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JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ NoYember 25, 1875, 



Bpecial, Black, worthy of the honour, good colour, nicely set 

 limbs properly feathered, and marking about perfect. No. C93 

 (Eidley & Dye) fourth, Black, Btylieh but no pinion. No. C94 

 (Hugh Thomson), commended, a very nice Blue, short of 

 marking, with very good limbs. No. 703 (James Walker), third 

 prize. A really handsome well-marked Blue of good proportions 

 but ticked all over with slight chequer marks and brown-barred. 

 No. 704 (James Walker), second prize, rightly placed. Blue, not 

 a large bird, but very comely. Pouter hens of any colour, bred 

 in 1875, were fourteen. No. 707 (David Thomson), fourth prize, 

 Yellow. No. 712 (K. H. Blacklock), second, a Blue exceedingly 

 handsome and well-shaped. No. 713 (Ridley & Dye), highly com- 

 mended. Yellow. We preferred this one to the fourth, having 

 better cut moon, and better set legs. She was solid-winged and 

 not very lengthy. No. 714 (James Mitchell), first prize, a good- 

 coloured Black, long in feather but with scarcely enough limb, 

 and rather wide set. In marking also rather deficient having 

 little bib. No. 718 (James Walker), third prize, a Blue, a good 

 bird. No. 719 (J. Walker), highly commended, a fine rich- 

 coloured Yellow. Class 47, Any other Pouter cock, seven entries ; 

 and Class 48, Any other Pouter hen, five entries, we considered 

 decided mistakes. Whatever the body colour of a Pouter is, if 

 he is decently marked and with good points otherwise, we can 

 admire him, but a lot of solid-breasted, solid-winged, ring- 

 necked, bishop-sleeved birds, some with blazes up to the crown 

 of the head, and others white from the lower mandible to the 

 thighs, wanting both bib and belt, are nothing but an eyesore. 

 The meagre number of entries showing that there are either few 

 Buch birds about, or that their owners are disinclined to exhibit 

 them, should prevent the repetition of such classes. The only 

 birds eligible for it are, in our opinion, Splashes, by which we 

 mean Whites with coloured tails, or slightly marked abouj the 

 head and back, but not to such an extent as to come under the 

 definition of mia-marked birds, and as none of this description 

 were visible we conclude that no class is wanted for them. 



Carriers. — Eidley & Dye were first and third in cocks of any 

 colour with a good Black and a good Dun. The Black was 

 especially good in wattle, good also in general style, being 

 long-feathered and long-necked. He did not, however, stand- 

 up on his legs so well as the Dun. Mr. Hugh Bankhead was 

 successful in taking second, and Mr. McCrae fourth. In hens 

 the first went to No. 744 (Alex. Smith), a very good Black, as 

 glossy in colour as any Black Pigeon we ever saw, and with 

 wattle and eye both good. She was a fine upstanding and pro- 

 portionate bird, and stood quite away from the others. The 

 class for young Carriers of any colour or sex contained twenty, 

 mostly Blacks and Duns, and many of them of great promise. 

 Mr. James Boss was awarded first prize, and Mr. B.C. Stretch 

 second. 



Only eleven Short-faced Tumblers competed, mostly Almonds, 

 and not a few of them showed they had been altered from what 

 Nature made them. No. 777 (Bryce) was first and special with 

 an Almond cock clearly before the others, not only good in 

 colour but also in head, beak, eye, and carriage, 



Barh cocks were also eleven, the winner of first and special 

 being E. G. Keay's Black, Mr. Bryce's Dun being second, and 

 his Black third. 785 (Spence), a good Yellow cock was very ill- 

 looking and seemed unlikely to reach home alive. We cannot 

 understand how Barbs are called by some so high-class as to be 

 out of the category that includes Jacks, Owls, Fantails, &o., and 

 to be considered equal with Pouters, Carriers, and Short-faces. 

 We always thought that any Pigeon fit to be named beside these 

 three breeds, must, like them, have something beyond mere 

 fine points — viz., a certain highly-bred way of carrying them- 

 selves, called shape or carriage. We never saw anything of this 

 in Barbs, and without it they never can be allowed to be on an 

 equality with the three varieties named. We have often heard 

 it remarked that a Barb is only at his best when he is half 

 decayed, and that you see all of him at a glance. He squats in 

 his pen all of a heap, and has none of the ever-varying motions 

 Bo charming in a Pouter or Fantail, the fine attitude of a good 

 Carrier, or the dignified strut of a Short-face. Barb hens were 

 only five, and Mr. Bryce was first aud third with Yellows, the 

 former of a sound colour throughout, but the latter smoky blue 

 in rump and tail. Second went to Mr. Laurie's Dun, a nice one, 

 and of that glossy, hard, dark Dun only seen in Barbs, and so 

 different from the Carrier Dun. 



In Trumpeters Mr. J. E. Spence showed and won with an all- 

 black Scotch-bred Russian, a really splendid bird. We should 

 think his rose would be 1^ inch in diameter, and his hood if 

 measured along the ridge following the semicircle at least 

 4i inches. He was a panioularly upstanding bird for a Trum- 

 peter, showing his lines beautifully and not struck all of a heap 

 like so many of them. The other was a Mottle — there were 

 only two of them — but in no degree to compare with the Black. 



Fantails were twenty three aud well judged, considering the 

 Judge sympathises with the English style, but now bo many 

 Scotch birds have large tails and plenty of motion as well, the 

 big tail alone, with nothing more, cannot win. Whites seem 

 the favourites, and the class was chiefly compoied of them, but 



there was an all-black and two saddle-backs, one of which, 

 No. 798 (W. Nelson), was a Chequer bo nearly black as to be 

 taken for it, and as clear-cut as a Turbit. For motion, constant, 

 and grotesque, we have not seen the like of this one for many 

 a day, and we think the coloured sides are an additional pro- 

 perty, just as a shouldered Turbit is superior to a White. 



Jacobins contained twenty pens of Blacks, Reds, and Yellows, 

 and were nearly all of the maned style. We saw Bome of them 

 examined, and the plucked backs of their heads exposed. With- 

 out believing that the Jacks of the day have been crossed — for 

 we have always considered the Eeds and Yellows proverbial for 

 richness of colour, and cannot imagine where this could come 

 from — wo are rather inclined to the belief that the manes are 

 merely the result of selection. We bred them years ago, and 

 found the big coarse ones often came so, and always considered 

 that it resulted from the feathers lying the wrong way. As for 

 the plastered-down hood we consider it an abomination, and as 

 we have heard it remarked by good fanciers, makes the bird at a 

 little distance ofl look like a Bald-head. 



No less than thirty-three Turbits, Black, Eed, Yellow, and 

 Dun, competed ; but, strange to say, not a single Silver. First 

 and special went to Andrew & Cunningham's peak-headed 

 Yellow, good in colour and good all over; second a peaked Blue 

 (M. S. 'Temple) ; equal thirds to Robert Millar and to M. S. 

 Temple for a Shell-crowned Blue, the best in Turbit points in 

 the lot we thought, excepting the shell, for we prefer the peak ; 

 fourth to R. J. McKinlay's peaked Red, good in colour and frill, 

 but not so fine in head and beak. 



English Owls nineteen pens, all Blues and Silvers, except 

 one of Whites. As pointed out in this Journal some months 

 ago, it was suggested that English Owls being so far behind 

 Africans in all the properties of the breed, they were not worthy 

 of support, but that in so far as the colour known as powdered 

 blue, a beautiful and striking colour, is not found in Africans, 

 it might be well to make a class for it till Africans or Owls equal 

 to them could be produced of the powdered colour. Fulton's 

 book, part nineteen, lately out, suggests something of the same 

 kind, and no doubt this plan will be adopted some day. It 

 seems strange how what are called English Owls, though 

 palrably and plainly in many cases only coarse or crossed 

 Africans, should continue to be encouraged by intelligent com- 

 mittees of shows, while the English Trumpeter has been quite 

 ostracised. Of the nineteen pens exhibited none were powdered, 

 and as there were some good foreign Owls in the Variety class 

 the English Owls contained nothing to please the writer or 

 those of his way of thinking. 



Class 60, for common Tumblers, Self-coloured, contained 

 twenty-one pens of pretty birds. First were glossy Blacks, 

 second pearl-eyed Whites, third rich Yellows, and fourth 

 equally rich Eeds. The next class was for common Tumblers, 

 Blue-barred or any other colour. We did not see any Blues, 

 but the fourteen pens exhibited contained Black, Eed, and 

 Yellow Mottles nicely marked, and some Almonds. 



Class 62 was a charming collection of twenty-one pens of 

 Beards and Balds. We think scarcely anything could exceed 

 the beauty of colouring and marking displayed in this collection, 

 combining Blacks, Blues, Silvers, Eeds, and Yellows. 



Antwerps, any colour, were, as we have already said, eight 

 pens, and Dragoons four pens. As they take in money and 

 special prizes to the value of £5 10s. for 36s. that they con- 

 tribute in entry money, we do not think these classes will be 

 repeated, at least we heard some murmurs to that effect. 

 " Biug out wild bellB, 

 Ring out the false, ring in the true." 



Common Pigeons, nineteen pens of what we learned in our 

 early days went by the name of sods ; all Blue or Blue- chequers, 

 except a pair of Whites. 



Nuns twelve entries, all Black except two Red; the latter 

 not BO good, however, as the Blacks, who carried oS all the 

 prizes. 



Any other distinct variety nine entries. First 998 (E. G. 

 Keay), Blondinettes, mostly lovely birds — fancy Pigeons indeed. 

 Second 991 (W. Brydon), equally pretty petite foreign Owls, 

 White ; third (John Cowe) beautiful powdered Ice Pigeons, the 

 colour of a tropical moonlight with creamy bars ; and fourth 

 (J. Allan) nice sharp-cut Magpies. 



The Selhng clasB, not exceeding 40s. for a single cock or hen, 

 contained a miscellaneous assortment of twenty-three pens. A 

 Carrier cock. No. 1019 (G Brown) carried off first prize ; a bad- 

 coloured Red Pouter fourth. We did not see many birds marked 

 as sold, though good value was to be had. 



The concluding class. No. 69, was a SelUng one for a single 

 cock or hen not exceeding 20s. Thirty-two were entered here, 

 and a Barb cock secured chief place. There was a good " old 

 style " Yellow Jack, very much like Eaton's portrait, which wa 

 were told had been claimed by Mr. Huie. There was plenty of 

 good value in this class also, but few marked " sold." Probably 

 as closing time drew near more business was done. 



PPANien — I and cup, VPillounhby 4 Purvis. Hexham. 2, E. Jaokson, Finch- 

 field. S. W. M'lutvre, Ochiltree. 4, J. Boss, East Gateshead, ftc, W. Cuthbert- 

 sen, W. WaUaoe, D. M'Beatb, J. Edgar, c, R. Begg. 



