August 2, 1864. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



97 



POOKS. 



Last May I wrote a word or two about these interesting 

 birds ; and as Convocation has just been styled in some 

 saucy newspaper " a parliament of rooks," I suppose I must 

 henceforth regard the rook as a brother. I have just re- 

 turned from a three-weeks visit to the seaside— three some- 

 what weary weeks to a lover of flowers and birds ; for of the 

 former I saw very few, of the latter none, save that I noticed 

 a poor boy with his pet jackdaw on his shoulder, and, in 

 spite of the strong breeze then blowing, the little bird with 

 napping balancing wings kept his place. I liked that jack- 

 daw, and I liked his fond master— I don't believe he is a 

 bad boy. Three weeks at the seaside, again I say weary 

 weeks. How old one seems to grow, how rapidly old, at a 

 watering place, for how many generations of neighbours 

 one outlives ! First when you arrive, there is in the same 

 house the family whom the servants call by their name; 

 they are old inhabitants of a week's duration, while you are 

 only the gentleman in the other drawing-room. How you 

 respect that old family sort of county people of long stand- 

 ing, with their names in the " Dipping Chronicle," among 

 the visitors to that far-famed place. But in a day or two 

 you take their position, and are respected in your turn by 

 the newer comers. Then there are the neighbours outside. 

 That large family in mourning — mourning worth wearing, 

 for a rich aunt is dead, and her money brings them to the 

 sea. Then there is the stout old gentleman with high white 

 straw hat, and long telescope under his arm. Then there 

 are the newly married couples, not that they care for the 

 sea. Happy people, all the world to each other, my blessing 

 upon ye ! Now, I know how all these people and many others 

 come to a watering place. They arrive in flys, looking for 

 lodgings. The little girls carry dolls, and poke dolly's face 

 out of the window for her to look at the sea. But I never 

 saw these good people go. They are no more seen — they 

 are missed. Others succeed them at their windows. The 

 large family is followed by two maiden sisters ; the stout 

 gentleman by a thin roman-nosed lady ; or the lodgings are 

 not let, the blinds are down, and the balcony unoccupied. 

 How did they, how do they go ? Not in flys ; you never see 

 any save with new comers, though plenty of luggage is 

 carried off on trucks propelled by grim-faced men grinning 

 in the sunshine. Again I say, How do people leave a water- 

 ing place ? Perhaps they leave in the dark to hide their 

 tears. 



By the way, there is the reading-room at a watering 

 place. How men congregate there ! Poor fellows ! they 

 have little else to do. How they browse and browse on 

 morning papers at one time, on evening papers at another; 

 then the weeklies and the locals come in for a pleasant 

 change. And how many generations of readers I outlived 

 in my three weeks ! Poor men ! they looked so healthy, 

 who would have thought they would have gone off so soon ? 

 Just in passing let me say, I did not see on the tables of 

 the reading-room a single copy of "our Journal." Great 

 omission this, for it was just the paper that the browsers 

 would have delighted in. 



"But you are saying nothing about rooks, sir." Wait 

 awhile good reader ; many a fine mansion has a long ap- 

 proach to it. But for this visit I should never have thought 

 of the rooks, but I missed them, I wanted them, and now at 

 Hilltop I see and hear them once more. I instanced in my 

 little communication of May last the case of two rookeries, 

 one never shot at yet yearly decreasing ; the other shot at 

 each year and becoming fuller. Now, I cannot take an old 

 labourer's explanation, " Lor, sir, the birds like it," for I am 

 sure they do not. I regret that I have had no word or hint 

 on the subject in this Journal. However, I have privately 

 had an explanation offered by a sportsman and a naturalist. 

 Would that all sportsmen were naturalists, for then many 

 a poor innocent bird would be spared, the windhover for 

 example. My friend tells me he is sure that cook birds 

 are more numerous than hens amongst most wild birds. 

 Hence it comes to pass that if no rooks are shot, the cocks 

 harrass the hens, disturb their sitting, and drive the mated 

 birds elsewhere. This, he tells me, is frequently the case 

 with partridges. The man who to increase his birds allows 

 none to be shot for a season or two, finds presently that he 

 has no game at all to shoot, the quarrelling and fighting 



end in dispersion and death. I would also add, Is it not 

 reasonable that the young cock rooks being the stronger, 

 earliest hatched according to your egg-theory, are the first 

 to become branchers ? and every one knows that the boldest 

 branchers being clearest from the nest fall most frequently 

 to the rook-shooter's gun. — Wiltshire Rectob. 



ABOUT PIGEONS AND EAJBBITS. 



On looking over the columns of one of your recent Numbers, 

 I find a valuable suggestion from Mr. Brent, recommending 

 fanciers of Poultry, Pigeons, Rabbits, &c, to communicate 

 their successes and disappointments, after the fashion of 

 the apiarians. I for one have long wished to see this plan 

 adopted, as I think it would be a fruitful source of instruc- 

 tion and amusement to a great portion of your readers, and 

 be the means of causing many a desponding fancier to be 

 helped out of his difficulties. 



I am a Pigeon fancier and have a crotchet that birds 

 breed better if allowed to fly out ; consequently, nearly all 

 my breeding stock have been allowed this privilege until 

 now. One morning last week a pair of valuable Turbits 

 took a fancy to try then.' powers of flight, and very soon lost 

 their "reckoning." Thinking if they could see the other 

 Pigeons they would return, we went into the cote to set 

 them out, and, having gone in rather abruptly, a valuable 

 Carrier cock took fright and bolted. I can assure you that 

 I now felt far from comfortable, but thinking that " of a bad 

 bargain I must make the best," I set two men to watch 

 them until night and then try to catch them ; but in this 

 they failed, and the trio remained out all night. The men 

 were on the look-out by three o'clock the following morning, 

 and kept watch all day. During the afternoon the Turbits 

 discovered their home and returned, and by a piece of good 

 management the men caught the Carrier at night. Of course, 

 I had to pay them well for their trouble ; and though it was 

 rather an expensive lesson, I consoled myself with the re- 

 flection that it might have been worse. All my birds now 

 see the daylight and smell the fresh air through wire-netting. 



On looking over my stock after this escapade, I found a 

 Barb hen looking very ill. I put her " in hospital " at once, 

 but she continued to droop and soon died. I opened her 

 stomach and found food, which I feel convinced had been 

 there two or three days. The skin and flesh from the legs 

 towards the tail looked quite green. On opening the ovary 

 I found an egg partially formed, evidently within a day or 

 two of being laid. Can any reader inform me what was 

 the complaint and the remedy ? 



I am also a Rabbit fancier, but in this a complete novice. 

 I have a lop-eared doe, and I find the hair is coming off her 

 nose and the skin looks rough and scaly like scurvy. I have 

 put flowers of sidphur on the place affected. What is the 

 complaint and the remedy f I have a litter of young Rabbits 

 about two months old, their ears are a tolerable length but 

 both ears fall on one side. I should like to be informed how 

 to make them fall properly. The parents are perfect lops. 

 In conclusion I think I may say with Burns — 



*■ But, mousie. thou art no thy lane, 

 In proving foresight may be vain : 

 The best-laid schemes o' mice and men, 



Gang after a-gley, 

 And lea'e us nought but grief and pain, 

 For promised joy." 



—J. I. D. 



THE PIGEONS AT THE NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE 

 EXHIBITION. 



Being an exhibitor of Pigeons at Newcastle-on-Tyne, I 

 went to see the Show, and when I arrived on Wednesday 

 evening I found that two pairs of my birds had never been 

 taken out of the baskets. They left Birmingham on Monday 

 morning, and arrived at the Show between five and six o'clock 

 on Monday evening. I complained to the Secretary, and we 

 looked in the baskets, and found that the birds had not been 

 taken out of the basket and put in the pens. As soon as he 

 saw them he gave the first prize to my Satinettes. 



I have been to a great many shows, but I never saw a 

 show where Pigeons were so badly judged as at Newcastle. 

 If I can find out where Mr. T. W. Botcherley, of Darlington, 



