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JODENAL OF HOBTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



[ Jannary 26, ISTL 



led the van in the snperior arrangement and condnct of competitive 

 exhibitions, and whUe Edinburgh displays an unflagging zeal in the 

 same direction, mnch may yet be done to develope the art of exhibit- 

 ing, to infnse into public shows a character of refinement, and to 

 escite a higher regard for tasteful surroundings, particulars in irhich 

 the Association has considerable opportunity for distinguishing itself 

 and of becoming an influence for good. And in such a care for ex- 

 ternals a harmony may be discovered, for the culture of fancy Pigeons 

 strongly appeals to the artistic sense. Without taste, without nice 

 perception, without superior powers of discrimination and comparison, 

 as well aspire to be an artist of distinction as a successful fancier, no 

 matter what the variety selected for cultivation. 



Tasteful and appropriate exhibition arrangements should follow as 

 by natural sequence ; and shows ambitious for national or metropolitan 

 distinction, so far from being behindhand in snch matters, must set 

 the fashion. _ Edinburgh has begun well, and seems thoroughly to 

 understand, in common with the National Peristeronic Society and the 

 London Exhibition Committee, that the arena of competition, the 

 furnishings, the style and distribution of the pens, the care bestowed 

 upon the birds, and, pre-eminently, the comfort and convenience of 

 the visitors, are all elements for good or for evil, and greatly influence 

 the public. The adoption and maintenance of worthy exhibition sur- 

 roundings will not fail to have a favourable reaction on the birds. 

 Competitors will more than ever realise the importance of bringing 

 their birds to exhibition in " r.'ice horse " condition — bright, sleek, and 

 sound, and by sheer contrast a death blow will be dealt to that jaded, 

 overworked, and bedraggled appearance which is the very negation of 

 the artistic or the refined. 



Directing attention, therefore, to the " internal " rather than the 

 "local" surroundings 'as most concerning the fancier, the Scottish 

 Colnmbarian Association, in conclusion, may ba congratulated on its 

 merited success, and may be commended to a further development of 

 those exhibition refinements so consonant with the pursuit as an art, 

 and so appealing to the uninitiated. — W. Yolckil*^-. 



Mr. Ludlow, to be disposed of to members of our Society, and I 

 am gratified to find the result was all I oonld wish. I intend 

 to send in my nest communication full descriptions of the biida 

 I sent, and of those existing in this part of the world. — H. P. 

 Cahidia, Smyrna, 



A PIGEON FANCIER'S NOTES BETWEEN 

 BIRMINGHAM AND SMYRNA. 



I AH at Smyrna, after fifteen years' life in good old England 

 the memory of which I shall cherish for life, while I will 

 retain, so far as it depends on myself, the friendship and 

 brotherly loye of those I proved true, looking with joy at their 

 portraits, and the souvenirs they have honoured me with. I 

 embraced the first opportunity of fulfilling what I promised to 

 my fellow columbarians, and shall always be ready to forward 

 all I consider desirable acquisitions to my fellow fanciers at 

 large, on condition that orders from unknown correspondents 

 must be endorsed by the approval of the Editors of this Journal, 

 or my successor, Mr. J. W. Ludlow, Edward Place, Vauxhall 

 Eoad, Birmingham. 



Commencing to sketcb my journey, the first country I 

 entered on leaving England was Belgium, the mother of the 

 Antwerps. What a chance, I thought, to stay in Brussels till 

 the Pigeon market-day (Sunday), to see if I could procure any 

 suitable specimen of this fast tribe, to send to my Birming- 

 ham friends for oroasing purposes ? I visited the market, 

 which was yery largely attended, being the day of the Belgian 

 Independence, but in vain, as there was not one bird worthy of 

 my purpose. I witnessed the departure of nearly all the birds 

 from the cages of their owners, who liberated them to lighten 

 their burden homewards, and immediately afterwards I took 

 my departure through Germany (sadly interrupted by the 

 various trains to and from the seat of war), for the Austrian 

 capital, in which I stayed long enough to see if I could find 

 there any acquisition of Pouters (pigmy), as it is of no use to 

 look for improvement upon the specimens in the possession 

 of our Scotch and Engli.ih fanciers. There were some pretty 

 birds of this tribe, but I was advised not to risk sending them, 

 as it was not very safe for human beings to find their way 

 through Germany, much less birds. Losing all hope, I re- 

 sumed my journey by train, then by the romantic Danube, 

 and then by the Varna railway to Varna, and from Varna 

 through the Black " frightfully Black " Saa, to Constantinople, 

 the most noble and beautiful city in the world seen from a 

 distance, but the most filthy and barbarous in itself ! Here I 

 found a few pretty birds, but knowing that I was going to their 

 birthplace, where I had, seventeen years ago, known the most 

 beautiful of all Toy Pigeons, including the exquisite Sati- 

 nette, which I extensively introduced then, I passed them, 

 and resumed my journey. Arriving in Smyrna, I commenced 

 at once inquiries for my old friends and fellow fanciers, in the 

 absence of Pigeon dealers; but, alas 1 few — very few — of my old 

 friends are left. I contrived, however, within a month to pro- 

 cure twenty-four pairs of new varieties — Toy birds — and for- 

 warded them by the steamer direct to Liverpool, for my friend. 



BIRMINGHAM MUFFED TUMBLERS. 



I BEG to convey through your Journal my thanks to the Birmingham 

 Columbarian Society for the additional information relative to these 

 Tumblers, contSbuted in reply to my own observations ; and I have 

 to acknowledge the compliment of the very explicit nature of this 

 information upon peculiarities the Society state to be not worth men- 

 tioning, since exemplified at any Pigeon shop — in Birmingham, I 

 assume — by birds sold at the cheap rate of IO5. per dozen. As I do 

 not frequent the Birmingham Pigeon shops I feel favoured by this 

 intimation, and hope it may not be profitless to myself and other 

 strangers to the Birmingham mart, curious as to the blood of the 

 Tumblers confessedly exhibited and identified with the Tumblers the 

 subject of onr notice. The summary, if I understand the Society, is 

 that birds with the clear and muffed legs and the odd eyes do appear 

 in the broods from parent birds the opposite in each peculiarity, or ill 

 apparently reverse relation of parents to oifspring ; and that the 

 diversity of clear and mulled legs is to be attributed to a back cross of 

 the Long-muiTed with the Clear-legged Tumbler to break or diminish 

 the muff of the progeny. Thus, that extreme variations of leg occur 

 ■ — i.e., a clear, a diminished, and a long muff, from the same parent- 

 age, though such parentage be diverse itself, and so betrays its own 

 pedigree of the back cross inferred ; but that the odd eye is a mystery, 

 and called a " bull eye," and is black, and not hazel, as stated by me, 

 which eye — the evil eye — the Society, however, will "get rid of" as 

 soon as practicable. Yery well. The Society will forgive me repeat- 

 ing, though, that this odd eye is hazel — z.f ., the iris is hazel and the 

 pupil black, else my own eyes are " colour-bliud " — an infirmity the 

 Society will pardon mo the vanity of repudiation. Precisely as the 

 gravel or pearl eye is so termed from the colour of the iris, so is the 

 odd eye in question, from its iris, properly called a hazel eye. Sub- 

 stantially, therefore, the Society and I are agreed upon the peculiari- 

 ties I submitted to be omitted in a former contribution from the 

 Society, and now amply supplied. 



The Society complains rather jealously and testily of some who 

 would " anathematise " the Muffed Tumbler, and very rightly retorts 

 that it would be wiser to "improve" this Tumbler until of the ex- 

 cellence in size and shape of young England's standard bird — our old 

 English Tumbler. And so should I, as an Englishman, like to see the 

 Muffed Tumbler a model bird of its class, for already I am proud t& 

 afiirm that my own Tumblers of this variety, not " Pigeon-shop " birds, 

 are no despicable specimens, nor aught loth to show then- mettle by 

 flights sky high and acrobatic gambols, the admiration of the neigh- 

 bourhood. The Society, too, I must not omit to notice, now challenges 

 comparison with our English Tumbler, in picked birds, in round 

 "Brummagem" style and excusable laudation of its own ware. 



I will try to approach the standard of the old English Sky Tumbler 

 by another cross over to young England's fancy, so as to preserve the 

 muff and retain the spirit of the Birmingham and old English Sky 

 Tumbler in the progeny. The present Birmingham Muffed Tumbler 

 comes from Continental or European (be it Dutch or German) an- 

 cestry doubtless, but grafted on our own stock of English blood, it will 

 neither belie nor disgrace its family tradition. — Reader. 



P. S. — The hazel eye is very likely transmitted from a hazel-eyed 

 Bald, or a Magpie with dark eyes, crossed for flight in the foimer, and 

 feather in the latter bird, or they may be accidentally so crossed. 



COLCHESTEK AND PORTSMOUTH RABBIT 

 SCHEDULE. 



I AM surprised to find that the fancy variety men who have ■written 

 80 much upon the injustice done to the variety classes at most shows, 

 should now praise the one-sided schedule of the coming Colchester 

 Show. The sum of £12 is offered in prizes, only £3 going to the Lop- 

 ears, the other £9 going to!the fancy varieties. The extra weight to be 

 paid for in carriage to and from the show will be double that of the 

 single fancy Eabbit. Let us compare the two varieties. The very 

 best fancy Rabbit thero is you can buy for £2 or under, but to purchase 

 a good Lop-eared Rabbit you must give from £5 to £10 ; also, there is 

 no difficulty in breeding a good fancy Rabbit, but you may try for 

 years before you can breed a good Lop-eaved Rabbit. I contend that 

 on account of value alone, the Lop-ears should always take the prefer- 

 ence in a schedule, but at the same time I would do justice to the 

 variety classes. But Mr. Hudson has jnst shown us ho would do the 

 opposite. Of the two schedules, I maintain that that of Portsmouth is 

 the better. The Colchester Committee will find out their mistake, 

 when the entries close. 



If the Rabbit fanciers of England would have the whole matter put 

 on a just level, they must cooperate, fiiid neiiuer side should try to 

 swamp the ot.Vior. I have often thought it would be a good plan to 

 have a " United Kingdom Rabbit Club " formed, say each member to- 

 subscribe Is. a-year; to appoint a seciretary to correspond with each 

 poultry show committeo, to suggest classes for the shows, and attend 



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