Jane 25, 1874. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 521 



BIRDS BRED IN 1874. 

 ""Norwich.— rc'Joio— land 2, J. Dawea. S, R. Johnson. BuJ)'.— 1, J. Daw63. 

 2. — Burton. H. -1. Cleminbi'tn. „ , „ , 



NoRwroH.— Ewii-iiwrfceJ I'clloii'.— 1. .1. Burtnn. 2, — BiirniBton. S.J.Taylor. 

 Evenmarked Utiff.—l.J Dawen. 2. Mrs (3itlvert. 3, — Reed. 



NoBWruH.— Xinr/c-crcaffii i'ellaw or Buff.—U — Burton. 2, — Ti-ifflt. 3, J. 



Nest Yellow.— 1, — Harlmd. 2, Petty S Cuss. 3. Mra. CaWcrt. 



NEitT BUKF.— 1, — Reid. 2. Harland & Son. 3. Quin Sc Son. 



Nest Chested. -1, tjuin &. Son. 2, R. Smitb. 3, Mrs. Calvert. 



Nest I.izABD*.- 1. W. Evans. 2. J.Martin. 



Cage of Six Canaries, in Variety.- 1. J. Calvert. 2, R. Smith. 



ANl Vabietx Of Canakx.— 1, Barwell cSi Son. 2, — Benson. 3, Mre. S. Belk. 



BATH AND WEST OP ENGLAND SOCIETY'S 

 BRISTOL SHOW. 



No. 2. 



The Pigeons are never a strong point at the Bath and West of 

 England Shows— that is, the numbers are not great; this year 

 just under a hundred pens. Also the great breeders, as a rule, 

 do not send their birds ; nor the great dealers— Mr. Fulton's loft 

 was unrepresented. It is true Mr. Yardley sent some, but they 

 were a mixed lot ; still, out of his twenty pens seven took a 

 prize. I hoped also to see Mr. Bishop, of Dorchester's Dragoons, 

 specially his Silvers, out ; he, too, did not show any birds. Now, 

 I do not much regret that there should be shows where small 

 or new fanciers should be able to take prizes — nay, I would say 

 that I should positively like to see a show of birds that never 

 had been prizetakers, and from fanciers who were new in the 

 fancy. Such a show would be interesting (better than looking, 

 for instance, at the same Eunts over and over again), and it 

 would greatly encourage beginners, for there is such a charm in 

 Beeing your name in a prize list, at least everyone who has ex- 

 hibited seems to think so. I notice that the varieties of Pigeons 

 are much less known, that is by name, than the varieties of 

 fowls ; this arises from the fact that as yet Pigeon bonks have 

 been in the hands of few except Pigeon fanciers. Books of 

 natural history, or of birds only, give a word about a Carrier, a 

 Pouter, and a Fantail, and with them a poor engraving, but 

 other varieties are unknown. This will be remedied in future 

 years ; but had the fancy been as much in the front as poultry 

 was brought by the Cochin mania, the result of which was the 

 publication of that handsome volume of .Johnson and Wiogfield's 

 in 1853, then some such book would as long ago have been pub- 

 lished, and been laid on drawing-room tables, and the pictures 

 looked at, and hence the names of the varieties of fancy Pigeons 

 would have been known. It is amusing to listen to the remarks 

 of visitors (the ignorant public !) at a Pigeon show. " What are 

 these birds with something curious on their beaks'?" said a lady 

 at Clifton, pointing to the Carriers. "Goodness! I don't know," 

 replied her companion. " Ton may well say curious, for they 

 are more curious than beautiful." Another lady said to the 

 gentleman on whose arm she leant, "What sort are those?" 

 pointing to the Barbs. Now, I grieve to say there are gentle- 

 men who in the presence of ladies wish to appear to know 

 everything ; this was one, for he boldly replied, " Ah ! those are 

 what are called — ah! Ihelieve, Fanfail-Tumhlers !'' I do not 

 think that was a wise man — at least he did not know much 

 about Pigeons. 



Leaving the Fantail-Tumblers Iproceed to the real, notimagi- 

 nary Pigeons. 



Carrier cocks (any colour). — First a nice young bird well 

 shown, and the Carrier's best colour — black. Second a Dun. 

 The highly commended Dun bird was worthy, and will be better. 

 In this class Bath, Bristol, and Westou-super-Mare carried off 

 the honours. Carrier hens (any colour). — First and second both 

 Duns, and the first a better bird than the second. 



Po«(f?' cocks (any colour). — I suppose Mealies, Sandies, Silvers, 

 Duns, Splashes, Ringheads. &c., all admissible, friend Huie. 

 First, Blue-pied, foul-thighed, but honestly shown, large but not 

 elegant : owner. Rev. W. C. Bullen, of Bath. One of the highly 

 commendeds was also Mr. BuUen's, hence he was a successful 

 reverend. Second a White. Pouter hens. — First a Black, too 

 flagged, but a bird which gave me more pleasure to look at than 

 any Pouter in the Show. Second, bad condition, foul-thighed, 

 but a large heavy bird — the largest in the class ; Blue, but not 

 too good a colour. 



Binifs. — Mr. Y,T,rdley'3, as usual; only two entries; as usual, 

 also. Blue and Silver, and as nsual good. 



Dragoons (any colour) cock and hen. My opinion of a Dra- 

 goon is that it should be a light, airy-looking, tight-feathered 

 tird — "aright little, tight little" fellow, with nothing heavy 

 about him. and as remote as possible from its heavy uncle the 

 Carrier. First a pair of nice Yellows. Second Whites, one of 

 them extremely slender and nice-looking — a thorough Light 

 Dragoon, neither Horseman nor Carrier. Highly commendeds 

 were white and brown-barred Silver. Every bird shown save 

 Mr. Yardley's was West of England, 



Fantails were a good class. I was glad to see the Scotch blond 

 present ; it is much needed in our heavy, almost motionless 

 English birds, some of them no more elegant than a Turkey 

 cock. Out of the eight entries sis pens were noticed. 



Trumpeters. — Poor Trumpeters ! They must blow their own 

 trumpets, for I will not. 



Contrasting with the Trumpeters came a lot of badly matched 

 but capital Barbs, Then Archangels, now too seldom seen, 

 though they appear to be favourites witli those whom loving 

 youths call angels. Tarhits more numerous than excellent. 

 Tumhiers, any variety. — First, very good Almonds ; second. 

 Blue Balds. One of them had a good head (.507), good coloured 

 blue, but too long in face. Two other fair Yellow Balds, and a 

 nice pair of Kites, which I should have given more than an 

 H.c. to. 



Next came Nuns, and Owls, and Jacobins ; all mixed up and 

 confused in the catalogue, the arranger of the type being 

 possibly a Good Templar, and one who had had too much 

 ginger beer this hot weather! Nuns, none too good; Owls, 

 ditto; Jacobins, ditto. 



The Frillbacks in the Any other variety class were extremely 

 nice, though I suppose rare in England. I notice that wherever 

 shown they are worthy of a note. Such were the Pigeons, and 

 very creditable to the West of England fanciers, who showed 

 about seventy out of the ninety-eight pens. Fave Mr. Yardley's 

 twenty almost all were from the west. Though I could have 

 wished that more Pigeons had been shown, yet I must say the 

 birds were as a whole an interesting lot. 



Although not connected with either poultry or Pigeons, I 

 must notice one thing new, at least to me, in the Show, and 

 which, as it attracted great crowds, deserves a note. This was 

 the competition for sheep-shearing, the prizes being offered by 

 a local society. Imagine a very long tent, one hard to see down 

 from its great length, and two rows of shearers the whole 

 length ; each man dressed in white, and the sheep growing 

 whiter each minute, as the white underwool rolls from its back, 

 cut by the shearer's deft hand. In truth 'twas an attractive 

 sight, as the crowds all along the open sides of the tent testified. 

 I thought of Thomson's description of the sheep-shearing : — 



" Wbeiie ranfjed in lusty rows 

 The shepherds sit, and whet the soundinf^ f-hears. 

 How meek, how patient the mitd crcafure lies I 

 What softness in his melancholy face 1 

 What dumb complaining' innocence appears I 

 Fear not, ye centle tribes, 'fis not the knife 

 Of horrid slaughter that is o'er jou waved; 

 No! 'tis the tender swain's well-guided shears. 

 Who, having now to pay his annual care, 

 Borrowed your fleece, to you a cumbrous load, 

 "Will send you bounding to your hills again." 



Literally in this case to their hills, for the shepherds were 

 Mendip Hill shepherds ; the prizes were from the Mendip Hill 

 Sheep-shearing Society ; and the sheep were from the Mendip 

 Hills. A pleasanter sight I have seldom seen. 



The Bath and West of England Show was in every respect a 

 splendid success: 110,000 people entered the turnstiles, and the 

 money received was nearly £9000. The only thing that frll 

 short was food. There was long waiting for refreshment on the 

 Tuesday, and, on the shilling days, late in the day nothing to 

 be had. This surely is a great pity. People grow fainter and 

 fainter, and have a headache in addition to weariness and hunger. 

 Large quantities of refreshments of various kinds were provided, 

 but not sufficient. Much money was made, no doubt, but more 

 might have been made. There was not a fit staii of waiters. 

 They did what they could, but they were not numerous enough ; 

 and the customers were wearied with delay even on Tuesday, 

 while on Friday food was not to be had. This was the one blot 

 on a capital Show. Oh ! Australian Spiers & Pond ! ye could 

 do it. Oh ! help us poor English another year with enough to 

 eat, sold to us in fairly quick, I don't say double quick, time ; 

 for waiting while hungry is more than tedious — 'tis vexatious. — 



WiLTSHIBE ReCTOK. 



WOOD PIGEON AND DOVECOTE PIGEON 



PAIRED. 



Since my last letter I have seen that of " Almokd TuirBLER," 

 from which I infer that he considers my first communication 

 unreliable, either from my untruthfulness or want of knowledge. 

 If he does not mean this, what does the concluding sentence of 

 his letter mean :— " I should like to know whether these two 

 birds will really breed together ?" 



It would not have been so very remarkable if the two birds 

 had been in confinement. Such unions are not uncommon. We 

 find that in cages the Canary will breed with a Goldfinch, a 

 Linnet, a Siskin, and even with a Bullfinch, but if the birds 

 were all at liberty they would most probably mate with their 

 own species ; and the reason why I sent my first letter on the 

 subject was the remarkable fact that a wild and a tame bird of 

 different species mated together. My son sent the young bird, 

 taken from the nest (which was in a hole in the scar), to Mr. 

 Frank Buckland, who told me he bad carefully dissected it, but 

 fnuud no resemblance to the Wood Pigeon. What anatomical 

 ! differences or resemblances be looked for or expected I do not 



