152 



JOUBNAL OF HOETICULTDRE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



( Aagnst 18, 187t 



in w)iicli the fowl-baskets are rolled and pitched about there, 

 and in any case no harm would be done by a precaution of this 

 kind. Lastly, I would suggest that if a person should have the 

 good fortune to win a cup, he should receive, if he likes, the 

 money in full instead of the cup. Certain good people, whose 

 names I entirely forget, wrote to me after the last Show, sug- 

 gesting that I should select a piece of plate or some article as a 

 cap. I iNow, I cared neither for a piece of plate nor any of their 

 articles, as I happen to have a penchant for photographs, and 

 fancy I can show some rather good specimens which I have pur- 

 chased as poultry trophies. Upon declining to buy of these good 

 folks, who, I suppose were authorised by the Committee to write, 

 I found I was mulcted of a certain proportion of my prize. Of 

 this I do not complain, as due notice was given ; still, I think a 

 flourishing body such as the Crystal Palace Committee is sup- 

 posed to be, might pay in full, as is now usually done elsewhere. 

 — E. BAKTBD5I, Berkhamsted, Herts. 



touched his palm, then he closed the door for fear of listeners, 

 approached the owner's ear, and whispered " Cats !" Now I re- 

 commend cats to cure this Bristol malady. Wherever cats are 

 shown crowds come to see them. I nearly had my coat torn 

 from my back at the Birmingham Cat Show by the densely- 

 packed throng. The Eifle-drill Hall at Bristol would be an ex- 

 cellent place, and, unlike the Birmingham wooden booth, 

 would be well ventilated. 



I say, then, "Cats!" and the Bristol Committee would find 

 that cats meant cash. — Wiltshire Rectob. 



PROPOSED CONTINUATION OF BRISTOL 

 POULTRY AND PIGEON SHOW. 



We have received the following circular : — " The Bristol 

 Poultry and Pigeon Show held in .January last was again a loss 

 to the Committee of about iTO, and at a meetiug recently held 

 it was decided to discontinue the Show and dissolve the Com- 

 mittee. It does seem a disgrace to a large city like Bristol, 

 that such should be the end of a Society which has struggled 

 against hope and loss for seven years. 



" It could not be expected that a small body of gentlemen 

 should carry on the annual Exhibition in the face of so serious 

 a loss year after year, but I still think it might be done if every- 

 one in Bristol and the neiehbourhood who feels an interest in 

 the matter would assist. With this object in view I am willing 

 to undertake the gratuitous management of another Show, pro- 

 vided I can get twenty gentlemen to assist the undertaking in 

 so far as to join in the moderate guarantee according to the 

 subjoined form. 



" The fee paid to our late Secretary being thus saved, with a 

 fairly successful Show I hope there will be no loss, or at most 

 such a trilling deficiency as would not be felt when divided 

 amongst so many ; in which case, of course, a debtor and creditor 

 account will be submitted to the guarantors. 



"Any larger subscription or cup for any particular class 

 which you may wish to give will be thankfully received, and 

 will be considered equivalent to the guarantee. — E. Cami!Kldge, 

 Horfield, Bristol." 



[We agree with Mr. Cambridge that Bristol ought to be able 

 to sustain a poultry exhibition as successfully as Birmingham, 

 and to aid him in his praiseworthy effort we have authorised 

 him to offer a five-guinea cup. This is not to be a precedent, for 

 a poultry show is not needed where it cannot be self-sustained.] 



Pehmit me to say a word on the above subject. There have 

 been eight annual shows held in Bristol ; the place for exhibition 

 excellent, the management good, and the birds exhibited of first- 

 rate quaUty. To those residing in the south-west of England 

 who have an eye for poultry and Pigeons each show has been a 

 rare treat. I use the word " rare," because shows do not abound 

 in these parts. But — and there is usually a "but" to every- 

 thing — every show has entailed a heavy loss on the Committee. 

 Last year the loss amounted to MIQ — not a trifle to lose. Still 

 the lovers of poultry at and near Bristol are incliued to per- 

 severe, and have issued a circular with the same heading as this 

 article. Mr. Cambridge offers to undertake " the gratuitous 

 management of the Show for next year provided he can get 

 twenty gentlemen to assist the undertaking in so far as to join 

 in a moderate guarantee in the following form " — viz., a promise 

 to subscribe annually one guinea to the Show, and in addition 

 an equal share with twenty or more gentlemen in the loss, if 

 Buch there be, provided that share does not exceed the sum of 

 J£2 2s. Surely twenty good and true men may be found to 

 undertake this, at most an outlay of three guineas ! I have 

 before recommended cage birds to the Bristol Committee, know- 

 ing that as there are more single ladies living at Clifton than 

 any other place in Eugland, there must be a great number of 

 lovers of Canaries and other song birds, for the larger number 

 of admirers at least of the Canary, that parlour pet, are ladies 

 of means and leisure. 



I will now tender another piece of advice to my Bristol 

 friends, and that advice shall take the form of an anecdote. 

 The owner of a house was exceedingly troubled with rats, and 

 tried all sorts of plans to get rid of them, but still they came, 

 and atiU the owner suffered loss. At last the old-fashioned 

 farrier of the town, a man of no education, and who never knew 

 the name of any disease from which any of his equine patients 

 Buffered, but generally knew how to cure them, said he could 

 for a five-shilling fee undertake to recommend a certaiu cure, 

 and that the owner should cease to suffer loss. The old farrier 

 came, looked through the house, nodded knowingly, and having 

 seen all the damage done, and the five-shilling piece having 



THE C.iRRIEE PIGEON. 



The Carrier should be a large bird ; large in body, large in 

 limb, and large in presence ; a bird with style, of the quality 

 noble. Not a bird deformed by an immense beak or distorted 

 wattle, but a bird of proportions. Who cares for a long hook 

 piercing a wrinkled bunch of excrescence, attached by a short 

 neck to a runtish body ? Wring off such heads and feed the 

 bodies to the dogs, and rid the earth at once of two-thirds of the 

 Carriers now encumbering it. We want the blooded style, the 

 thoroughbred, not the Runt head, with its heavy Flanders look. 

 Let the Ruut retain that ; it is bred for the pot and deserves all 

 the weight that can be attached to it. Who of us would choose 

 a woman whose ankles were beef to the heel ? Not one ; and 

 we should be as well educated on the symmetry of Carriers. 



The body of the Carrier should be large, broad across the 

 shoulders, the muscles prominent and firm ; the feathering 

 should be hard as that of the Game fowl ; the bow of the wing 

 must be prominent, the flights long and smooth with a wide 

 stretch — say 3.5 inches, and should lap above the tail ; the leg 

 must look large in proportion to the body, the bird standing 

 high ; the feet must be red, the toes long and well spread ; the 

 neck long and thin, closely covered by small hard feathers. The 

 head is of itself a study ; most of the properties are claimed to 

 lie there, and so much attention has been devoted to it that the 

 equally valuable size, shape, and style have almost ceased to 

 exist. The result is that any dumpy mass of feathers with a 

 fungus and a hook at one end is called a Carrier, and takes rank 

 by reason of the length of its hook. To my mind this is a very 

 great mistake, and a large, firm, reachy bird, with a bold, fear- 

 less style, should always take precedence of a dump, no matter 

 if there is a difference of a sixteenth of an inch in beak or wattle. 

 The properties of the head lie in the beak, wattle, eye, and 

 skull. Much attention has always been paid to the beak, and 

 there are many persons who are called beak fanciers, because 

 they set more store by that point than any other. Their object 

 is to attain a long, straight, and thick beak, and they will sacri- 

 fice everything else to accomplish the purpose. 



I have tried a number of experiments on beaks, and have 

 come to the conclusion that the least done artificially to in- 

 crease the length the better. One thing, however, is very im- 

 portant — the young birds should be fed by the old ones, that is, 

 the old Carriers, for no other variety has mouth large enough to 

 feed the young without compressing the soft, cartilaginous 

 bones of the beak, and interfering with its growth. This is a 

 very simple thing, but to any observer it is very suggestive, for 

 not even Dragoons can feed 3'oung Carriers satisfactorily. 



The beak must be long and straight; for crookedness, even of 

 the slightest, is a disheartening eyesore ; crookedness eithex' 

 lateral or downward. The curve downwards is very obnoxious, 

 and some of the Roman-nosed birds look more like voracious 

 vermin than " kings of Pigeons." 



Thickness is necessary to preserve the proportions of the beak 

 and prevent its becoming spindling. The mandibles must also 

 fit, the lower within the upper, that the bird may not be open- 

 mouthed or distorted. The fitting of the parts of the beak is 

 seldom perfect, by efforts to increase the length, or by the com- 

 pression by the smaller beaks of feeders, a deformity consisting 

 of a pinching-in of the sides of the upper half near its point is 

 produced, and the shape of the part is destroyed. One hundred 

 years ago an inch and a half was considered a long beak, but in 

 those days more attention was given to the other properties; 

 now the same measurement is thought useless, and from one 

 and three quarters to two and a quarter are the extremes which 

 contain the average lengths. The measurement is from the tip 

 of the beak to the centre of the eye. Very long measurements 

 can sometimes be obtained from the Roman-nosed birds by 

 using a tape around the curve, but it is fallacious, as honesty 

 determines the direct line as the standard. 



The wattle is a wearisome thing to wait for; it is seldom of 

 much importance until the bird is two years old, and it con- 

 tinues to improve to the fourth year. I have bought a good 

 many Carriers, of which it was said, " When they get a little 

 older the wattle would be very large." After watching three 

 years I turned out one old bird to fly with the commons, and ten 

 years afterwards his wattle had increased so much as to entitle 

 him to rank with Dragoons. By the way, that bird was, to my 

 knowledge, thirteen years old, and he must have been a year old 

 when I bought him. I also know of a Horseman that has been 



