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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Oetober 27, 1870. 



always having dne regard to their parentage and properties. 

 Colour has been so sacrificed by breeders for head, eye, and bill, 

 that one never knows what colour to expect their progeny will be 

 until they are feathered. Often Yellow and Red are bred from 

 Black. When such is the case you will invariably find either 

 colour is tinged on every body feather with black. Their flight 

 feathers are either a dirty dun, or tinged with grey along the 

 quills ; their tails having several white feathers in the middle 

 of them, or else on the top of the rump. Should one be of a 

 passable colour you will generally find a black baud at the end of 

 the tail. By pairing Black and Yellow, or Black and Red, you 

 will most certainly produce the same results. Red and Yellow 

 is the only cross that any good is likely to arise from. By this 

 cross the red is impoverished, but the yellow is obtained of a 

 sounder colour. 



If a breeder would consider for a moment he would know that 

 Black has been the only colour that has gained by the mix- 

 ture. By crossing any self-coloured bird to a Black, the latter 

 is often improved, and the purity of the former destroyed. 

 What is more disagreeable than to see your pet of two shades, 

 whereas the Barb is a self-coloured bird ? We might as well try 

 to breed Mottled Barbs as to have the tail and rump of a different 

 shade to their body. However well bred such may be, they will 

 never be fit to enter successfully into competition with birds of 

 sound colour possessing equal merits in general. 



Good Whites are very scarce, and have a dark eye — that is, 

 the pupil almost indistinct from the iris. Several breeders have 

 tried to introduce the pearl eye into them, but to the present 

 time we have not seen any having so good a quality. In other 

 respects they should be equal to those of other colours. 



Barbs are hardy, docile, birds, flying but little when at liberty. 

 As a rule, they are prolific breeders, but require assistance in 

 bringing their young to maturity, as they generally seek fresh 

 nests when their young are nine or ten days old, up to which 

 time they feed well. We strongly recommend this variety to 

 any who think of increasing their stock, as the Barb is not re- 

 ceiving so much attention as the bird deserves from the fancy at 

 large. — Bibhingham Columbaria^ Society. 



CLEAN-LEGGED WHITE BANTAMS. 



Is your Journal ®f September 1st, I wrote respecting White 

 Bantams as being beautiful birds fast declining ; we seldom 

 see them in a class by themselves, Btill there are a few com- 

 mittees who hold out some encouragement for them. As Mr. 

 Cambridge kindly remarked, they did not pay as a class. In 

 my opinion we ought not to strike out a class from the prize 

 sheet because it happens to be a failure in a pecuniary point of 

 view; our prizes are offered, or should be, for the encourage- 

 ment of the various breeds of poultry, and to aid in bringing 

 them to the highest point of excellence. I say White Bantams 

 pay as a class at some shows which I could name. They have 

 a very respectable class at Newark and various other places, 

 but in Scotland, I think, there are more classes for them than 

 here. Mr. Cambridge wished "White Bantam " to communi- 

 cate with him, and he would endeavour to retain the class for 

 White Bantams at Bristol next Show. I am glad that com- 

 munication has led to the result wished for, and that they will 

 be tried there again. 



My chief object in writing is to make known to all White 

 Bantam friends and fanciers that we are to have a White Ban- 

 tam class at Manchester Show, to be held, as usual, at Belle Vue. 

 The prizes of £2 and £1 are offered in the prize list, which is 

 being subscribed ; but it is our intention to offer a silver cup 

 for the first prize, the £2 offered as the second prize, and the 

 £1 for the third prize. I have the pleasure to state that the 

 following have already subscribed towards the above object — 

 viz., " A Friend of White Bantams," 30s.; myself ("White 

 Bantam "), 21s. ; Rev. F. Tearle, 5s. ; Mr. J. Watts, 10s. ; and 

 Mr. Edwin Pritchard, 5s. I cordially invite all fanciers to come 

 forward with their subscriptions as soon as possible, so that we 

 may have the prizes stated before the entries close. We know 

 that Messrs. Jennison have one of the finest places in England 

 for the purpose of a show, with an excellent staff of assistants. 

 All, therefore, may rely upon their birds being well cared for 

 in every respect, and returned, perhaps better than if they 

 had stayed at home. Snbscriptions for the above cup and 

 class will be received by — Samuel J. Ashton, Roe Cross, 

 Mottram, Manchester. 



Hatfield Bird Show. — I see that Hatfield again opens to 

 the fancy, and I am sure, from the care taken of all our birds 



last year, together with the improvement in the prizes and the 

 low scale of entry fees, it should obtain the patronage of all my 

 fellow fanciers. From a note received, I see all birds required, 

 will be sent to Stockton by night mail for the show there the 

 following day. — Thomas Fletchee. 



SCAEBOROUGH ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S 

 SHOW. 



The second annual exhibition of the Scarborough Society was 

 held on Wednesday and Thursday, the 19th and 20th inst., and 

 was a signal success with respect to both the number and 

 quality of the birds staged. The Temperance Hall, the room in 

 which the Show was held, is admirably adapted for the purpose, 

 being well lighted, and, what is of the utmost importance, well 

 warmed. So far as I could see, everything that prudence and 

 forethought could devise had been done to secure a watchful at- 

 tention to the stock, and it is at any time pleasing to He able to 

 bear testimony to a fact which must secure the confidence of 

 exhibitors generally, who, in sending valuable bircis to any 

 exhibition, place grave responsibilities in the hands of com- 

 mittees. 



I shall confine my remarks to merely a slight review of the 

 different classes, as time will not admit of my doing more, though 

 I should have felt disposed, under more favourable circumstances, 

 to have made my trip to Scarborough the text for a history of 

 my " outing" — I think that's the word. A correspondent some 

 short time back said he liked a visit to a show at a distance to 

 assume the character of an "outing," and not merely to resolve 

 itself into a statement of how A was first, and B was second. 

 Another correspondent hit out straight from the shoulder, it was 

 a shot, and said he did not care to read a column of extraneous 

 matter, and then a half- dozen-lines notice of the show. It was 

 something to that effect ; I am only writing from memory. 

 Many men have many minds, and among the thousands of readers 

 into whose hands the "Journal" falls every Thursday, there will 

 be as many who will take an interest in the " outing," as in 

 the show. It takes many a reader home, too ; and the greatest 

 pleasure one has in writing is, that apart from a dry statement 

 of facts which can interest comparatively few, there is the know- 

 ledge that some remark, some line or two, may make an other- 

 wise dull page shine with a cheerful light. Every hobby is 

 interesting to its own individual admirer, and if you love your 

 hobby, make it as attractive as you can, and induce others to love 

 it also. 



Scarborough saw many new birds shown for the first time this 

 season. To these more interest attaches than to birds of known 

 character. Moore & Wynne brought out a splendid Clear Jonque 

 Norwich, which had no difficulty in disposing of its opponents, 

 Irons being a good second, with Simpson well up. Those who 

 do not understand about Canaries will not know what all this 

 means, and who Moore & Wynne, or Irons, or Simpson are. 

 Well, I cannot help its being dry to you, it is not so to every- 

 body. Some old fanciers (do you know what I mean by a 

 "fancier?") will read it with immense interest. In Clear Buff 

 Norwich, Moore & Wynne were first again, with a fine specimen, 

 quite a star, and Simpson second witn. a good bird, which must 

 visit the laundry before being sent out again. Good birds, if 

 dirty, can never win against possibly inferior ones which are 

 dean. When I say clean, I mean clean. In Evenly-marked 

 Yellow Norwich, Mills's little wonder suffered defeat at the 

 hands of one of the best Variegated Jonque Norwich 1 ever saw. 

 It is a bird of good size and rich in colour, rather heavily but 

 well marked. There is a very trifling difference in the absolute 

 number of dark feathers in each wing, but it is quite unappre- 

 ciable to the eye. The eye marks are rather heavy, but remark- 

 ably even in size and shape. What defects it may have, if it 

 have any, it can afford to giveaway and still win. Mills's bird, 

 however, is not yet quite fit, and what may be the result when 

 they meet again I do not know. I hope it may be at Middles- 

 brough, where Mr. Barnesby is going to judge, to whose decision 

 I shall look forward with much interest, and hope we shall have 

 the pleasure of shaking hands. Moore & Wynne's bird, which 

 was third, is beautifully marked, but though in faultless con- 

 dition was deficient in colour. In Evenly-marked Buff Norwich, 

 Moore & Wynne were first and second with two fine specimens, 

 the first-prize bird being the same which won the silver cup at 

 the Crystal Palace last Show The Ticked classes contained, as 

 they always do, some richly-coloured buds. The crests were 

 extra good, including all varieties, Moore & Wynne being fi rst 

 with a fine marked and crested Buff cock. Mr. Calvert, of York, 



