510 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 3, 1871. 



were splendidly limbed, but we failed to get them into proper 

 show ; the third was a nice Black ; 613, a good Black, too shy to 

 show; 649, the fourth, was showing beaatifally as we passed, 

 and might have taken the hononra had her moult been com- 

 pleted. 652 contained a meritorious hen, highly commended. 



In hens, the Reds, Yellows, and Mealies competed. 656, third- 

 prize, was very good in shape but washed-out in colour ; 662 

 contained a nice Yellow hen. We preferred the second-prize to 

 the first in this class; 664 contained all that a hen Pouter should 

 be, beating all iu the class easily. Her coloar (mealy) must have 

 weighed heavily against her. 



In Any-other-coloar hens the first and second were well 

 placed, but we preferred 672, highly commended, to the third 

 and fourth. 



Young cocks formed an excellent class, and the most exacting 

 could find no fault with the judgment. A commendation was 

 here worth something. The winners were first-class birds. 638 

 contained a nice bird, thin in limb. We did not admire the 

 hooked limb in the highly commended pen 689. 690 contained 

 a promising bird rather gay in marking. 



Young hens were also an excellent class. 692 was full of 

 excellence, save in colour; so also was 694, but both were left 

 out in the cold. First and second were good in limb, but the 

 fourth beat all in the class for style. We thought her, however, 

 a little short in feather to look at. 



Carriers. — The cock class had some good specimens. The 

 first and second-prize birds were grand. In hens, the only bird 

 good all round was Mr. Baddeley's. None of the others deserved 

 special notice. In the class for birds bred in 1874, the first and 

 second were strong and long in feather and face, the first 

 somewhat Parrot-beaked; we liked the second better, he was 

 better eyed, and had a good box beak. Perhaps a auspicious 

 blank iu the plumage in the neck had something to do with the 

 placing of the bird. 



Short-faced Tumblers viere only fair, we have seen better birds 

 when a local fancier exhibited in this class. The first was good 

 in colour, but deficient in head properties. 



Barbs contained nothing of special note ; there were none of 

 those old used-up worn-out birds, whose life must be burden- 

 some to themselves, but there were a few with the requisite 

 width of skull. They were as well judged as could be expected 

 considering the birds to be dealt with. In Barbs bred in 1874 

 Mr. Oharlton must have overlooked the white tail in the hen in 

 the first pen ; besides, we suspect her neighbour had made her 

 debut in 1873. This class was only fairish. 



Trumpeters. — Mr. Vander Meersch's Black first, closely fol- 

 lowed with Mr. Lederer's Mottle; none of the others above 

 mediocre, and some far below it. We would have awarded the 

 special to this class, as the best bird in it was superior to any- 

 thing in either Short faces or Barbs. 



Fantails.—A large class, and to the uninitiated every bird as 

 good as its neighbour, and a great deal better. Mr. Charlton 

 must have had some difiioulty in selecting the prize birds, and 

 yet we think his decisions were correct. The Beith fanciers 

 have got the right thing in Fans and they came well to the front. 

 Jacobins. — Fifty-three pens, the largest class in the Show. 

 Mr. Brydone put his best foot foremost here, and won with a 

 splendid Jack; Mr. Gilmour's second was a Red; third, a well- 

 conditioned White, and the fourth a Yellow. Some of those left 

 out in the cold were fully as good as the last two. 



Turbits, in pairs : here Mr. Brydone had luck, being first 

 again ; we think this was the most manifest mistake Mr. Charl- 

 ton made. How he could overlook their faults we cannot divine ; 

 they did not match, one was a peak the other a shell, or rather 

 they were neither the one nor the other. We would have put 

 third first, and fourth second ; Mr. Angus's second third, and 

 Mr. Muir's 933 fourth. 



English Owls. — We were disappointed with this class, most of 

 the birds were badly matched ; Mr. Ridley's birds were kite- 

 barred, but were placed first. We liked Mr. Yuill's 962 better; 

 in head, beak, gullet, and rose they were head and shoulders 

 beyond the other, but perhaps they had too much African blood 

 in them. 



Flying Tumblers had classes for Self-colours and Blue-barred, 

 or Any other colour. First, in Selfs splendid Blacks ; capital 

 Mottles carried off the honours in the other class. 



Common Pigeons. — Seventeen pairs exhibited; this class 

 might well be dispensed with. 



Nuns were a fair class. Some birds, otherwise meritorious, 

 lost themselves through want of condition and cleanliness. 



Ayiy other Varietij were a very mixed lot indeed, African 

 Owls first. Dragoons second and third, and Swallows fourth; a 

 pair of foreign Owls, superior to the first, were evidently over- 

 looked. 



Selling Class, limited to 20s., contained nothing of note. We 

 would advise the Committee to make the limit £3 ; as it was, 

 several pairs were very cheap. First, Yellow Jacks; second, 

 Red Barbs ; third, Ice Pigeons ; fourth. Blue Owls. 



Balds or Beards, Long or Short-faced ; this is a mistake, and 

 always unsatisfactory : the Committee must separate the classes 

 next year. First were nicely bearded, but very bad in colour. 

 Fourth were also neatly bearded, but worse even in colour. 

 Second aud third were Balds, the latter neatly cut and good in 

 colour, and might have been more forward in the prize list. 

 The owner of a pair in this class in penning his birds allowed 

 one to escape. Being called in question by one of the Committee 

 for coming rather close up to the Judge, he explained that he 

 merely wanted to say that the bird that had escaped was quite 

 as good as the one left, and he hoped this would be kept in view 

 while judging them. Had he been allowed to communicate the 

 same, we would like to have been near Mr. Charlton ; his face 

 would have been a study for an artist. 



{Frotn another Correspondent.) 

 The following remarks are in c ontinnation and conclusion of 

 those given last week : — 



Jacobins, Any colour, were a very large class, fifty-two pens in 

 number. The first prize was given to a Yellow, a splendid bird, 

 which also carried the extra prize ; second a very good Red 

 third a White, which we considered did not warrant the place ; 

 fourth a very good Yellow. This class contained many fine 

 specimens, and taking into account its great size, must have 

 been most bewildering to the Judge. With the exception of 

 Trumpeters we do not know any class that has improved so mnch 

 as Jacobins within the last few years. 



Turbits, Any colour, in pairs. — This was a very pretty and 

 large class, embracing most of the colours, but unfortunately 

 many of the, pairs were badly matched. The first-prize was 

 Silvers, much too coarse for oar taste ; second-prize Reds, very 

 fair birds ; third Blues, which we thought the best of the three 

 pairs. The class contained a great many remarkably fine birds, 

 which would have appeared to greater advantage had they been 

 shown singly. 



English Owls. — A good-sized and pretty class. Many of the 

 birds, however, appeared much too large and coarse. 



Flying Tumblers, Self-coloured, in pairs. — This was a large 

 and weU-represented class, and particularly interesting to young 

 fanciers, embracing also Mottles, Beards, Baldheads, &o. The 

 winning birds — viz.. Blacks, Reds, Whites, and Yellows, were 

 very well placed, the Mottles, &c., having no chance iu a class 

 for self-coloured birds. Tumblers, Any other colour, a smaller 

 but equally good class, containing Mottles, Splashes, &o. In 

 this class were several pens competing for a prize offered for the 

 best house Tumbler. Such birds were taken into the Committee- 

 room and tried singly one after another, a novelty at Pigeon 

 exhibitions. The prize was won by Mr. Miller's bird. The 

 performance of this bird was something remarkable, it seldom 

 rising above 1 foot from the floor, in which space it tumbled 

 once or twice each time it rose. Mr. Miller has been long cele- 

 brated for this strain of birds. 



Beards or Balds. — A large class, comprising both varieties. As 

 it contained both long-faced and semi-short-faced birds, it must 

 have given the Judge a great deal of trouble. Many of the birds 

 were badly coloured, others bright in colour, others not very 

 evenly matched, but upon the whole a good class. 



Common Pigeons. — Though this class has little attraction for 

 the experienced fancier, it is of vast interest to those young 

 aspirants whose purses do not allow of great outlay, but whose 

 names getting into print constitute them at once members of 

 the fancy. In this class there were a great many very pretty 

 birds, such as we used to prize in our earlier days. 



Nuns. — With one exception this class were all Blacks. There 

 was not the trimming in this class which we have so fre- 

 quently seen at shows. 



Any other variety. — A large class, and of great variety. The 

 awards in this class were well dispersed throughout. 



Selling Glass. — Large, and of considerable variety, from 

 Pouters downwards. 



Rabbits. — Variety not a large class, but evidently increasing 

 in number of entries. 



Canakies. — There was a large show of those birds — 139 cages, 

 all Scotch Fancy, little known in the south. In numbers they 

 were larger, and the Judges pronounced them superior to former 

 years. There was also a very pretty Eissortment of Mules be- 

 tween the Goldfinch and Canary. Among those birds was one 

 of exotic appearance, a Mule between the Goldfinch and Ball- 

 finch, which attracted much attention. This Mule has been 

 for many years successfully bred in Scotland. There was also a 

 very pretty class of the Goldfinch, now a rara avis, though it 

 used to be indigenous to Britain. 



In concluding our remarks on this Show we may state that 

 the total entries amounted to 1122. There were only two faults 

 which occurred to us (and what show is perfect?); notwith- 

 standing all the care and anxiety of the enthusiastic Committee — 

 the tables upon which were placed the Pigeon pens were from 

 12 to 15 inches too low. A visitor under the middle size had to 

 look down upon the birds, not at them ; therefore even the 

 Judges were placed at a disadvantage. The Committee, how- 

 ever, had supplied the Judges with one of the Scotch moveable 

 show pens, which did great service. The other fault to which 



