October 20. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENEli. 
cannot fail, if properly employed, of answering the ex¬ 
pectations of those who may purchase it, either with a 
view to mere rudimentary knowledge, or the acquisition 
of some of those dearly-cherished and scrupulously- 
guarded secrets of the “ fancy” that are here boldly 
revealed for public information. 
Enough has been said to shew our estimate of the 
value of Mr. Eaton’s production, so let us now pass a 
step onwards, and regard the pigeon-fancier generally, 
with respect to the present system of exhibiting their 
birds at our Poultry Shows. 
Horror and dismay, we imagine, would be manifestly 
pourtrayed on the countenances of many a member of 
the Columbarian, or similar Societies, were it proposed 
to place their cherished Carriers, Pouters, or Tumblers, 
under the same rules and principles of competition as 
tho Birmingham, Metropolitan, and other leading 
Associations of the same description would require. 
Our remarks, hitherto tolerated, may here, perchance, be 
so utterly repugnant to long-cherished opinions that 
brook no contradiction, that the columns of our brother 
contributors may share the flames to which our own 
rashness may have exposed this present production. 
But we have a firm conviction that much was erroneous 
in the arbitrary standard of the pigeon-fancier of the 
present and former days, that may be rectified by the 
better principle of recent arrangements. 
Let us take the case of the Carrier, for instance; in 
this, as in every other bird, or quadruped, of which we 
propose to ourselves the production in the most perfect 
form, we consider how far figure, and the other con¬ 
ditions of its existence, may be best adapted to the 
special object that wo have in view. With the Carrier, 
the power of traversing great distances in tho shortest 
space of time would, unquestionably, be the point we 
should all aim at; and the person, therefore, who is 
selected to arbitrate on the merits of competing birds, 
should scan their capabilities with particular reference 
to this one point; “feather" might turn the scale, if 
equality existed in the more material features. Now let 
us turn to Mr. Eaton as a faithful exponent of the 
standard, according to which judgment would now be 
pronounced by a member of a Society specially con¬ 
stituted for the Pigeon fancy. At page 40, we find, that 
according to Mr. Moore, “ a Carrier is generally reckoned 
to have twelve properties, namely:—Three in the beak ; 
three in the wattle; three in the head ; three in the eye. 
Here it is evident that the points of merit are wholly 
limited to a very small portion only of the bird, the 
head; and we are, consequently, prepared to learn that 
more rocent authorities have extended the area over 
which judgment should bo given, while they limit the 
points, or properties, to five, namely, the beak, the wattle, 
the head, the eye, and lastly, the length and thinness of 
neck, and the length of body. But even here “ feather” 
is excluded from tho formal enumeration of what will 
be considered as points of merit, contrary, as we think, 
to the principle on which a bird of any kind, designed 
for other purposes than those of the table, should bo 
judged. If it be said that this matters not with the 
37 
Carrier, because its capabilities of accomplishing ex¬ 
tended flight are the main object we have in view, and, 
therefore, that, like a good horse, a good Carrier Pigeon 
cannot be of a bad colour, we are perfectly ready to 
assent to the assertion. But other features, be it re¬ 
membered, beyond those that would conduce to great 
powers of flight, are arbitrarily brought into the calcu¬ 
lation, some, indeed, that might well be thought likely 
to defeat that very object; why, therefore, should we 
not gratify our eyo by having a bird of handsome 
plumage, as well as one with the wattle, or the orbit, of 
unnatural size. With respect to tho wattlo, indeed, we 
might say, so far as it is truly a characteristic of the 
Carrier, let us see to its due preservation ; but why 
breed for such a bloated amplification of this feature, as 
must tend to obstruct the very object for which the bird 
itself is valued. We might just as well dosign the lines 
for a vessel with a view to extreme speed, and then 
suspend over her finely-drawn bows a couple of hogs¬ 
heads to deaden her way through the water. The 
extended beak, the long, narrow, and flat head, the thin 
neck, the muscular formation of the chest, and the well- 
developed wing, are all in character; but all, at the 
same timo, directly append to the disproportionate size 
of the bloated excrescense of the wattle, now so greatly 
coveted. 
With the “ Tumbler,” again, extraordinary agility in 
the air, the facility with which what in the circus is 
termed tho “ back spring,” is performed by them, is the 
property that would have first brought the birds possess¬ 
ing it into favour, and which should ever since have 
been borne in view by their subsequent admirers. But 
we learn from Mr. Eaton (pago 22, Almond Tumbler), 
it is not desirable to allow them their liberty, “since 
they are extremely weak and timid, and the least blast 
of wind would blow them down the chimneys, or one 
bird playing against another would have the same 
effect.” Nor are we more likely to cultivate the variety 
from being told that the property of “shortness of face" 
including the most diminutive form to which the bill 
can possibly be reduced, is carried to that extent that 
the young bird frequently dies in the shell from the 
stunted proportions of this member being unable to 
chip through its case; and, even supposing it succeeds 
in this, that the same unnatural reduction of the 
parent’s will prevents their feeding their young, who 
must, therefore, be either transferred to other Pigeons 
who have not thus suffered from the freaks of fancy, or 
else starve. 
One more instance, and we have done. The epitome 
of excellence in a “ Pouter ” is made to consist of a 
huge globular swelling of the throat, slenderness of girt, 
and length of legs. We are certainly at a loss to con¬ 
ceive how any combination of those “ properties ” can 
be made subservient to the graceful appearance of any 
variety of birds that, like the Pigeon, possesses such 
natural elegance of form, and is, in every respect, so 
calculated for its habits of existence. 
If wo are here met with a declaration that the 
“gentlemen of the Fancy" have a right to select such 
