CHAP, iv.] BAKES IMPEOVE WITH AGE. Ill 



ed to 1 oz. only: and on the 19th, the smallest chick 

 died, seemingly of starvation, as the old ones appear to 

 have neglected it : the other chick had been transferred 

 on the 18th to the Nun and Powter which had hatched 

 on the 16th. Under their care, on the 20th the eyes 

 of both squabs were open, and a little hard food was in 

 their crops. On the 26th, their joint weight was 15 

 oz. ; their crops were half filled with hard food, the 

 webs of the feathers were protruding through many of 

 the feather-cases, and the birds advanced as rapidly to- 

 wards maturity as in the former instance. 



BARBS are elegant little birds; very quiet and demure 

 in their appearance, and yet full of fun and activity. 

 Their chief characteristic is a naked, wrinkled, red skin 

 round the eye, which the books say, most likely with 

 truth, increases till they are four years old. But 

 Pigeons improve much, both in appearance and in con- 

 stitutional powers, with age. They live, I believe, and 

 continue fertile, much longer than is generally ima- 

 gined. Many young pairs of Pigeons are condemned 

 because their owners do not exercise sufficient patience 

 with them ; and from their peculiar habit of settling in 

 a fixed home, to which they will return, if they can, at 

 all hazards, it is not easy to possess a good stock of 

 birds without passing through this preliminary disci- 

 pline of patient pigeon-feeding. The best, though not 

 the only colour for Barbs, is an entire black. In such, 

 the prismatic shadings of the neck are particularly beau- 

 tiful. The rate at which they will breed is not to be 

 complained of: and as to their crossings, the rule of the 

 paramount influence of the male seems to obtain. A 

 little hen Barb that had lost her mate, was soon taken 

 under the protection of a blue Antwerp Carrier. The 



