346 
The Pigeon—Kobert Bakewell, Esq. 
juice, till cured. Tobacco smoke will be found useful 
to clear the loft from vermin. 
“ The Pouter is a_very common but most interesting 
bird.. It is remarkable for its local attachment, and 
although not a good breeder, and exceedingly apt to 
degenerate, it is very useful about the pigeon-house, 
by leading the other birds to form a stronger-house and 
home. Some of them can distend their crops to a very 
great size, so much so as frequently to overbalance 
themselves. By judicious crossing and patient perse¬ 
verance, some fanciers have brought these birds to so 
high a point of perfection as to sell them for twenty 
guineas a pair. They are very bad nurses, and it is 
difficult to rear their young without the aid of the Dra¬ 
goon. When a Pouter has laid an egg at the same 
time with a Dragoon, they should be carefully trans¬ 
ferred from the one to the other, it being necessary to 
allow the Pouter to sit, otherwise she would continue 
to lay, which in a short time would cause her emacia¬ 
tion and death. If bred in and in, they quickly dege¬ 
nerate and become worthless, new kinds must there¬ 
fore be got by purchase or exchange, to prevent the 
deteriorating effects of too close a consanguineous con¬ 
nection. The contrary is the case with the Almond 
Tumbler, which, the more it is bred in and in, only di¬ 
minishes in size, and is accordingly enhanced in beau¬ 
ty and value. 
The Fan-tail is a very beautiful bird, sometimes, on 
account of its frequent tremulous movement of the 
neck, called the Broadtailed Shaker. When perfect, 
its tail consists of not less than twenty-four or more 
than thirty-six feathers, which it keeps spread and al¬ 
ways erect, for if they are but for once allowed to 
drop, it is a fault never overlooked and never forgiven. 
A very slender-necked, full-breasted, and large-tailed 
bird, carrying the latter gracefully, is of very great va¬ 
lue. The plumage is agreeably white, but there is 
also a great variety of colors. 
The Jacobine is a bird very scarce, and difficult to 
be found of a good sort. It is sometimes called Jack, 
and is a very small bird. It has a range of inverted 
feathers on the back of the head, somewhat resembling 
in form the cowl of a monk, or the ruff of a cavalier, 
and hence its name. This range of feathers is called 
the hood—and the closer and more compact it grows 
to the head the greater is the value of the bird. The 
lower part of what is called the chain and the feathers 
that compass it, should be short and thick. There is 
a great variety of color among them, but the yellows 
always obtain precedence. 
Besides these we have enumerated, an almost end¬ 
less variety of names has been given to some where 
the shades of difference are very slight. With these 
the young pigeon-keeper should have as little to do as 
possible. Even with the commonest assortment he 
can buy at the market or from a companion, he will 
soon have a sufficient variety, and many to please his 
eye with sufficient beauty; and if it is necessary to as¬ 
sign them names, he can easily baptize them himself 
without consulting the vocabularies of the London fan¬ 
ciers. 
Plucking one of the wings of old strangers to induce 
them to haunt or to prevent them from their vagabond¬ 
izing propensities, sometimes manifested by old in¬ 
mates, is better than cutting, as their power of flight 
comes on gradually as the feathers grow, and they be¬ 
come familiar with and fond of the features of the lo¬ 
cality within a limited range of which they have thus 
been for a time confined. We have almost always 
seen this mode succeed in our own experience, al¬ 
though the reports of others all tend to the superiority 
of endeavoring to haunt young in preference to old 
birds, which is certainly surer and safer, but the other 
may also be tried, as the old ones may begin to breed 
as soon as their wing is grown, which only takes about 
a month, whereas six times that period must be "waited 
for before eggs can be expected from the young ones. 
If a hen happens to be lost, it is seldom that the cock 
remains long behind,—but the very contrary happens 
with the loss of the cock. The hen sets out in search 
of a mate, and she will soon be seen wiling a male 
companion—widowed in all probability in some other 
dovecote—homeward to her own residence, where they 
speedily pair. 
SELECTIONS. 
A Brief Sketch of Robert Bakewell, Esq. 
Memoirs of utilitarians are very seldom written. 
The quiet tenor of their lives, unlike the glare of that 
which sheds a halo around the heads of the warrior 
and the statesman, affords but little field for the dis¬ 
play of the talent of the biographer : hence it is that 
the real benefactors of mankind are but too frequently 
passed over in silence, and we walk over the green 
sward that flourishes where the remains of those whose 
energies were devoted to the improvement of the race 
of animals, that contribute largely to add to the crea¬ 
ture comforts of man, moulder into primitive dust, with¬ 
out even thinking that we tread on hallowed soil; for 
the earth beneath which a good man rests, is hallowed 
by the remembrance of his virtues and his usefulness. 
Mr. Bakewell, who was the pride of the agricultu¬ 
rists of the last century, and justly celebrated for his 
improvements in the breeding of long-horned cattle 
and sheep, has been strangely neglected by those who 
ought to have been his warmest and most grateful ad¬ 
vocates. But such is the way of the world : neglect, 
almost universally, is the reward of merit; and it is 
but too frequently the case that an usurper gains the 
prize, while the real utilitarian is thrown into the back¬ 
ground of the picture. It is our wish to pay due 
honor to the memory of Mr. Bakewell, and, scanty as 
our materials are, we will endeavor to add one more 
laurel to the wreath which so justly encircled his 
brows ; for 
“ He lived and died beloved, and deeply mourned” by 
a circle of friends who now, like him, are P food for 
worms.” 
The man who is the benefactor of the human race 
has a right to expect to live in the memories of poster¬ 
ity. Mr. Bakewell will do so, and although this tri¬ 
bute to his memory comes somewhat late, it will, at 
least, be appreciated as an offering at the shrine of 
honest merit. 
Robert Bakewell was born at Dishley Grange, in 
Leicestershire, in 1726. The farm of Dishley Grange 
had long been in the possession of his ancestors, and 
those from whom he more immediately descended held 
the property on a lease of ninety-nine years from the 
family of Phillipps, of Garrendon ; it having been pur¬ 
chased in 1693 by a Sir Ambrose Phillipps, by whom 
it was leased to the forefathers of Mr. Bakewell. The 
term of the lease expired very shortly before Mr. Bake- 
well’s decease; and the farm, which consists of about 
457 acres, then came into the occupation of his ne¬ 
phew, Mr. Honeybourne, who resided upon it until he 
died, which was about twenty years after the demise 
of his uncle. But with Mr. Bakewell, Dishley lost all 
its importance, and his successor failed in becoming 
even a shadow of the great practical man who had 
been its previous proprietor. 
The Bakewell family would appear to have been 
