330 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Citober 7, 1875. 



Silver Dans. Jacobins were very bad, except the first-prize 

 Eads. In Pouters first were grand pair of Blues, beautiful 

 "White runnins; them very close. In the Variety first were 

 smart Pigmy Pouters and second Blondinettes, the rest being 

 poor, with the exception of the first-prize Barbs and the first 

 Selling class, a very cheap pair of Spangled Ice Pigeons. 

 liabbils were poor, except the first Lop. 



DnnKiNoa— 1, W. Harvey, ShefflolJ. 2, Burch & Boalter, Sheffield, he, J. 

 Bedford, 



Spanish.— 1 and 2. Burch A Boulter, he, — Collier. Smithey Wood. 



Cochin-china.— 1 auil 2. W. Harvey, vhe, J. Denton, Raisen Hill. 



Brahm*s —1, J. F. Smith, Sheffield. 2, W. Harvey, he, J. Heeley, Epworth, 

 HuddersBtW. 



Game.— I, W. Burton. Thnrproland Bank 2, T. Johnson, Ecclesfield. 3, M. 

 StrinRer, Eeclesfteld. 4. J. Denton, he, C. Travi.s, Thurgoland. c, G. Hudson, 

 Shireffreen ; E. Hemincfield. Ecclesfield: C. M. Smith 



Hambur^ii-i — Golden-pf'neilUd. or ^pnn/iU(i.~\ and 2. Burch k Boulter, he, 

 J. Glossop. R"therham. Silver-pencilled or Spangled.~\, W. Harvey. 2 and c, 

 H. Crookes. Ecclesfield. 



Pounds.— 1 and he, A. & W. H. Silvester. 2. J. Heeley. 



Anv other VARtETY.— 1. E, Browu. Sheffield. 2, Capt. E. M. Mills, Butter- 

 thwaite. 3, A. & W. H. Silvester, vhe. C. Sidsard, KeiRhley 



Bantams.— fiame.—l, W. Harvey. 2, R. J. Bennct. he, G. Hatfersley, Greas- 

 Irongh; W. Shaw. GranRe Mill, e, G. Heminufield, Ecclfsfleld; F. Bolt, 

 Staincliffe. Dewsbury ; \V. Bailey, Raventield. Amj othervariety.—l and r/ic. R. 

 H. Ashton, Mottram. Manchester. 2, W. Harvey, 3, A. & W. H. Sylvester. 

 Ac, J. Earnshaw, Rotherham; Burch & Boulter. 



Selling Class.-I. Burch & Boulter. 2, A. & W. H. Sylvester, he, E.Brown ; 

 T. Johnson, Ecclesfield : W. Harvey. 



TUKKEY.s.-l, W. Hannam. 2, J. Pearson. 



Geese.— 1 and vkc,W. Shaw. Grange Mill. 2, J. K. Sbaw.fiShiregreen, he, 

 B. Makin, Norwood Rise, c, J. Atkinson. 



Docks— 1 and 4, J. Denton. 2. A. .i W. H. Sylvester. S. C, Turner, Broad- 

 field, Heelev, Sheffield, i^he, F. Crawshaw, Longley. he, J. Pearson ; G. 

 Walker, Rotherham. c, C. M. Smith ; J, Bedford. 

 PIGEONS. 



Carriers.— 1 and 2, W. Harvev. he. E. Brown, Sheffield. 



TDMBLER3.— 1 and 2, A, ft W. H. Sylvester. 



Fantails.— 1. J. Smith. Walkley. 2, E. Brown, he, J. Smith : E. Brown. 



Antwekps.-I and 2, W. Harvey. viieawic.J Smithera, Sheffield. 



Jacobins.- 1, W. Harvey. 2. J. Earnshaw, Rotherham. he and c, J. Smith. 



Pouters —1 and he. W. Harvey. 2, E. Brown. 



Any other Variety.— I and 2, A. & W. H. Sylvester, vhe, B. Wake, he, J. 

 Earnshaw. 



Trdmpeters. — 1 and 2, W, Harvev. 



Owls.- 1, J. Vaushan, Walkley. 2 and he, S. Hill. 



Sellino Class —1 and vhe, A. & W. H. Sylvester. 2, 'J. Earnshaw. (ic, J. 

 Earshaw; W. Harvey, c, S. Bill; E. Brown. 

 RABBITS. 



Heaviest.— ], J, Heeley, Hepworth. 2, W. Allinson, Sheffijld. he, H. 

 "Stephenson, Longley. 



Rabbits —1, H. Stephenson, Longley. 2, W, Allinson, Sheffield, 



Judge. — Mr. E. Hutton, Pudsey, Leeds. 



THE JACOBIN. 



this point. Regarding the rose, Mr. Esquilant as long ago as 

 1807 spoke of that property in print, as well as the mane. 



Although not an exhibitor, I should be pleased to give towards 

 a prize for Mottled Jacobins as near the old type as possible, the 

 judge to be Mr. Harrison Weir. Perhaps others would join me; 

 and if we lived to see the Crystal Palace Show of 1876 the plan 

 might be carried out then and there. I am sure with Mr. Huie 

 the Light Mottles were the best birds of the old style, and 

 whether looked at with the eye of a fancier or an artist they 

 were as to shape and colour extremely pretty — soft, silky- 

 feathered, slender long-flighted birds, with a very clear pearl 

 eye and small head, auil not a trace of the Tumbler form in them, 

 which the solid-coloured birds so frequently have now-a-daye. 

 The mane and rose I accept as great improvements upon the 

 old type of bird.— Wiltshire Rectok. 



I B.ivE read the articles of Messrs. Huie, Ure, and Harrison 

 Weir with no common interest, and though not quite agreeing 

 with them as to what a Jacobin ought to be now, yet this I am 

 Bore of, they have described exactly what a good Jacobin was 

 thirty or thirty-five years ago. Historically, then, they are no 

 doubt correct, but it is of course an open question as to whether 

 the Jacobin of to-day is an improvement upon his predecessor. 

 In some respects I think he is, in others not. I have at this 

 time in my loft birds of the strains, and from the studs of 

 Messrs. Fulton, Vander Meersch, Captain Hill, and Heath. 

 These birds are of various types and sizes, showing how different 

 good birds of the same variety may yet be. There are in my 

 opinion three things which must be borne in mind in regard to 

 itnprovements in any class of fancy Pigeons : Ist, What the 

 bird was in olden times as shown by the old authorities, particu- 

 larly Moore ; 2nd, Whether the improvement is merely some- 

 thing that is difficult to breed, which I call a mere fancier's 

 beauty ; 3rd, Whether it is at the same time a true beauty. 



I think the very high cut in Jacobins is an instance of the 

 second, but directly contrary to the other. As regards real 

 beauty, I mean artistic beauty as opposed to fancy, there can be 

 no doubt that a Jacobin with a little rim of clear white coming 

 neatly under its chin is a much prettier bird than one with the 

 dark colour right up to its beak. The very high-cut birds have, 

 to my eye, a kind of choked appearance, and the head is not bald, 

 only the top of it. I am glad to find that Mr. Fulton does not 

 condemn low-cut birds, and candidly owns " on the average we 

 certainly think the best birds we have seen in hood, main, and 

 chain have been clean-thighed and low-cut." 



This brings me to the " clean thighs," which I must say upon 

 great consideration and watching the birds closely I now prefer 

 to the dark thighs. It is said that this marking gives a Baldhead- 

 Tumbler look. My answer is. Not the marking, but the present 

 stumpy shape of so many of the birds — so opposite to the old 

 birds which were not Tumbler-shaped, but "slim in girth," as 

 says Mr. Ure, and "long and tapering from the shoulders," as 

 Bays Mr. Huie. The clean thighs were liked by Brent; and the 

 pair from the pencil, I believe, of Mr. Harrison Weir in Dela- 

 mere's "Pigeons," published by Routledge, are so marked, while 

 I own the majority of illustrations are the opposite. Still the 

 thighs are so seldom wholly dark that the clean thigh marking 

 lingers in the blood of the bird, and I think the birds are more 

 artistically beautiful with the coral legs and feet coming out of 

 the white thigh; their clean thigh and bald head seem to go 

 properly together in Pigeons. The old books are quite silent on 



NORWICH AND NORFOLK BIRD SHOW. 



It may appear strange to many — it does somewhat to me — 

 that within the short space of a month two all-England bird 

 shows should be held in the same city, the one I am now chro- 

 nicling bearing the title of the " Norwich and Norfolk Ornitho- 

 logical Society," and the other to take place the latter end of 

 the present month, known for the past two years in the bird 

 world as the "East Anglian Association." But there is no 

 accounting for these freaks, if such they may be termed. It has 

 been truly said, " All the world 's a stage." So it is, and as the 

 performers become more numerous so will each section require 

 a stage to perform upon. As with a hive of bees which becomes 

 overstocked, a new colony is established under a new queen. 

 The same with bird fanciers when there are too many to serve 

 under one head or government. But these matters of rivalry 

 are not confined to the city of Norwich. Whether it be wise for 

 the holding of the two exhibitions is not for me to determine. 

 It appears that the new Society has foui:d an able leader in the 

 person of Mr. Hovell, who with a practical Committee of 

 Management brought to bear an Exhibition of no mean kind; 

 and that it is intended to be carried out annually there appears 

 no reason to doubt, judging from the wording of the title-page 

 on the excellently-compiled catalogue, which announces it as 

 " the first great annual Exhibition." 



I was glad to learn that the patronage — that of royalty, too, 

 by-the-by — and support received was sufficient to encourage 

 the able Honorary Secretary in issuing a schedule sufficiently 

 attractive for fanciers to enter largely if so disposed. Bat no 

 doubt the very early period of the Sbow taking place was, to a 

 considerable extent, a drawback so far as entries were concerned, 

 for only five e.Khibitnrs effected entries in each of the two Clear 

 Norwich classes. This to me was more surprising when I come 

 to reckon-up the number of exhibitors residing in the city. Out 

 of seventy exhibitors in the entire Show no less a number than 

 thirty-six were residents of Norwich, the remainder being dis- 

 tributed over other parts of England. No doubt the entries 

 would have been more numerous had the Sho v been deferred 

 to a later period of the season. Notwithstanding, the promoters 

 were deserving of all the encouragement received, and more 

 than that. 



The plants and shrubs used for decorating the hall were kindly 

 supplied by Messrs. Ewing, of the Royal Nurseries, Eaton, and 

 Messrs. Daniel Bros, of the Royal Seed Establishment, Norwich. 

 I have witnessed bird-show rooms furnished more extensively 

 with birds and cages than the late Norwich Exhibition, where 

 many hundreds of them have been massed in lines together 

 upon the stages without any relief to the eyes. To this the 

 bird-breeding and bird-exhibiting sons of the cause have little 

 objection, for when they visit a bird show it is very little else 

 that interests them beyond their particular pets. Still I like to 

 see some taste exercised in setting out a show-room, and in that 

 particular respect everything that could be wished for was wit- 

 nessed at the Victoria Hall on the 21th, 25tb, and 27th ult., the 

 week of the holding of the great musical festival or festivals, 

 for the birds were a festival of themselves. Betwixt the two 

 last days of the Show Sunday intervened — a day of rest, I trust, 

 for those who had been so previously taxed in their exertions to 

 make the Exhibition worthy of the bird-fancying sons of the 

 city. 



The prize list of awards having been printed in the Journal 

 of last week, it would be useless going through the whole of the 

 classes. Suffice it to say, that considering there must have been 

 some demand upon the attention and patience of the two 

 Judges, that if any error occurred it must have been an over- 

 sight. Perhaps that will be the best way of summing matters 

 up, although I should have been more satisfied to have found 

 the first-prize a Clear Yellow Norwich instead of a Ticked one. 

 But every one is liable to a mistake, some more than others, and 

 so I thought " Mr. William Evans, of G, Brazil Street, Lower 

 Broughton, Manchester," when his Golden-spangled Lizard 

 (No. 130) was proved to have been painted about the wings ! 



Throughout the Norwich, Crested, Cinnamon, Yorkshire, 

 Belgians, Coppies, and Plain-heads, Lizards, Mules, and British 



