194 



aOURNAIi OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Aagast 26, 1875. 



into a deep monlt. lu Light Brahmas two really grand pens 

 of chickena won first and second. They were really good all 

 round. Hambwrghs were all classed together. Fair Silver- 

 spangles were first, and very nice Golden-pencilled second; the 

 pullet very good in markings. In the Variety class a grand pair 

 of Polands were first, and a nice pen of Malays second. In 

 Bantams, Game, Mr. Mayo won first with a nice pair of Black 

 Eeds. In the next class Blacks and Silver-laced won the prizes. 



Rouen Ducks were good in colour and bills, but lacked size. 

 A nice pair of Aylesburys won, but the drake's bill was a shade 

 too dark, still Mr. Martin picked them out cleverly. In the 

 variety Duck class Mr. Kelleway sent a nice pair of black duck- 

 lings, and won first. Geese were good, the first going to Greys, 

 second to Whites. 



Pigeons were small classes, but the quality good. Mr. Spencer 

 of Hereford won in Carriers and Pouters with fine Blacks and 

 Blues. In Pouter cooks a good Red won ; second going to a 

 capital White. Tumblers were fair, the prizes going to Almonds 

 and Balds. The first pair of Antwerps were the only good pair, 

 and in Jacobins extremely neat Blacks won. Fantails were good, 

 but the Variety class contained the cream. There was pen after 

 pen really good. The Judge picked out two good pairs of Barbs 

 from the collection for the prizes, and highly commended nearly 

 the whole of the rest of the class. 



Babbits were good, seventeen good Lops putting in an appear- 

 ance. The ears of the first-prize specimen measured 21* inches 

 in length and 5 inches in width, while the measurements of the 

 second were 21 by -IJ. Himalayas were good, Silver-Greys fair, 

 and in the Variety class a beautiful White Angora won first. 



We published awards last week. 



Messrs. W. J. Nichols and P. H. Jones have resigned their 

 connection with the Crystal Palace Poultry Show, the former as 

 one of the Honorary Secretaries, and the latter as one of the 

 Committee. These gentlemen have now undertaken to act as 

 Honorary Secretaries of the forthcoming Show of Poultry and 

 Pigeons at the Alexandra Palace. Mr. C. Howard continues 

 Secretary of the Crystal Palace Show. 



THE JACOBIN. 



Tms age is very generally termed one of progress, but I think 

 it is evident that in many matters it has a downward tendency. 

 There seems a desire all over to destroy and rebuild in a new 

 form, and this also applies to fancy Pigeons. The Jacobin 

 has been destroyed to a great degree, and one of the last and 

 ugliest additions which English breeders have given this bird 

 is the mane. The bird is named after an order of friars who 

 wore a hood or cowl to protect their shaven heads ; but there is 

 no mention of the friars wearing a mane as well, or anything of 

 that appearance on their dresses. Moore, to whom so many 

 refer, does not name this appendage, which he would have been 

 sure to do had the bird in his day possessed such. He describes 

 the bird minutely, and tells us, among other things, that it is 

 the smallest of all Pigeons. Is it so now, or is the true bird to 

 be found in this realm ? Not that I know of ; for many years I 

 have not seen a real Jacobin. " Wiltshire Eectob " truly 

 says " the fancy is an historical thing, not an affair of the last 

 few years." Fortunately there are a few of us who do not intend 

 to allow the " historical thing " to die out so long as we have 

 our pen and our Journal conserved to us. 



I saw the other day, in a work now publishing, two cuts of the 

 head of this bird— one of the new stamp, showing the mane in 

 grand style ; the other evidently a get-up for the sake of con- 

 trast, a perfect caricature of the once elegant little Jacobin. I 

 never saw a Pigeon answering the appearance of the latter cut. 

 Oh, shades of Moore and Sebright ! The Jacobin was a small, 

 gentle, soft-feathered, elegant bird, exotic looking in every sense 

 of the word. Now, the bird bearing that name in this country 

 la a coarse, bold, strong feeder; he will fly at large, and provide 

 for himself m the streets of a village, as I have seen. " Wilt- 

 shire Rectob " has, I think, hit the mark very well bringing 

 to our remembrance the Mottles. The finest birds I have ever 

 seen were light mottled, nearly white, and mottled slightly with 

 red, flights and tail always white. Why discard them ? I 

 think the English breeders have put a cross into the Jacobin for 

 the sake of colours to get the solid red, black, itc, and the con- 

 sequence has been that the birds now are short in feather, large 

 in girth, and coarse all over. The word " smallest " in Moore's 

 account does not, I think, mean short, but thin. The true 

 Jacobm is the smallest bird in girth I ever handled; in fact 

 ■while in the hand it felt like a bunch of feathers, long and taper- 

 ing from the shoulders, long flights and tail, and of by no means 

 a robust-looking habit. Small as the African Owl is, the Jaco- 

 bm should not be larger in the hand. I have had this bird in 

 hand so fine in girth that my thumb and middle finger almost 

 met round the shoulders of the bird. 



T ^ °'v '^■"'i^'^ C**"^- Hill) now long since gone, who lived in 

 -Lieith, obtained from a Dutch captain a pair ofijYellow Jaoobina 



from which he produced a large number of young birds. They 

 were all of this type, rather large-looking on the floor, but in 

 the hand a mere bunch of feathers. They had no mane, and for 

 hood and chain were perfection. Such are not seen now. It is 

 quite absurd to tell us that without the mane we cannot get the 

 hood and chain. We had it before the mane was introduced, 

 and we shall no doubt have it again if by no other means than 

 importations. The Jacobin has been indigenous to other lands 

 than ours, and from its native country we must import it before 

 we can show the true bird bearing all its original charaoteristioB. 

 — J. HniE. 



RABBIT HUTCHES. 



Before purchasing your stock of Rabbits it will be well to 

 provide a place to keep them. For the common Fiabbit pens 

 partitioned-off in some outhouse or " court," either above ground 

 or sanken, are most generally in use, but for the fancy varieties 

 hutches are by far the most preferable ; in fact, perfect success 

 in the development of the Lop-eared variety can be attained 

 under no other system of management. 



The hackneyed saying which has appeared in nearly every 

 work on Rabbits, that " any man can make a Rabbit hutch," is 

 very far from true. I grant that most any man can make a box 

 in which a Rabbit may be confined, but a box and a hutch, in 

 my estimation, are two very different articles. 



A very good substitute for a breeding hutch may be made out 

 of a shoe box, by partitioning-off or 10 inches of the small end, 

 leaving an opei iug in the partition 5 inches wide, and 6 or 7 high 

 at the back end. The front of this apartment should be tight, 

 and hinged independent of the door of the larger apartment. 

 This latter door should be of wire or wire netting, and hinged 

 on top or at the side. 



One of the simplest styles of plain box hutches is illustrated 

 in the accompanying engraving (fig. 29). This is 3 feet long 



Fig. 29. 



18 inches high, and 20 inches wide, the corner posts projecting 

 2 inches below the floor of the hutch in front, and 1 inch behind, 

 thus giving the floor a little descent, so as to carry off the water. 

 The door a is swung from the top on a screw or pivot, and is 

 held up by a pin or hook, D. A partition, either fast or sliding, 

 is shown at c, shutting-off a space 10 inches wide for a breeding 

 or nesting pen, a door, b, hung on hinges opening into it. A 

 hole should be made in this partition about 6 inches in diameter, 

 for the ingress or egress of the doe. It would be more satis- 

 factory to our young friends to make the front of the large 



apartment of lath or of wire (see fig. 30). The floor should pro- 

 ject at the back from a half to three-quarters of an inch, aud a 

 space of one-quarter of an inch be left between the floor and the 

 back of the hutch. A small tin or zinc gutter may be tacked to 

 the under part of this projection, letting one end be a Uttle the 



