302 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOULTITRE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB 



( April 15, 1875. 



with a beating heart to find out how the hatching was proceed- 

 ing? Did yon feel a endden revulsion when yon found only 

 one egg chipped? Did you Bay to yourself, "It's the cold 

 weather, they will be sure to hatch a day late ?" Did you leave 

 them until the evening? and did further examination then dis- 

 close to you the painful fact that your two sittings would in all 

 probability present you with the magnificent result of one 

 chick? Did you go next morning and find that one chicken 

 strong and lively, disporting itself on a pavement of addled 

 eggs ? Did you meditate on its destruction, but conclude at last 

 that you would not wring its neck, as it might be a good one ? 

 Did you feed that small and solitary chicken patiently all that 

 day, and in the evening eat a heavy supper previous to giving 

 him his night meal? Did you set your alarum with a gloomy 

 countenance, and reflect that you would have to turn out early 

 next morning and every morning for some time to come to feed 

 your charge by lamplight ? Did yon biess the day on which 

 that chicken was hatched, and lie down to rest? To rest 1 did 

 I say? 



My friend, watchful eyes have been upon you. This is an 

 opportunity not to be missed. This night shall high jinks be 

 performed on your prostrate body by ghostly cocks and hens. 

 This night shall that chicken which is " one " by day multiply 

 iitself ten thousandfold and sit in every corner of your distracted 

 brain. And as yon wake up from your troubled slumbers, scared 

 and thirsty at the sound of the alarum, the bitterness of your 

 lot will be still further increased as you remember that you have 

 not been able to sit any other eggs, and that conseqnenily it will 

 be at least a month during which you will have to dance attend- 

 ance upon your solitary chicken. 



Moral. — Don't write and abase the person from whom you 

 purchased your sitting of eggs in January or February because 

 you have only three chickens from them. Be assured that the 

 vendor would esteem himself fortunate if he could make sure 

 of securing aa many from each of his early broods. — R. W. 

 Beachxy. 



A COLUMBARIAN SOCIETY FOR LEEDS. 



OwiKO to the increasing interest in the cultivation of high- 

 class Pigeons in and around the town of Leeds, it has long been 

 felt by the leading fanciers of that locality that a society of the 

 above description would be of great service. In furtherance of 

 this opinion, on Tuesday the 6th inst., mainly, we are in justice 

 bound to state, by the exertions of Mr. E. Mawson of Moor Aller- 

 ton, a meeting was convened at Parker's Temperance Hotel, 

 when Lieut. -Col. Child occupied the chair. The following 

 officers were elected — viz., Lieut. -Col. Child, Leeds and Arth- 

 ington. President; Capt. Dawson, Weston Hall, Otley, and Mr. 

 S. B. Seanor, 26, Springfield Place, Leeds, Vice-Presidents ; 

 Mr. E. Mawson, Moor Allerton, Leeds, Hon. Secretary and 

 Treasurer. After a brief discussion it was decided the title be 

 " The Leeds Columbarian Society." The Society utarts with a 

 list of about thirty members. 



The Number of Eggs in a Hen. — A German naturalist a 

 short time since instituted some careful investigations, the re- 

 sult of which showed the ovary of a hen contains about six 

 hundred embryo eggs. He also found that some twenty of these 

 are mstured the first year, about 120 during the second year, 

 135 during the third, 114 during the fourth, and during the fifth, 

 sixth, seventh, and eighth years the number decreases by twenty 

 annually. Consequently that after the fourth, or at most the 

 fifth year, hens are no longer profitable as layers, unless it may 

 be in exceptional instances. 



FOREIGN TRUMPETERS. 

 In "Wiltshire Rector's" last article on Owls, &o., he 

 states that " unfortunately foreign Trumpeters do not breed in 

 England." This I was quite surprised to hear, as a fine pair 

 which I received in the autumn of 1873 bred last year seven 

 young birds, five of which they reared themselves, and six of 

 them are still alive in my possession. This season they have 

 xsade a beginning, as they are sitting on a pair of full eggs. 

 This, I think, is quite equal to the breeding powers of the old 

 style of birds which I kept for many years. I do not think it 

 can be the climate. The winters in their native country are, no 

 doubt, colder than here, but their summers are quite as warm 

 as ours, I believe even more so ; but I do not think there is suffi- 

 oient difference to affect their breeding powers, neither should 

 the very slight difference between the climates of England and 

 Scotland affect them. Mine are among my Pouters and have no 

 special attention, but potter about in their peculiar groping sort 

 of way just as they please. They look stupid birds, but are not 

 BO in reality. — Geo. Ure. 



In reply to Mr. Hutchinson, what I said about foreign Trum- 



peters not breeding in England I had from a very distinguished 

 exhibitor of that class of Pigeons. He stated that he could never 

 induce two true foreign birds to breed, but that one English- 

 bred and one foreign would do so. I do not like without his per- 

 mission to mention his name, but if Mr. Hutchinson will send 

 me his address through our Editors I will do so privately to 

 him, as no doubt he would be glad to hear of Mr. Hutchinson's 

 plan. I rather suspect that the birds that bred were only partly 

 foreign. 



The Russian Trumpeter is a grand bird. The first I saw were 

 a pair at a fancier's since dead, at a town on the east coast of 

 Scotland, and he bad brought them from Archangel, a port on 

 the White Sea, the very northern part of Russia. They were 

 called by their owner Russian Pigeons, but unless my memory 

 deceives me they were simply and truly very fine Trumpeters. 



I am glad Mr. Hutchinson agrees with me about the Dragoon. 

 There can be no difference of opinion about that bird by fanciers 

 who have studied the old authorities. — Wiltshibe Rector. 



FEATHERS OP THE SILVER-LACED BANTAM. 



The hackle feathers (fig. 69), from the smallest to the largest, 

 have the same mark, with a light border. Those of the neck 



Fig. 69. 



Fig. 70. 



and breast (fig. 70) are very regular in their marking ; as are 

 those of the back, shoulders, and the tail coverts (fig. 71). Those 



Fig. 71. 



Fig. 72. 



of the wing coverts have the stripes narrower (fig. 72); also the 



