334 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ May 5, 18S3. 



put in requisition ; guns and even cannon are discharged, and 

 the Show is a fete. 



There is one thing we do not understand : — there is to be 

 open judging on Saturday 6th. What is open judging ? Are 

 the awards to be made in presence of the public ? if so, we do 

 not envy the Judges, nor do we think they can do justice to ex- 

 hibitors. Nothing requires privacy so much as judging, and 

 where competition is close it is absolutely necessary. 



MALAY FOWLS. 



I had no expectation when I sent you my first letter on the 

 " Characteristics of Malay Fowls " that it would have induced 

 so much correspondence. 



In the first place, I thank you for inserting my letter and for 

 your observations thereon ; in the next for observations made by 

 correspondents on this interesting subject. We have now, I think, 

 pretty clearly elicited what points we should aim at in breeding 

 Malays ; and it may be expected that in a few years perfection 

 will be arrived at in this breed of poultry. 



Your correspondent " T. B. A. Z." is pleased to designate my 

 fowls as " too handsome." They were considered by many per- 

 sons living here a8 much finer and more beautiful than those to 

 which the first prize was awarded ; but, like myself, these friends 

 of mine knew but little of what constituted a good Malay ; we 

 were all mistaken. This circumstance may probably illustrate 

 some of the disputes which occasionally arise between exhibitors 

 and judges ; the former thinking their fowls ought to have had a 

 prize, when, in fact, they were, like me, not aware what were the 

 essentials to constitute a good fowl. 



I am free to confess that if I had been appointed to judge 

 birds like those exhibited at Devizes, without, of course, knowing 

 who were the exhibitors, I should have given the prize to my 

 own pens ; and I am now, after this correspondence, quite con- 

 vinced I Bhould have done wrong. 



I have never disputed the decision of any judge ; I consider it 

 would be a reflection, not only on the Judge in question, but also 

 on the Committee who appointed him. All committees, I believe, 

 do their best to secure persons to act in this capacity who are 

 esteemed competent and whose integrity is unquestionable : under 

 these circumstances, therefore, exhibitors would do well to forego 

 their feelings if they should consider that justice had not been 

 done to them, remembering that we are all fallible creatures, and 

 the best of us may possibly err sometimes. — John James Fox, 

 Devizes. 



UTILES FOE POULTRY-JUDGING. 



Are the new rules for judging to be adopted at the Show at 

 Islington ? If they are, where can I procure them ? Will you 

 exert your influence in this matter ? I and others are now 

 breeding and selecting for exhibition in the autumn and winter. 

 The Poultry Club is tolerably certain of carrying its point and 

 having a voice at most shows. As there will be no getting away 

 from the litera scripta, we ought now to know what we are to 

 try for ; otherwise the efforts of the Club will end in placing 

 us in the position whence they say they wish to extricate them- 

 selves — viz, that of exhibitors who know not what to exhibit. 

 I think if the rules are not ready for publication now, their 

 application to shows Bhould be deferred till next year. What 

 causes the delay p — One in the Dark. 



A PRAYER FOR BIRDS OF PREY. 



The destruction of birds of prey has been of late years so 

 indiscriminate and so universal, owing to the very strict pre- 

 servation of game, that many are extinct where they formerly 

 abounded ; and I venture to invite the attention of your readera 

 to a list of birds formerly not rare, but which now do not exist 

 in this district, some of which might, if a merciful consideration 

 were extended to them, still enliven our country lanes and woods, 

 the toll levied by them being a very unimportant tax on the 

 produce of the raceB which supply them with food. 



The district in which the birds enumerated have been seen is 

 in the weBt of Essex, extending from Waltham Abbey to 

 Dunmow, including the valley of the Stort. The list has been 

 prepared and given to me by Mr. Daniel French, of Sawbridge- 

 worth, who has through a long life never failed to give the most 

 aeute attention to birds and their habits. I send it to you 



precisely bb it has been given to me. Cannot the proprietors of 

 woods and coverts be induced to order their keepers to abstain 

 from such unremitting war as they wage on these classes ? — 

 T. F. K., Sawbridgeworth,. 



"bieds oe peet — (ealcontdje). 



"Royal Eagle. — Was shot twenty years ago on Tukely 

 Forest, EsBex, and I remember one being shot at Waltham 

 Abbey in the marshes. 



" Ospeey oe Fishing Eagle. — A very fine one once lived 

 two or three years about Latton and NetteBwell. I have some- 

 times been very near to it. I do not know what became of it at 

 last. One has since been shot at Pishobury, Sawbridgeworth. 



" Kite. — Formerly at Great Parndon, used to breed in Parndon 

 woods ; they are all destroyed. 



" Mooe Buzzaed. — There used to be a tract of boggy ground 

 extending from just below Latton Mill down to Burnt Mill with 

 several woods. I have there seen this rare bird two or three 

 times, but have not known it to continue there. 



" Common Buzzaed. — This was so frequent that I have seen it 

 alight on the barn where I lived, and it used almost continually to 

 be sailing over the meadows ; they bred in Latton and 

 Netteswell woods, not one now remains. 



"Goshawk.— Used to breed in liyde Hall wood, Sawbridge- 

 worth. 



" Sparrow Hawe. — This active and interesting bird is now 

 very seldom Been, it used to be frequently bo ; if the farmers 

 execrate the Sparrows they should preserve this Hawk, as Hb 

 food consists almost exclusively of Sparrows. 



"Banner. — I once saw this large Hawk in Hyde Hall wood, 

 Sawbridgeworth, and I have seen it both in Harlow and Latton 

 Park woods ; but it has always been very rare. 



"Peregeine Falcon. — This has been shot in Stansted Marsh, 

 Hertfordshire, in Gilston Park ditto, and I have Been it in 

 Epping Forest. 



" Kestrel (the Hovering Hawk) . — This beautiful and interest- 

 ing little bird that used to enliven the country by his pretty 

 hovering and his plaintive note, is now almost exterminated by 

 the keepers ; it meddles with no sort of game, and no bird ie of 

 more use to farmers. Its food consists if not exclusively of mice, 

 very nearly so. It enters barns and other out-buildings when 

 not too public in the Bame manner as Owls. Wherever a nest 

 used to be found which was generally in the old nest of a Crow 

 or Magpie, it was invariably found to be lined with the skins of 

 mice; but in spite of all its services and its beauty it is gone! 

 destroyed by rascals. 



" Hobby. — This small Hawk was more rare than either of the 

 two last-named, and appeared to prey mostly on the larger 

 insects, as it waB generally hawking round trees or darting very 

 rapidly along ; it kept secluded in woods. 



" Meblin.— This is the smallest of the native Hawks. I once 

 knew a nest with two young ones to be taken in Ongar Park 

 wood, Essex ; I had the care of one of the young ones for some 

 months. One a few years since chased a Sparrp-r. into a green- 

 house at S herring, Essex, and, of course, war Killed by the man 

 who caught it. 



" This is all the species of the Falcon tribe I have been 

 accustomed to know. — D. Feench." 



Natural History. — We saw the first Dottrell on Wednesday 

 last. We have Eeen but one. 



SWARM OF BEES IN APRIL. 



On the 26th ult. we had a swarm of bees here (Linton), from 

 an old hive which, in company with two others, had never been 

 fed all winter. 



As it is unusual for bees to swarm in April, I record this 

 instance as the first that has occurred with me ; but I believe, 

 three or four yearB ago, one of my neighbours had a swarm on 

 the 28th of the month. This season, owing to the bright sunny 

 weather, I have no doubt but there may have been several swarms 

 during the month, especially where the bees have been fed, and 

 the situation a favourable one for their doing well. 



Last year was by no means a good honey season, but I at- 

 tribute my bees doing pretty well to the fact of there being so 

 few bees in the neighbourhood. The wet season of 1860, and 

 subsequent hard winter, were fatal to many stocks which have not 

 yet been replaced : hence there was a wider field for those re- 

 maining, and they consequently did better. — J. Robsoh. 



