March 26, 1674. 1 



JOUENAIi OF HOBTICDLTDEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



265 



Bimilar. Tha " Standard " of a Black Bantam describes the 

 cock's neck as being very taper, curving well back so as to bring 

 the back of the head towards the tail, and his tail as being full 

 and expanded, well adorned with long curving sickle feathers, 

 and carried well np towards the back of the head ; the tail of the 

 hen being also full and expanded, and carried rather upright. 

 The description in the " Standard " of a Black Bantam's breast 

 is, that the cock's is round, and carried prominently forward ; 

 and that the hen's is round and prominent. In the " Standard " 

 of a Hamburgh, the cock's neck is described as being taper, the 

 higher part being carried well over the back, and his tail as 

 being full and expanded, the sickle feathers being well curved ; 

 the tail of the Hamburgh hen is described as being full and ex- 

 panded, and well carried. The " Standard " states that a Ham- 

 burgh cock's breast is round, full, and prominent, and carried 

 well forward ; the hen's breast being broad, plump, and carried 

 forward. 



It will thus be observed that a Black Bantam is somewhat 

 similar to what a miniature Black Hamburgh would be as re- 

 gards neck, tail, and breast; and I quite agree with Mr. Cam- 

 bridge that in other respects there does not exist any great 

 dissimilarity betwixt a Black Bantam and what a dwarf Black 

 Hamburgh would in all probability be ; yet it must be admitted 

 that the carriage of a Black Bantam is more upright and prouder 

 than that of a Black Hamburgh. I should indeed be very sorry 

 to see Black Bantams bred with drooping tails, as in that case 

 they would, to my thinking, lose much of their characteristic 

 smartness and compactness ; neither do I think a neck carried 

 forward, or indeed one not thrown well back, would add much 

 to the beauty of this essentially beautiful bird. 



Those amateurs who possess Black Bantams answering to the 

 description which I have given of this variety, and with which 

 Mr. Cambridge thinks proper to find great fault, have reason to 

 be proud of them, and they need not be disappointed with their 

 birds, as, on first reading Mr. Cambridge's article, they very 

 naturally would be ; neither have I Mr. Cambridge's reasons for 

 fearing that such fowls would be placed in the ignominious 

 position to which he alludes. — Walter B. Abundel. 



BKOMLET POULTRY SHOW. 



CoL. Hassabd versus Mr. W. H. Gednev. 



On Friday last a summons which had been issued against the 

 Secretary of the Bromley Poultry Show was heard at the Court 

 House, Bromley. Col, Hassard sued Mr. W. H. Gedney for the 

 Bum of i'2 18s. 6(/., being the difference, less commission, between 

 the price of a pen of Partridge Cochins entered by the plaintiff at 

 the last Bromley Show at £5 5s. and claimed, and a pen at X'2. 



Col. Hassard conducted his own case, and explained that he 

 had sent several pens of birds to the Bromley Show, that they 

 had all been safely returned, with the exception of a pen of 

 Partridge Cochins which he had entered at £.5 5s. He found 

 this pen did not arrive home, and telegraphed the Secretary of 

 the Show to that effect, and received a reply that it had been 

 sold. Since then the Secretary had sent him ±'1 IGs., which 

 ■would be the remittance for a pen entered at i'2, less commissioD. 

 He produced several communications which he had with the 

 Secretary, and also with Mr. Long, the Treasurer. In one letter 

 it was stated that the birds had been sold for £2, and by "plain- 

 tiff's order." Plaintiff denied having given any authority for 

 reducing the price. A subsequent letter stated that plaintiff 

 had transposed the birds in two of his pens, and that a single 

 cock in the Selling class was the pen sold. 



Mr. Dring; of Faversham, and Mr. Nichols, one of the Secre- 

 taries of the Crystal Palace Show, were called, and deposed to 

 having seen the birds accurately in the pens as described by 

 Col. Hassard ; and the .Judge's attention was called to the fact 

 of the birds in question being " very highly commended," a dis- 

 tinction that would not have been bestowed upon a pen if only 

 a cock had been shown in a class for cock and hen. 



The defendant, who was very ably represented by counsel, 

 pleaded that the birds had been transposed, and also the rules 

 of the Show, " that they were not responsible for any loss or 

 damage from whatever cause arising." 



The Judge, after carefully reading the rules, remarked that 

 he thought the rule with regard to non-responsibility in case of 

 loss or damage would only apply in case of the loss or accident 

 to a bird, such as breaking a leg, itc, but that they were bound 

 by another rule, which stated that all sales must be made 

 through the Secretary, and that a commission of 10 per cent, 

 would be charged. He considered it proved that the birds had 

 been correctly forwarded by Col. Hassard, and that he should 

 have received the £5 5s., less commission. Verdict for plaintiff 

 with costs. 



Cambridgeshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, and Middlesex. The 

 Marquis of Salisbury has consented to preside at the dinner. 



Herts Agricultural Society. — The annual Show of this 

 Society is to be held on the 8th and 9th of July next, at Bishop's 

 Stortford. The prizes offered amount to £1300, and are all open 

 for competition in the counties of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, 



PIGEON NOMENCLATURE. 



From your " Reporter's " and Mr. Lyell's letters I gather the 

 fact that if an ordinary Dovehouse Pigeon had a dull dun sub- 

 stituted for its dull black, and a dirty silver for its dirty blue, it 

 would be of the same colour as the Carrier in pen 77 at Glasgow. 

 If such be the fact, is the bird not a " dark silver chequer ?" 

 The so-called barbarism "dun silver" is similar to black-blue 

 (sooty), red-mealy, and yellow-buff (called, or rather mis-called, 

 " yeliow-mealy "), and each indicates a bird whose shoulders aro 

 of a dark even tint throughout, barred with black, dun red, or 

 yellow. Each of these colours may be chequered, and when 

 the chequering is so dense as to completely cover the shoulders 

 the cUmax is reached, and the bird is a self-colour. 



Mr. Lyell calls the bird a " dun chequer," which is making 

 the same mistake as the Antwerp breeders do in calUng a mealy 

 chequer a " red chequer." Blue and black, silver and dun, 

 mealy and red, buff and yellow, are the limits to the colours of 

 the birds descended from the four original colours — viz., blue, 

 blue chequer, mealy, and mealy chequer. As to the colours 

 seen in the German breeds, the Archangels, &c., I would as 

 soon believe that Blair Athol's sire was a Galloway as that these 

 colours are descended from the ordinary wild Pigeons of Britain 

 and Belgium. 



Tour " Reporter," at the commencement of his letter men- 

 tions that " he gathered that I supposed him by ' silver dun ' to 

 mean the silver barred with dun of the Antwerp breeders." 

 Silver is not allowed to exist in Antwerps, and the colour called 

 " silver dun " by their admirers is barred with red, and is 

 totally different from silver. A silver Pigeon has the flights, 

 tail, and under parts darker than the shoulders of the wings, 

 two dun bars on the wings, and one on the tail. A mealy (silver 

 dun) has the flights, tail, and under parts lighter than the 

 shoulders of the wings, two red bars on the wings, but none on 

 the tail. 



The colours of the ordinary Pigeons seen in Britain may be 

 stated as follows : — 



NATURAL COLOURS. 



1. Blue, with flights, tail, and under parts darker than 

 shoulders, two bright black bars on the wings and one on the 

 tail. 



2. Blue Chequer, with flights, tail, and under parts darker 

 than the ground colour of the shoulders, which are densely 

 chequered by dull black, two dull black bars on the wings, and 

 one on the tail. These two colours may be called " the original 

 Blues." 



3. Mealy, with flights, tail, and under parts lighter than 

 shoulders, two bright red bars on the wings, but none on the 

 tail. 



4. Mealy Chequered, with flights, tail, and under parts lighter 

 than the ground colour of the shoulders, which are densely 

 chequered by duU red, two dull red bars on the wings, but none 

 on the tail. 



These two colours may be called " the original Mealies." 

 Silver, with its sub- varieties, up to and including dun, is derived 

 from the blues ; and buff, with its sub-varieties up to and in- 

 cluding yellow, is derived from the mealies. 



I submit the following table of nomenclature in the ordinary 

 varieties of colour to your readers. 



(•Blue, Blue Chequered, Black Blue, Black-blue 



T, J Chequered, Black. 



iSLUES. ^ sQyer, Silver Chequered, Dun Silver, Dun Silver 

 ( Chequered, Dun. 



I Mealy, Mealy Chequered, Red Mealy, Red Mealy 

 ■»/r„.,, I. Chequered, Red. 



MEALIES. i-Q^g^ Bjj£f Chequered, YeUow Buff, TeUow Buff 

 [ Chequered, Yellow. 



I am obliged to " Reporter " for the trouble he has taken to 

 answer my inquiry, and hope that he will not hesitate to express 

 his opinions under the general head of " Pigeon Nomenclature." 



I notice that Mr. LyeU calls a blue chequer by its right name, 

 and therefore beg to ask him why, if a blue Pigeon chequered 

 with black be a blue chequer, a silver Pigeon chequered with 

 dun be not a silver chequer ?— Turkey Quill. 



SEATON BURN POULTRY SHOW. 



This was held in a large tent well suited for the purpose. 

 The quality of the birds as a whole was very superior. Tha 

 number of pens was 152. 



The Cochins were very good both in colour and symmetry. 

 The iJra/i mas were all Dark, except one pen; the prize birds 

 were short in the leg, well feathered, and good in pencilling. 

 The Spanish were only a middling lot, not being good in comb, 

 and too short in the face. The Gamo were the best classes in 

 the Exhibition, and besides the three prizes in each class, 

 several pens were highly commended. Great credit is due to 



