34 



THF, GENESEE FAR3TEK 



October 15, 1831- 



COM.UUN {CATIONS. 



FOR THE GENESE3 FARMER. 



SMALL ANIMALS — PIGEONS. 



'Continued from png<»2s4.) 

 It is proverbial that the people of this country 

 re an active, enterprising and vigorous race, and 

 hough superior in many respects, in point of in- 

 iiice, to most other nations; they are yetso ab- 

 i in business, and the amassing of wealth, 

 hey give themselves no time to cultivate ei- 

 he pleasures or luxuries of refined life. Thus 

 hey have neglected in a great measure, the 

 ■uents and gratifications connected with 

 iculture, Floriculture and Agriculture, until 

 aroused to action by the exertions of comparative- 

 s' w individuals. For the same reason, ma- 

 ny of your readers will conclude that the rearing 

 of Pigeons is a trifling and puerile business, and 

 unworthy the sober consideration of men of sense ; 

 but, as there may be a few who will be interested 

 i ir description, I will continue the subject. — 

 111 my last, I alluded to the Common Pigeon, 

 Wood Pigeon, Tumbler, Fan-t ail, and Carrier. 

 • is proceed to the 



Almond or Ermine Tumbler. 

 his very beautiful and valuable species derives 

 origin from Common Tumblers, judiciously 

 matched so as to sort the feather. Some of these 

 birds are so magnificent in their plumage, that 

 rump, tail, back and flight, have been compa- 

 red to a bed of the finest and best broken tulips ; 

 in ire variegated they are in the flight and 

 specially if the ground be yellow, the greater 

 r value. To be perfect, the rump, back and 

 ■ t must be variegated, and the flight notbarred. 

 ' w are feathered with three colors only, which 

 compose the Ermine, as yellow, white and black, 

 but these are scarce Almond Tumblers never 

 arrive at their full beauty of feather till they have 

 dted several times; they increase in beauty 

 l ry year until the decline of life, when they 

 change to an inferior color. 



lany fanciers advise the matching of a yellow, 



.lied or black, with an almond, to heighten 



olorj black birds, bred from Almonds, aregen- 



. illy better shaped in the beak and head, than 



Almonds themselves, and the tail and flight 



have frequently a strong glow of yellow. The 



low and black mottled should coincide with 



Almond Tumbler, except in plumage; the 



,r irmer should have a yellow body, mottled with 



white and a black flight and tail. The Almond 



umbler, itself, for its exceeding beauty of featli- 



) , is deemed by many fanciers, to be the most 



itiful and valuable, when in perfection, of all 



♦he pigeon tribe. 



The Horseman. 

 It is a matter of dispute whether the Horseman 

 is not a bastard between a Tumbler and a Carri- 

 er, or a Pouter and Carrier, and these bred over 

 mi form a Carrier. It is in shape and make, 

 very like the Carrier, only less in all its propor- 

 tions; its body is smaller, an 1 Us neck shorter; 

 neither is there so much luxe iant incrested flesh 

 upon the beak and round the eye. — Horsemen 

 ire of various colors, but th. most distinguished 

 ,ire the blue, and the blue pud, which are gener- 

 ally the bestbreeders. When young, they should 

 ;. ■ regularly made to fly twice a day ; and as 

 they gain strength, must be let loose and put on 

 the wing without any others in company. In 



England, they are chiefly made use of for deci- 

 ding bets, or conveying letters, as the genuine 

 Curriers arc very scarce. 



The Dragoon. 



Dragoons were originally bred between a Tum- 

 bler and a Horseman ; by frequently matching 

 them with a Horseman, they will acquire great 

 strength and agility. The Dragoon is lighter and 

 smaller than the Horseman, and less in all its 

 properties. One of its principal beauties is the 

 straightness of the top of its skull, and that of its 

 beak, which ought almost to make a horizontal 

 line with each other. The Dragoon is said to be 

 more rapid for ten or twenty miles than the Horse- 

 man, but not so quick on a long flight. 

 The Pouter. 



According to the rules laid down by the fancy, 

 the Pouter ought to measure from the point of the 

 beak to the end of the tail eighteen inches; and to 

 have a fine shape and a hollow back, sloping off 

 taper from the shoulders. The legs from the toe 

 nails to the upper joint in the thigh, should meas- 

 ure seven inches. The crop ought to be large and 

 circular toward the beak, rising behind the neck, 

 so as to cover and mil neatly off at each of the 

 bird's shoulders. 



The blue pied, black pied, red pied and yellow 

 pied, are the most esteemed colors. The Pouter 

 ought to be pied, as follows; the front of the crop 

 should be white, encircled with a shining green, 

 interspersed with the same color with which he is 

 pied ; but the white should not reach to the back 

 of the head, for then he is ring-headed ; there 

 should be a crescent falling under the chap of the 

 same color with which he is pied. The head, 

 back, neck and tail, should be uniform. A blue 

 pied should have black bars near the ends of both 

 wings. Where the pinion of the wing is speck- 

 led with white in the form of a rose, it is called a 

 rose-pinion, and is highly esteemed. 



They should not be naked about the thighs, no. 

 spindle legged ; but their legs and thighs ought I 

 be stout, straight and well covered with white, sofi 

 downy feathers. 



The crop of the Pouter ought to be filled with 

 wind, so as to show its full extent, with ease ami 

 freedom. It is a very great fault, when a bird so 

 overcharges his crop with wind as to fall back- 

 wards; many a fine bird has by this bad habit, 

 either tumbled into the street or down a chimney 

 A Pouter should play erect, and have a fine well 

 spread tail which must not touch the ground nor 

 sink between his legs; neither should he rest up- 

 on his rump, which is a great fault and is called 

 ruinping. He ought to draw his wmgsclose to his 

 body, walk almost entirely upon his toes, and 

 move with an easy majestic air. 



The Pouter that approaches nearest to all 

 these properties is a very valuable bird. Some 

 fanciers in England have, by great assiduity, bred 

 these birds so near the standard prescribed, as to 

 sell them for 'JO guineas a pair. A great deal of 

 trouble and time is requisite for rearing and breed- 

 ing these birds, as they are such unfeeling nur- 

 ses that they frequently starve their young ones 

 to death ; so that good fanciers never suffer them 

 to hatch their own eggs. 



The Pouter was formerly so much valued, as 

 to monopolise the attention of the farciers; but 

 since Almond Tumblers are brought to such per- 

 fection, the Pouter has been a little neglected. — 



This bird is now rearing in this village, principal* 

 ly of the red pied. 



The Dutch Cropper, 



The body of this pigeon is thick, clumsy and 

 short, as are also the legs, which are feathered 

 down to the feet; they have a large pouch or bag. 

 hanging under their beak, which they can swell 

 with wind, or depress at pleasure. They arc 

 more addicted to gorge than any other pigeon, es- 

 pecially if not regularly supplied with food. 

 Parisian Pouter. 



This bird was originally a native of Paris ; its 

 body and legs are short; it has generally a long, 

 but not a large crop, and is thick in girth. It is 

 greatly admired for its plumage, which is very el- 

 egant, every feather being streaked with a variety 



of colors, the flight excepted, which is white. 



They are generally what is called gravel-eyed. 

 The Jacoeine. 



This bird when good is very scarce. The real 

 Jacobine or Jack, as it is sometimes called, is a 

 remarkably small pigeon ; it has a range of in - 

 verted feathers on the back of its head which 

 turns toward the neck like the cap or cowl of a 

 monk; hence its name of Jacobine. This range 

 is called the hood, and the more compact and clo- 

 ser it grows, to the head, the more valuable the 

 bird ; the lower part of it is called the chain, and 

 the feathers which compose it should be long and 

 thick. The Jacobine has a very small 1 

 short spindle beak and clear pearl eyes. There 

 are yellow, red, blue, black and pied Jacobines ; 

 the yellow birds claim the preference. This bird 

 is also now owned in this village, and is of the 

 red pied. 



The Ruff. 



This bird has been frequently sold for the Jac- 

 obine; but the Rufl' has a larger beak, a larger 

 head, and is altogether a larger pigeon. The 

 ihain does not flow so near the shoulders of its 

 wings; both that and the hood are longer, but 

 they are not so compact as those of the Jacobine 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Can any of your correspondents stale whether 

 the common Eel is a marine animal ! Ii is a cur 

 ..nt opinion in this quarter, that it cannot live a- 

 bove Niagara Falls, because it must return every 

 , ear tn the ocean — that it exists in the waters of 

 I he I Ihio because there is no obstruction to its in i 

 intercourse with the sea. 



I know of only one place in Ohio, where the 

 genuine Trout is found. This is about twenty 

 miles from Cleveland, on the East branch of till 

 river Chagrin, in tin town of Kirtland. They are 

 as plentiful thi re as in any of the streams of New 

 England. This is a hilly township, and contains 

 i!n lushest land in the slate. 



The fish market of Cleveland is veil supplied 

 in March and April. We have there the Mu- ,i 

 lunge, one of the very best of fishes, pi rhaps QOl 

 inferior to the Shcapshead, of the Atlantic, and 

 .mi, lung from 15 to 50 pounds; the pike, two 

 kinds of bass, all excellent; the mullet, suckers. 

 catfish, and others of less value. In the autumn 

 we have the White fish brought to us fresh from 

 iMaumec and Detroit. Many thousand barrels 

 are annually put up and sent all over the western 

 country. By many they are considered but little 

 if at all inferior to the Eastern Shad. We need 



