comb in hen , 1 5 n 



Defective comb in cock n 2 10 , , 



Sooty feet „ 3 15 „ 



Slight bumble foot 10 20 „ 



Spur outside (ci>ck) i 15 20 „ 



Absence of white shaft from the hen's feathers „ 5 10 „ 



Want of condition n 15 25 ,, 



White earlobe „ 1 3 „ 



All deformities, bad bumble feet, spurs right outside, and 

 very dark feet are fatal disqualifications, and I think badly- 

 crooked breastbones should be so too. 



HOUDANS. 



LncE "D., Deal," I am exceedingly disappointed with my 

 Houdans as regards laying, although iu other respects they far 

 exceed other breeds except the Grove and Dorking, and they 

 surpass them in hardiness. 



Having read in your Journal of the excellent laying properties 

 of these birds, I determined to obtain a yard of them, and pro- 

 cured four Houdan hens with a cock (not related) in January 

 1874. From these I reared twenty-nine pullets, all of which are 

 now above ten months old ; with these pullets I put sis cross- 

 bred hens in order to have in the yard exactly the same number 

 of hens as I had last year, which consisted of thirty-five farm- 

 yard hens. 



Last year's result from thirty-five crossbred fowls during the 

 months of January and February (nine months old) was 621 eggs. 

 This year's ditto (ten mouths old) Houdans, 301 eggs. The eggs 

 I now obtain from this yard are half of them irom the crossbred 

 hens; their eggs being easily distinguished by their brown tint. 



Besides the Houdan yard I have one of Light Brahmas (nine 

 hens and a cock), these have laid this year 307 eggs. I have 

 another yard of Black Red Game, twenty-three pullets which 

 have laid since Christmas 421 eggs; also I have three Black 

 Hamburgh pullets, which have laid this year 103 eggs. — 

 J. Shelswell, Banbury. 



. THE ENGLISH OWL PIGEON. 



I FIND, after reading " Wiltshiee Rector's " remarks on this 

 Pigeon, I must add something lest I be misunderstood. The 

 Rector's analogy as to the African being to the English Owl as 

 the Short-faced Almond is to the well-bred flying Tumbler will 

 not, in my opinion, hold good. Flying Tumblers are fancied 

 and bred for their performances in the air, and he who will have 

 them nearest perfection must not be too particular about feather 

 or appearance. Short-faces, on the other hand, though un- 

 doubtedly bred down from common Tumblers, are bred entirely 

 for appearance and fancy points. If the Rector's analogy is 

 good, then E nglish O wis, like those of the present day or similar 

 birds, are the progenitors of the fine Africans now imported. 

 From this idea I must dissent, and rather hold with "Bubo " 

 that the English bird has degenerated iu English hands from 

 unskilful breeding. 



To the proof of my assertion I first mention the article on the 

 Owl in the Treatise on Pigeons (1765) :. " The Owl is, according 

 to Mr. Moore, a small Pigeon very little larger than a Jacobin, 

 which might be their size in his time ; but at present they are 

 brought to such perfection that they are hardly if anything 

 larger than a very small Tumbler. Its beak is very short, and 

 hooked over at the end like an Owl's, from whence it takes its 

 name ; the shorter it is the better. It has a very round button 

 head." 



If a fine African Owl and what is reckoned a fine English one 

 (such as comes to the front atl the best shows) is taken up and 

 compared with this description written in 1765, I hold It will 

 not apply to the E aglish bird at all, but eminently to the African. 

 Leaving out mere size, there is little left but the frill or purle 

 to indicate what the English bird is. Some of the crossed dusky- 

 coloured birds have certainly fair heads, but can a real powder- 

 blue English Owl be produced with the formation of head and 

 beak as described in the foregoing quotation ? If it can, then I 

 will allow it to be an O wl, although double the size of the African. 

 At the same time it is clear that the size is a sign of coarseness, 

 and that altogether the breed has lost that finish so well de- 

 scribed by the writer ot the Treatise (1765). 



Returning to the Rector's analogy of Short-faces to African 

 Owls. The former if very fine could not be trusted to fly, leaving 

 out the risk of loss, beoauBO they are not able ; while, on the 

 other hand, the African bird has his wings clipped up, and is as 

 smart on the wing as his English very distant relation, which 

 I have proved. 



When iu India I had a very fine pair which I had from Mr. 

 Jamrach, who brought them out on one of his expeditions in 



search of tigers. He had them from Messrs. Baily, the importers. 

 The climate, being something like their native one, suited them 

 so well that they bred as freely as common Pigeons, and so true 

 to points that I was convinced the breed is a well-estaljlished 

 one, not like the Euglish Owls that I had beside them, and from 

 fair-headed specimens of which the greater number came very 

 mousey-faced. 



As I said before, the English bird is worth preserving for 

 colour's sake, in the hope that that may be engrafted on the 

 finer bird; but he is not in my opinion worth preserving for 

 anything else, having evidently had the bar sinistej engraved 

 on his escutcheon some time between 1765 and now ; at least I 

 judge so when I read what he was and look at what he is.^ 

 J. C. Lyell, Monijicth, Dundee. 



CLASSES FOR THE MEALY POUTEB. 



The prevailing colours of semi-wild Pigeons inhabiting field 

 dovecotes and ruined buildings in this country and the continent 

 of Europe, also the Hindoo temples and mosques of Himiostan, 

 are blue with black bars, and blue-chequer. Amongst all these 

 it is no unfrequent thing to observe some mealy and red- 

 chequered birds. These latter colours, then, seem the first varia- 

 tion nature makes in half domesticated Pigeons, and next an 

 occasional albino or pure white. It is therefore owing to the 

 fact that they are the most natural, that Pouters of these 

 colours have always been perhaps hardier and generally finer 

 developed as to style and size than the artificial black, red, and 

 yellow. I think late writers are agreed that blue and mealy do 

 not give the breeder one tithe of the trouble as to colour that 

 the artificial colours do. 



On going back to the earlier writers, I find Moore places the 

 black before the blue, and the yellow before either. Thirty 

 years later the writer ot the Treatise (1765) values them in the 

 same way, and places red between black and yellow. 



Circumstances may alter cases, as for instance at Ihe present 

 time reds of the best tint are so scarce that they are more valu- 

 able than yellows, birds of which are still to be met with ot very 

 good colour though also scarce. Yet I think we may take for 

 granted the respective values placed on the colours by the old 

 writers, and we shall, no doubt, find when reds of colour become 

 more common that the difficulty of keeping to the right tints 

 will make the colours stand — first, yellow; second, red; third, 

 black ; fourth, blue. After these the only others worth breed- 

 ing for themselves are the barred colours — viz., silver, yellow 

 mealy, and the common or red mealy. Both as regards beauty 

 and from the fact that silver and yellow mealy are scarce 

 and artificial colours, they would in my opinion stand far 

 before the common or red mealy it they could be produced 

 equal in Pouter points with it. Whether they ever will bo 

 bred so is another question. I therefore put— fifth, silver ; sixth, 

 yellow mealy; seventh, red mealy. After these there remain 

 blue, red, and yellow chequers ot various shades, sandies of the 

 same, dun and dun chequers (colours I never saw, though I 

 believe they have existed). Splashes all the way from those with 

 only a grizzled tail to half-coloured or badly pied birds, and last 

 pure whites, which should in my opinion come eighth on the 

 list ; for should any of the seven colours I have numbered be 

 not only equal in style and size to a white, but well marked be- 

 sides, it is a more valuable bird. 



Here, then, is what I would consider a good schedule for a 

 Pouter show, the sub-divisions into classes of cocks and hens, 

 old and young birds, being made according to circumstances. 

 First, yellow; second, red; third, black; fourth, blue; fifth, 

 silver and mealy (yellow or red). Of course the red mealy has 

 the best chance here, yet yellow mealies have been bred very 

 fine; sixth, white; seventh, any other colour to include dim, 

 sandy, chequers (blue, red, yellow, or dun), and Splashes with 

 not more colour than a marked tail, and ticked about the head 

 and neck. 



The attempt on the part of some to wipe out and utterly 

 ignore at shows some of the ofi-colours found in Pouter Pigeons 

 will never succeed. At the same time is there not a danger of 

 carrying the recognition of them too far ? as for example at the 

 last Kilmarnock Show, where I find the following extraordinary 

 classification : — First, blue or black ; second , red, yellow, or mealy ; 

 third, any other colour. I understand from this that reds and 

 yellows to beat mealies must be at least as good in the first 

 four Pouter properties. Where are such reds and yellows to 

 be had ? Without particularising birds it is well known that 

 there have been, and perhaps yet are, mealies so fine that no 

 black, red, or yellow could stand a chance with them. The only 

 fair schedule where there were only three classes would be — ■ 

 first, yellow, red, or black ; second, blue, silver, or mealies ; third, 

 any other colour. Perhaps it is the idea of some who have 

 waded through the late Pouter controversy that those who took 

 the part of the off-colours have plenty of them and produce 

 many. Out ot thirty birds I have only two off-colours, and no 

 fancier I know has a greater proportion, but some have less. 

 They are used according as they are bred. In the hands of 



