128 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. t August 5 , isso. 
description there given can hardly be improved upon. “ The 
colouring of these birds is both rich and unique. The head, neck, 
and fore part of the back and body is chestnut or copper colour, 
with changeable hues in different lights. The tail, wiDgs, and 
hinder parts of the body are of a sort of blue-black ; but many of 
the feathers on the back and shoulders are metallic and iridescent, a 
peculiarity not usual in other domestic Pigeons. The chestnut and 
blue-black portions of the bird do not terminate abruptly, but are 
gently shaded into each other. There is a darker bar at the end 
of the tail. The iris is very bright orange red ; the feet clean and 
unfeathered and bright red. Archangel Pigeons have a turn of 
feathers at the back of the head, very similar to that of the 
Trumpeter, or to Aldronandi’s woodcuts of his Columba Cypria. 
It is the colouring rather than the form which so specially dis¬ 
tinguishes them. Their size is very much that of the Rock Dove.” 
The author states that the variety was, when he wrote, rare, and 
that it existed in the then famous Knowsley aviaries, from which he 
had a pair ; we, too, in childhood had a pair descended from the 
same stock. It is true that “ distance lends enchantment to the 
view,” and that youth clothes all that pleases it in the most glow¬ 
ing colours ; still, making allowances for this exaggeration, we feel 
sure that these birds were of surpassing brilliance, and such as 
are seldom, if ever, now seen. The coloured part of their plumage 
was the most brilliant copper colour, not purple nor sandy, and 
the black was really and intensely black. They were plain¬ 
headed— i.e., without peaks, and we well remember being shown 
by the donor of them a point-headed bird as something abnormal. 
Our pair turned out two cocks, and the strain came to an end. 
Their beauty, however, lingered in our recollection, and years after¬ 
wards we saw a pair advertised by a then successful exhibitor; 
we bought them, but great was our disappointment at the arrival 
of a pair of comparatively speaking dingy creatures. They, too, 
turned out cocks, and it seems a peculiarity of the breed that two 
cocks are very frequently reared from one nest, and that it is 
extremely difficult ever to obtain a really good hen. 
Archangels are hardy and prolific. One of their great charms 
is their elegance and activity on the wing. Since these former 
failures we have procured and bred many of various types and 
excellence, and have found them invariably good breeders and 
parents. We delight in watching them ever flitting from gable to 
gable, bowing and playing in the sun, and then swooping down to 
their house again. Archangels are no longer a rare variety, birt 
the many are mediocre and very few good. The difficulty of 
procuring and breeding them good seems to be caused by this :— 
There are several sub-varieties varying in colour ; these have been 
much crossed, hence we never know the exact resuit which a 
union will produce. The chief points of excellence are that the 
copper colour should be as bright as possible, and the black really 
black ; this latter is very difficult to attain, we might almost say 
impossible. Poor birds are a dingy blue, or blue and copper, 
when they should be nearly black ; such birds should be killed, 
but not hastily, for all Archangels are very dingy during their 
first six months, and cannot be called brilliant till they are fully 
a year old. An experienced eye can, however, soon detect on the 
neck and back signs of brilliance to come. In some strains the 
copper-coloured part is more purple, and in such the back is very 
brilliant like the breast of other Pigeons, but the black portions 
are apt to be dull, and the colour, too, of the heads dull, which is 
a great fault. Others, again, have quite yellow heads and breasts, 
and these if glistening and not sandy are valuable for breeding. 
When mated with a rich purple bird they often produce birds of 
the very brightest sheen and colour. To our taste a copper 
colour inclining to purple is the most perfect type; when this 
extends evenly all over the head and quite down to the thighs, 
and when the black parts of the body are really nearly black, the 
bird is of great value and extreme beauty. A flight of such is 
not to be forgotten. In one point we slightly differ from Mr. 
Dixon, the author of “The Dovecote and Aviary.” He says 
that the black and copper should shade gently into each other. 
In all the best Archangels we have ever seen they have been well 
defined. We have had good Archangels with pearl eyes, but quite 
agree with the above description, that their eyes should be bright 
red, which seems to agree best with their general colouring. 
Their feet are of a brighter red than those of any other Pigeon 
we know. A peak to the head is now almost de rigueur in the 
show pen. Whence the derivation of their strange name ? We 
have been asked this dozens of times. We well remember the 
horror of a visitor once staying with us when a servant quietly 
announced, “ The cat has run off with an Archangel this 
morning ! ” 
We formerly thought that they had probably been first brought 
to these shores by an Archangel merchant or ship. A corre¬ 
spondent ingeniously suggested some time ago that their name 
had perhaps been given to them from the similarity of their 
colour to that of various great Italian pictures of the Archangel 
Michael. There is much plausibility in this suggestion. Breeds 
of similar colouring certainly exist in the aviaries of some of the 
great oriental Pigeon-fancying potentates. When introduced to 
Europe they would very likely have first come to Italy. In Tran¬ 
sylvania and the Tyrol they are still common. 
The nomenclature is, however, only of secondary interest; it 
is undoubtedly a most beautiful breed, and one which we can 
recommend to young fanciers almost more confidently than 
any other. Archangels give no trouble, they invariably make 
good nest-:, and do not leave their eggs to tumble about on the 
boards or on the ground as some Pigeons do ; we have never, 
too, known them to forsake their young ones. We should add 
that self-coloured Archangels, specially blacks, are sometimes 
shown. We have ourselves this year bred a purely yellow bird— 
i.e., yellow all over without a dark feather, from a dark pair 
inbred. We do not, however, admire any of these birds, and 
consider the two rich colours the chief beauty and characteristic 
of the breed.—C. 
VARIETIES. 
The Peach Blow Potato. —The American correspondent of 
the Irish Farmers' Gazette writes as follows :—Our best standard 
Potato at present is the Peach Blow—a fine, large, smooth, sound 
Potato. I have raised them for years. A new variety came to the 
front lately, and were very highly spoken of—the white Peach Blow. 
They were as fine Potatoes as I ever eat—as dry as the original Peach 
Blow, more uniform in size ; but their white smooth skin gave them 
a higher stand in the market, and they were eagerly sought after by 
the shippers. I bought some and determined to try a crop of them. 
I planted an acre of them under very favourable circumstances ; 
alongside were dropped a couple of rows of the red Peach Blow 
When they came up over two-thirds of the seed of the white Peach 
Blow were a failure, whereas every set of the red Peach Blow pro¬ 
duced a vigorous plant. How, it must be borne in mind that the 
flesh of the red Peach Blow is as white and floury as the white; 
indeed, they resemble a good deal the old favourite kind the Apple 
as much as any Potato I can think of. We have a vast variety of 
Potatoes grown here, but the favourites are the Peach Blow, Snow¬ 
flake, Early Vermont, Early Rose, Champions, &c. Each of these 
varieties varies considerably in the localities and different soils in 
which they are planted. I suggest to Irish farmers that they send 
over here and have a few barrels of our Potatoes selected and sent 
over to be tested as to their quality, and if considered favourably any 
amount of seed could be procured from the St. Louis market. The 
price of Potatoes here last fall ranged from 30 to 40 cents per bushel, 
or about 4 d. to Gcf. per stone ; this spring and summer they could have 
been sold from 3d. to 4 d. per stone (market down). A change of 
seed like this I believe would lead to the best results. 
- Aylesbury Ducks. —They are reared annually in enormous 
quantities in and around the town of Aylesbury, and it is not un¬ 
common to see a ton weight of ducklings of six to eight weeks 
old sent in one evening to London by rail from the town and neigh¬ 
bouring villages. The trade for them commences in February and 
lasts till about the end of July, and during all that time it is difficult 
to keep up the supplies to meet the great demand. The birds are 
generally killed when six weeks old, at which time they weigh about 
3 lbs. each, and they realise prices ranging from 9s. to 21s. a 
couple as the season advances. After Ascot summer meeting 
it is always noticed that the prices rapidly fall. The bulk 
of the rearing is done by cottagers, who make a good living by 
the process, and many save considerable sums of money. It will 
surprise many, perhaps, to hear that upwards of £20,000 a year is 
returned to this immediate neighbourhood for Aylesbury Ducks alone. 
It is a curious sight to see the cottages of the “ duckers,” as the 
breeders of them are called, during the spring, when they have the 
youngsters in every room in their house, from the kitchen to the 
bedroom, and their clamour when feeding-time approaches is terrible. 
The birds intended for market are never allowed to go into water, 
and often are not even permitted to go out of the purlieus of the 
dwelling-house till they are killed. Their food is at first eggs, boiled 
hard and chopped fine, mixed well with boiled rice, and this is given 
