278 



FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



PlQEOfJ DEfA.^JjVIEfJj. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



PRIESTS. 



Priests or Quakers are the pet toys of many fanciers ; 

 and here the old adage is very applicahle, " Every one to 

 his fancy." Por myself, my fancy runs in a different chan- 

 nel, though I remember well with what happiness I carried 

 home the first pair of Priests I ever owned. They were 

 very ordinary birds, as judged in these days, but to me they 

 were priceless. The rest of the afternoon was spent nailing 

 boxes against the house-wall ; and as the boxes were too 

 heavy for a boy to handle, occasional tumbles of box, boy, 

 and birds drew forth peals of laughter and merry shouts 

 from our neighbor's daughters, before whose eyes I was 

 always a shamefaced youth. 



It may be that some experience was what ultimately 

 caused me to dislike the Priests. Not that the young ladies 

 were at all disliked ; hut what boy can stand his interest in 

 his pigeons made a matter of amusement and yet preserve 

 his equilibrium ? As sure as I went into the garden to look 

 up at my Quakers, so surely did those girls look out of the 

 window and whistle " Hua, hua, hua." Many is the time 

 they have driven me away with a forlorn smile on my lip 

 and bitterness in my heart to wish my pigeons were dead. 

 Ah, but I have had my revenge since those days. Both 

 those girls have husbands, both have children, and both 

 have pigeons. Pigeons in their garrets, in their stables, in 

 their cellars. Yea, I saw this day a pair of cropped-winged 

 birds upon the baby's crib, as 1 examined the oldest boy for 

 the measles. His last words were, " When are you going to 

 bring me the Quakers?" His mother's benediction was, 

 " Doctor, if you bring any more pigeons here, you shall 

 never enter my house again. It is all your fault, I cannot 

 have a clean room to sit down in." 



My readers, you cannot tell how well I felt as I drove 

 home, knowing the merriment and whistling is all on my 

 side now. That boy will be here after the Quakers as soon 

 as he gets out ; and every time I see his mamma it is only 

 necessary to " hua, hua" once or twice to awaken the mer- 

 riest memories of the past. The bitterness <Jf my youthful 

 days is gone, and we can afford to laugh amid our retrospec- 

 tion at what was then the most important object of our lives. 



How that we have reached a breathing-place, you may 

 ask, what has this to do with Priests? "Why, but for what 

 has been written, no article on that variety would have fol- 

 lowed, nor would I have impressed upon you how necessary 

 it is that we should enter into the sympathies of the little 

 people. They cannot understand us; therefore, to insure 

 their happiness, tr}' to understand them ; the effort wonder- 

 fully repays us. If your boy wants pigeons, help him to fix 

 up for them. Do not laugh his fancies to scorn, or you 

 may chill all the feelings that bind him to his home ; and 

 recollect your fancies for your cigar, novel, or horse, are 

 no more intense than his for his (to you) minor interests. 



But enough of this. Let us to the Priests, as they are 

 called in Germany, on account of their white cowl, and in 

 contradistinction to the black veil of the Nun ; or Quakers, 

 as they are called in this country, by reason of their firm, 

 sedate, and sombre appearance. 



The Priest is about the size of the common, and the plain 

 birds are not unlike it in shape, but the Starlings partake 

 more of the shape of the Suabian or Archangel, to which 

 they are nearly related. The Priest is a solid or whole col- 

 ored bird, with the exception of the head, which is bald 

 (or white). The line between the colors passes through the 

 centres of the eyes, and along the inner and lower part of 

 the hood, which must be free from any foul white feathers. 

 The upper half of the beak is white, the lower dark. The 

 eye is generally mixed, but I have seen them where the up- 

 per half was pearl ; the lower half dark ; thus partaking of 

 the colors of the head and neck. The hood must be propor- 

 tioned to the size of the bird, and in the ordinary colors it 

 must be a perfect cup-edged hood; but in the Starling a 

 point head is frequently seen, and does not detract from the 

 beauty of the bird. The feet closely covered with short 

 feathers, among which no whites are allowed, not even on 

 the toes. The Starlings are clean-footed, and indeed ought 

 hardly to be ranked with the Priests, as they more nearly 

 approach the Suabians and Archangels. There are plain 

 Priests, which signifies that the colors — black, red, blue, 

 and yellow — are solid (except the Bald-head), without bars 

 across the tail or wings ; then there are barred Priests, in 

 which the bars are allowed, and also white barred birds, in 

 which white bars occupy the positions on the wings and 

 tail, in place of the dark bars generally seen. Of these, the 

 red and yellow birds with white bars, are rarest — the plain 

 birds next. The Starling, or Star Quaker, is a black bird 

 with white bars across the wings, and a crescent-shaped 

 band of finely spangled iridescent, irradiating feathers about 

 the throat, the upper border of which is straight across the 

 neck, and distinctly marked ; its head is bald, and feet clean. 

 The following points may be useful to judge by : 



1. Coloring. A colored bird with white head, the line of 

 division passing through the centre of the eyes, within the 

 base of the hood, and sloping at the corners of the mouth. 



2. Eyes. The upper half pearl, the lower half dark. 



3. Peet. Covered with short, close feathers, except the 

 Starlings, which are clean. 



4. Hood well proportioned ; clear on the inside ; the 

 Starling sometimes point-headed. 



5. Colors black, red, blue, yellow, and starling. 

 Sometimes the Priest degenerates, and loses nearly all 



the white of the head, excepting a spot near the base of the 

 beak, then it is called a white spot. 



Dr. W. P. Morgan. 



J8@" Death of a Naturalist. — The venerable Luth- 

 eran pastor, John Bachman, distinguished as a naturalist, 

 and life-long friend and co-laborer of Agassiz and Audu- 

 bon, died at Charleston, S. O, last week, aged 85. In 

 earl}' life he was associated with Audubon, whom he assisted 

 in the preparation of his celebrated work on Ornithology, 

 and was the principal author of the illustrated work on the 

 Quadrupeds of North America. He had been pastor of the 

 German Lutheran Church in Charleston for about fifty 

 years, and has published many works on the denomination 

 with which he was connected. 



