Marcli 33, 1871.' ] 



JOUKNAIi OF HOBXIGULTURE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



223 



alive ; they are then fastened down, or are supposed to be so fastened, 

 and are forwarded to their destination ; on arriving at, we will say, 

 Warminster, the basket is again, opened to see that the occupants are 

 all right. This is the way in which I believe the mischief occurs, for 

 I have had many baskets returned to me not fastened at all (and some 

 of my birds have had broken sickle feathers), bat I cannot believe they 

 were sent from a poultry show with the hampers unfastened. As Mr. 

 Hinton's birds seem to have suffered the most, I should certainly think 

 some local fancier has taken a liking to his Malay cock's tail feathers. 

 However, I can tell him that after our last Bristol show the hampers 

 ■were certainly opened at the Bristol railway station, but I must leave 

 it to him to find out if the basket was opened at Warminster before 

 being delivered. What fancier will start a patent fastening for the 

 baskets? One correepondent eays, Padlock them, and send the key to 

 the secretary, of course keeping another to unfasten the lock nponthe 

 birds' return. This I hardly think would answer, but I will leave it in 

 abler hands than mine to suggest a remedy. — George Tonkix, Bristol. 



The letters in your last number will probably create an impression 

 in the minds of your readers that there was a want of care, if nothing 

 worse, on the part of the Committee of the late Show at Colchester, and 

 on their behalf I trust yon will give me, as Secretary, an opportunity 

 to state the means we adopted to prevent any unfair treatment of the 

 birds whilst under our care. Some of the members of the working 

 committee were present during the whole time of the show, day and 

 night, in addition we had seven trusty and experienced servants in the 

 Exchange whilst the show was open. None of these men were in- 

 terested in any breed of birds, as we purposely avoided having anyone 

 who had a connection with the fancy in any way. Also, when the 

 public were present, we had policemen in plain clothes, one stationed 

 near where the Pigeons were placed, as I could not see that part from 

 the bottom of the building, and to all the instructions were not to 

 allow any bird or animal to be touched or disturbed, nor any egg to 

 be removed, except by an authorised person. I have every reason to 

 believe these orders were carried out strictly. 



In packing and unpackin?. a committee-man was present when every 

 bird was removed, and marked it on his catalogue. The show closed 

 at 10 p.ii., but every pen was emptied, except the local ones, and the 

 hampers dispatched to the railway before we left the building at four in 

 the morning ; the London ones being sent off by the two o'clock 

 morning mail. As far as we could see, every bird, with the exception 

 of some Dorking hens that fought and were placed in separate pens, 

 left the show uninjured. Mr. Dean's birds I packed myself, aud saw 

 no blood on them, neither were my bauds soiled with blood, as they 

 must have been had his bird been injured as he describes when I 

 packed it. 



We hoped, after all our exertions, that the show would have passed 

 off well, and without any complaints ; but if any exhibitor can inform 

 us in what way we could have done more to protect the birds entrusted 

 to our care we shall be obliged, as we hope to have another show next 

 year, and will endeavour at any cost to carry out sngfi:estionB which 

 may contribute to the safety and well-being of'birds sent us. — Hesrt 

 Lavee, Honorary Secretary. 



THE DYED BANTAM COCK AT THE 

 NORTHAMPTON SHOW. 



As your report of the Northampton Show in last week's Jour- 

 nal stated that the dyed Duckwing Game Bantam cock was ex- 

 hibited by us, we trust you will allow us to give a most unquali- 

 fied contradiction to the charge. We fearlessly assert that the 

 Bantams we sent to Northampton never had a feather touched, 

 either as regards dyeing or trimming, prior to their leaving us. 

 They left us on Tuesday, March 7th, at 9.15 a.m., and did not 

 arrive home again until Tuesday, March 14th, at noon, and of 

 course it is impossible for us to say what may have been done to 

 them during the week they were away. That there has been 

 some gross mismanagement or carelessness in penning the birds 

 (whether wilful or not is not for U3 to say) is self-evident. Mr. 

 Newhitt, who exhibited Pigeons, sent a post-card to the Secretary, 

 and asked him to say what we had in Class 19. To this the 

 Secretary wrote as follows :— "185. None came." This was 

 written on the afternoon of the first show-day, when " one of 

 the committee found" our "pen empty." All our inquiries 

 have failed to draw anything further from the Secretary than 

 that our Bmtams were placed in pen 187. "We cannot learn 

 whose birds were shown in pen 185. The birds shown in pen 

 187 were sent to Mr. Swift, bu^. the Secretary says in a letter to 

 us, "'We have found a pair of Bantams in one pen (query 185) 

 and your skep opposite an empty one ; and he " decided to keep 

 them until he had written " to us. Now, if these birds were 

 found in pen 185, why were they not duly sent to us, when our 

 hamper appears to have been the only one remaining? "Why 

 did the Secretary decide "to keep them?" At his request we 

 sent a description of the birds belonging to us, and finished our 

 description by saying, "The cock is rather patchy on the saddle, 



having a few brown feathers, not having got quite through the 

 moult." Truly this could not be, if the cock's saddle had been 

 dyed '* a lovely yellow." "We are prepared to send the bird for 

 examination to Mr. Ilewitt, Mr. Tegetmeier, or to the Editors of 

 the Journal. "We invite the strictest investigation into this (to 

 us) most painful affair, as most assuredly we stand guiltless. We 

 have su'imitted the bird for the inspection of several local fan- 

 ciers who fail to discover, after the closest scrutiny, the least 

 particle of dye, except such as has been placed there by Dame 

 Nature herself. We beg to state, further, that the description 

 of our birds was sent to the Secretary long before we heard or 

 saw anything respecting a cock being dyed, as he (the Secretary) 

 was ominously silent about it until we had acknowledged th& 

 arrival of our birds. — Hudson & Burnip, Epworth. 



[We received our information from Mr. Humphreys, the Se- 

 cretary. "Who dyed the cock? and was the dyed cock that 

 which was returned to Messrs. Hudson & Burnip ? are now 

 matters in dispute. — Eds.] 



WOODBRIDGE POULTRY SHOW. 



The first open Show was held at Woodbridge, in the Lecture Hall^ 

 on the 16th and 17th inst. There were about five hundred entries, 

 for the accommodation of which there was scarcely sufiicient space. 

 The pens (Turner's) were well arranged, yet they were in acroie in- 

 stances three tiers high, to the evident disadvantage of some of the 

 birds. Every attention was paid to the specimens placed in the hands 

 of the Hon. Secretary, Mr. Drake, and they were well attended to as 

 regards food and water. One or two of the cage birds were found 

 dead on opening the cases, and we observed a Bullfinch pine away and 

 die daring the Show, and a Linnet G-reenfinch Mnleloo^ng as though 

 it would not get home alive, but nothing that could be done to save 

 them was omitted. We should advise exhibitors not to send double 

 tins attached to the cages, for with these it is Impossible to keep the- 

 seed dry. 



For Dorh'n^^s, the first prize was given to well-known Kose-combed 

 birds, and the second to a capital pen of young birds. The class was 

 of unusnal merit for the time of year, when many of the best birds 

 are breeding. Sjpam^h were more numerous than the Doikiuga, and 

 some of the birds were of high merit, though some of them had to- 

 be fed by hand, being unable to see. There were two classes of Cochins, 

 and both colours were well represented. In the Buff the cup was won 

 easily, the henbeingvery large, and well developed in fluff and cuRhion,. 

 and the cock one of the best we have seen for some time. In the 

 Partridge aud other colours there were some good birds, the cockerel 

 in the first-prize pen being perfection. The second prize went to 

 Whites, and these were also very good. Dark BraJtmas were an ex- 

 cellent class. The cockerel to which the cup was awarded was of un- 

 usual merit, and perfect iu colour of plumage. Some of the other 

 pens contained excellent hens, but the cocks were not of the same 

 quality. Light Brahmas are looking up, and were it not for the slight 

 yellowness of plumage, we might pronounce them perfect. In Game,- 

 the Duckwing cock iu the first-prize pen was most handsome, but the 

 hen not equal to him, otherwise the award of the cup would have been 

 made to this pen instead of to the Brown Reda, to which it was given. 

 They were about the most close-feathered we have ever handled. The 

 Samhurgli classes were all good, and the cup awarded to the Silver- 

 spangled, which were perfect. Gold-pencilled were first on the list. 

 The first-prize pen, an adult cock and a pullet, were perfection in all 

 points. The second were young birds, the pen losing only by a slight 

 deficiency in the eavlobes of both birds. Pen 89, highly commended, 

 contained a grand cockerel, with but one fault, that of the tail, ■which 

 was too high-coloured, though their chance was entirely destroyed by 

 the openness of marking of the pullet, which was almost as coarse as 

 spangling at the ends of the feathers. In pen 82 the cockerel hacl- 

 shrivelled earlobes, a red tail, part of which was out, and the breast 

 was unevenly blotched with a lighter colour. The pullet had a plain 

 tail, and not a single clear pencil mark on her, the colour of the body 

 being mingled with the marking. In the Silver-pencilled only the 

 prize birds were noteworthy, but the Gold-spangled were mostly good, 

 the winners being only superior in the spangling on the neck and tail 

 hackles of the cocks. In Polunds, Silvers were first and G-olden 

 second, the lacing on the wings of the latter being something marvel- 

 lous, though the former were superior in cres^. French fowls were a 

 fair lot, Creve-Cceura being first, and La Flcehe second. Iu the 

 Variety class a good pen of Malays were first, and Black Hamburghs 

 second. Game Bantams were a large class. The first and cup was 

 awarded to a gamey-looking pen of Black Eeds, which distanced all 

 others, being faultless. The second-prize birds were also of that colour, 

 the cockerel perfect, but the pullet a little mossy. In Bantams- 

 Black or "White, the first and second-prize birds made a close run for 

 the first position, both i«ens being all that could be wished for, the 

 only turning point being the smallness of the first-prize pen. to which 

 the cup was given. In the class for other varieties of Bantams, Laced 

 won both prizes, the Silvers being of high merit in colour and lacing, * 

 although a little larger than the Golden pen. which was placed second. 

 In the Selling classes the cup for cocks was given to a Brahma, and in 

 hens to Silver-pencilled. 



