199 



childish affair, and produces ill-will ; whereas, with a Standard the properties can 

 be pointed out, on which the competing birds ' Win or Lose, ' which must give 

 general satisfaction," 



After gi\dng full directions on the building of Lofts, Matching, to distinguish 

 the Sexes, Generation, Diet, and Diseases, commenting on the usefulness of 

 Pigeons, concludes with a full description of the numerous Varieties ; also giving 

 the Standard Points, giving full directions as to Breeding, including the Hatching 

 a.nd Shifting the Young, and the rule whereby to ascertain the future Color of the 

 Young long before any signs of Feathers are visible, flying the Birds, &c. &c. 

 concludes by some most valuable general observations. 



It is almost impossible to make selections where all is alike valuable. In 

 conclusion, we must not omit to draw attention to the Frontispiece, which is a 

 Colored Portrait of an Almond Tumbler, and to the six other Colored Portraits, 

 (Large as Life) which accompany the Work, illustrative of the Pouter, Carrier, 

 Beard, Bald-head, Black Mottle, and the Almond, which are truly Works of Art, 

 and well worthy of being Framed and Glazed, to ornament the drawing or other 

 rooms of the Pigeon Fancier. The Portraits alone are worth more than twice 

 the price of the Work. 



THE LINCOLNSHIRE CHRONICLE, AND NORTHAMPTON, RUTLAND 

 AND NOTTINGHAM ADVERTISER, October 13th, 1854. 



A Treatise on the Art of Breeding and Managing Tame, Domesticated and 

 Fancy Pigeons, by John Matthews Eaton. Published for, and to be obtained of, 

 the Author, 7, Islington Green, London. Price 10s. 



The Work before us is in two parts, the first being a re-print of a Work published 

 in 1735, by John Moore, intituled "Columbarium, or the Pigeon-House; being 

 an introduction to a Natural History of Tame Pigeons, gi^^ng an account of the 

 several species known in England, with the method of breeding them, their dis- 

 tempers, and cures ;" being the first Work ever published on Pigeons, with many 

 valuable Notes appended by Mr. Eaton, together with a " Catena Aurea," of 

 somewhat more recent writers in the same track, including Mayor and GirtiM. 

 The second part consists of "A Treatise on the Art of Breeding and Managing 

 the Almond Tumbler, by John Matthews Eaton :" published in 1851, but now 

 incorporated with Mr. Moore's Work. Mr. Eaton is evidently an enthusiastic 

 fancier, and though unused to authorship, has braved the censure of his brother 

 fanciers to aid the young and inexperienced in the Fancy, as appears from the 

 Preface, wherein he assures the reader it was "no joke to bring out a work on 

 the subject," for it made enemies of a few waspish, crabby old fanciers, who do 

 not wish the young Fancier to know more than answers their purpose ; and who 

 "did not believe that Mr. Eaton had the ability to produce such a work." Such 

 praise from the Author's enemies must have been very gratifying to him, and we 

 can assure our readers the Work ought to be in the hands of all Pigeon Fanciers 

 and Students in Natural History. The Work is illustrated with a Colored 

 Portrait, from life, of an Almond Tumbler, in the possession of the Author, and 

 •accompanied by a portfolio of exquisite engravings of different varieties of Pigeons. 

 These last are portraits from life, and worth very considerably more than the 

 price of the volume, and as we survey them, we know not which to admire the 

 most — the Pouter, Carrier, Beard, Bald-head, Black-mottle, or Almond Tumbler — 

 all are alike beautiful in form and colour, and high standards for the Fancier to 

 breed up to. We do not know of anything so appropriate to the Smoke-room of 

 the Gentleman Fancier as these beautiful Portraits, framed and glazed, which 

 would supply him with materials for mental study, whilst he puffed away at the 

 aromatic weed ; and they are also worthy a place in the Portfolio or Gallery of 

 the Connoisseur of Engravings. At page 18, there is a laughable anecdote of the 

 Author, when a school-boy, leaving home to angle without bait and knocking ddwn a 

 wasp for that purpose, whereby he caught a tartar, as he got severely stung by it, 

 but for which we have not room, and conclude this notice by the following passage 

 from the Almond Tumbler, which will also, in some degree, apply to the Poultry 

 Fancier :--"I shall here endeavour to rivet, as it were, on the minds of those who 

 will engage in this delightful study, some great facts ; the first thing especially to 

 be attended to is the selection of really good birds : they should be young, healthy, 



