250 



FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



everywhere, hopping about on the table and drinking from 

 the bath ; crows perched on the window sill, and more crows 

 about to come, and each crow doing all in his power to make 

 the greatest possible noise. The faithful Pandoo would take 

 all this in at a glance ; then would ensue a helter-skelter re- 

 treat, and the windows darkened by the black wings of the 

 flying crows ; then silence for a moment, only broken by 

 some apologetic remark from Pandoo. 



When at length happy days of convalescence came round, 

 and I was able to get up, and even eat my meals at the table, 

 I found my friends, the crows, a little more civil and re- 

 spectful. The thought occurred to me to make friends with 

 them; I consequently began a regular system of feeding them 

 after every meal time. One old crow I caught and chained 

 to a chair with a fiddle string. He was a funny old fellow, 

 with one club foot. He never refused his food from the very 

 day of his captivity, and I soon taught him a few tricks. 

 One was to lie on his back, when so placed, for any length 

 of time, till set on his legs again. This was called turning 

 the turtle. But, one day, this bird of freedom hopped away, 

 fiddle string and all, and a whole fortnight elapsed before I 

 saw him again. I was just beginning to put faith in a be- 

 lief common in India — namely, that a crow, or any other 

 bird that has been for any time living with human beings, 

 is put to instant death the moment he returns to the bosom 

 of his family — when one day, while engaged breakfasting 

 some forty crows, my club-footed pet reappeared and actually 

 picked the bit from my hand, and ever after, until I left, he 

 came regularly thrice a day to be fed. The other crows 

 came with surprising exactness at meal times ; first one 

 would alight on the shutter outside the window and peep in, 

 as if to ascertain how nearly done I happened to be, then fly 

 away for five or ten minutes, when he would return and have 

 another keek. As soon, however, as I approached the win- 

 dow and raised my arms I was saluted with a chorus of cawing 

 from the banyan tree ; then down they swooped in dozens, 

 and it was no very easy task to fill so many mouths, although 

 the loaves were government ones. 



These pets had a deadly enemy in a brown raven — the 

 bramla-kite. Swifter than arrow from bow he descended, 

 describing the arc of a great circle, and carrying off in his 

 flight the largest lump of bread he could spy. He, for one, 

 never stopped to bless the hand of the giver ; but the crows, 

 I know, were not ungrateful. Club-foot used to perch be- 

 side me on a chair and pick his morsels from the floor, al- 

 ways premising that two Windows at least must be open. 

 As to the others, their persecutions ended ; they never ap- 

 peared except when called upon. The last act of their 

 aggression was to dovour a very fine specimen of praying 

 mantis I had confined in a quinine bottle. The first day the 

 paper cover had been torn off, and the mantis had only es- 

 caped by keeping close at the bottom. Next day the cover 

 was again broken and the bottle itself capsized; the poor 

 mantis had prayed in vain for once. Club-foot, I think, 

 must have stopped all day in the banyan tree, for I never 

 went to the window to call him without his appearing at once 

 with a joyful caw. This feat I used often to exhibit to my 

 shipmates who used to visit me during my illness. — Chambers' 

 Journal, 



8@" On Tuesday last, Edward Ashbridge, of East Goshen, 

 slaughtered his mammoth hog which had excited consider- 

 able interest in the neighborhood as to its weight. When 

 dressed, it weighed 1026 pounds. 



THE SKYE TERRIER. 



Sir: Before the type of Skye terrier is finally settled, I 

 would fain, as an old fancier, say a word or two as to what 

 the Skye terrier was in the days when I knew Skye. 



It is thirty years ago and more, and all my old friends 

 are, I believe, gone long ago ; but I speak of the dogs of 

 Mackinnon, of Corrychattachan ; of Macleod, of Drynach ; 

 of Mackinnon, of Kilbride ; of Macleod, of Orbost ; of Mar- 

 tin, of Duntulm (pure white); of Macdonald, of Monkstadt; 

 all of whom had numbers of the dog generally termed the 

 Skye terrier. 



The sport we used them for was otter hunting, sending 

 four or five of them into the cairns by the lock side to start 

 the otter, at which we might get a shot as he bolted to the 

 water. They were the gamest little creatures. I have 

 known one bitch stay a whole night in a cairn rather than 

 leave an otter she could not reach — very bold. Any dog 

 wincing at the threat of a stone was believed to have a colley 

 strain. 



The outline of figure was that of the weasel: long back, 

 head set on neck at right angles, like the figure of " Charlie " 

 [Field, Feb. 14), but in a waving line like a ferret's; brain 

 pan large, muzzle long and pointed, nose fine and pointed 

 and black, as also the palate; the eye, especially the bitch's, 

 large, expressive, like a gazelle's ; the head hair silky and 

 long ; the ear soft as a mouse's, not tufted, the best pricked, 

 but often drooping, or one erect, the other not. The back 

 long and wavy ; the legs short and bandied, but not turnspit ; 

 the foot clean, small as a fox's, and not hairy (dew claws 

 always twisted oft') ; the tail, as nearly as possible straight, 

 in a line with the back, not too long and feathered. The 

 hair not cumbrously long, nearly quite straight, often, in- 

 deed generally, a little waved ; not too hard, but never flabby, 

 sometimes very short, but not curly. Any color so that it 

 was all one, and the nose black : the slate-blue gray most 

 prized. 



There is a very good picture of one such as was considered 

 perfection in those days in her majesty's "Islay," by Land- 

 seer, sitting up to beg of a macaw on a perch. 



Some of the creatures I have seen at English shows, with 

 snub noses, large hairy paws, woolly coats and curly tails are 

 "Skyes" only in an entirely conventional and anglican 

 sense. — Field. 



8@- Loss of Song in a Canary while Moulting. — 

 The loss of song is one of the usual accompaniments of 

 moulting; even though the moulting may be complete, the 

 bird will not, probably, break into full song this side of 

 Christmas. He will be none the worse for a good rest. The 

 time occupied in moulting varies from three or four weeks 

 to months. Birds which are apparently fully moulted will, 

 upon examination, frequently show a great number of half- 

 developed feathers. — W. A. Blakston, in Journal of Hor- 

 ticulture. 



POULTRY SHOWS FOR 1874 & 1875. 



Bucks Co. Poultry Association. Doylestown, Pa., Decem- 

 ber 8, 9, 10, and 11. Theo. P. Harvey, Secretary, Doyles- 

 town, Pa. 



Maine Poultry Association. Portland, January 12, 18, 14, 

 and 15. Fred. Fox, Secretary, Portland, Maine. 



Connecticut State Poultry Society. Hartford, Conn., De- 

 cember 15, 16, 17, and 18. Dr. Geo. L. Parmele, Sec'y. 



