141 



gentleman would be without their avaries of Almond Tumblers, would form a splendid 

 ornament in their beautiful gardens or grounds. It is with Fanciers as with others, 

 they do not exactly think alike upon some of the points or properties ; all that is wanted 

 is honesty. If those great and eminent ministers, Whitfield and Welsey, after a college 

 education could not exactly agree upon the same text, is it surprising you and I should 

 not exactly agree upon the remarks we make from our experience derived solely from 

 actual observations, taking the Almond Tumbler as our text ; one thing is certain, pro- 

 vided we are Fanciers in the true acceptation of the word, we must go hand in hand upon 

 the five properties, allowing each of us to choose our favorite point or property ; for 

 which of the five properties could we part with in producing a good bird — it is absolutely 

 necessary to have the five properties, to constitute a really good bird. 



412. That the Almond Tumbler, may be improved beyond what it has hitherto been, 

 — that new beauties may be discovered, and a higher standard taken as the beau ideal 

 of each amateur, — and that it may as far exceed the present standard, as that which is 

 now looked up to does that of half a century back. 



ALMOND TUMBLEE. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE BIRD. 

 FEATHER. 



413. Imagine taking into your aviary or loft some inexperienced friends, who have 

 expressed a great desire to see Almond Tumblers, what would be the first thing to at- 

 tract their attention ? Feather would strike some — shape or carriage would rivet the 

 attention of others ; if, on the contrary, you took experienced Fanciers into your avia- 

 ries or lofts, and asked them which they considered the grandest property of the five, 

 my impression is they would say — Shape or carriage. It is my intention, in giving a 

 description of the five properties, to take feather first ; not that I consider feather the 

 grandest property of the five, but from the bird deriving its name from the feather, and 

 from the rich and variegated colours striking the eye of the general observer. 



414. It is the decided opinion of all Fanciers the ground or foundation of the fea- 

 ther should be, strictly speaking, a rich bright yellow ; tlhe difficulty, to obtain it. In- 

 termix, split or break the yellow feather with a decided black, I think is scarcely attain- 

 able ; a fact that has been established by many careful and oft-repeated experiments 

 by the most able Fanciers that ever lived ; we must therefore be content with having 

 the ground of the bird a rich, bright almond colour ; the inside of the shell of the al- 

 mond nut is the best. The oldest Fanciers are unanimous in opinion this beautiful and 

 very valuable species derived its name — "■ Almond" — because the ground of the bird 

 is, or should be, a rich bright almond colour. 



415. The Standard authorised or laid down by the Columbarium Society, as regards 

 the feather, is as follows, — Three colours, namely black, white, and yellow, in the nine 

 first feathers of each wing, counting from their extremities, and twelve in the tail. The 

 aforesaid three colours, well developed, would constitute a Standard. The back, breast, 

 and rump, should be likewise variegated to be complete in feather ; the hackle or neck 

 feathers should be bright, well broken with the same colours, and should resemble the 

 delicate touches of the pencil of a fine artist. The late celebrated Columbarian Society 

 judiciously raised the Standard to nine feathers in the wing, counting from the outer 

 feather, simply because many birds have only nine feathers to the turn of the flight, 

 while others ten. Would it be right for one Fancier to have to show ten standard 

 feathers in the wing against another Fancier's bird having only nine feathers to turn 

 of flight ? The tenth feather might not be a standard feather, which would prove fatal 

 to the bird, if shown to the turn of the flight, against a bird having only nine feathers 

 at turn of flight, whereas the bird with ten feathers had beat the other with better fea- 

 ther up to the ninth feather, but would most assuredly lose if taken to turn of flight, 

 tenth feather. 



416. There are gentlemen in the Fancy who have asserted they have had some so 

 truly beautiful and spangled, that have few feathers in them but what have contained 



