THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Noyimbee 8, 1859. 
plate, value £5 5s., for the best three pens of Carriers, Powters, 
and Almond Tumblers, to be exhibited especially for this prize. 
A handsome silver medal for the best two pens of Dragoons and 
Black Fantails; and Mr. Eaton’s treatise on Pigeons as a first 
prize, and six portraits of Pigeons as a second prize, for the 
exhibitor of the greatest number of varieties. The entrance fee 
in all the Pigeon classes is 3s. per pen; and we hear a professional 
judge from London has been engaged. 
The classes for Canaries are restricted to Scotch and Belgian 
Fancy. For the Scotch Fancy Canaries, there are four prizes 
each of £1 10s.; £1; 10s.; and prize-card for Yellow cock, Buff 
cock. Yellow hen, and Buff hen. Entrance fee Is. Gd. each bird. 
For Piebald Scotch Fancy, three prizes each of 15s., 7s. 6d., and 
prize-card, to Yellow Piebald cock, Buff Piebald cock, Yellow 
hen, and Buff hen. Entrance fee 9 d. each bird. For Belgian 
Canaries, three prizes each, to Yellow cock, Buff cock, Yellow 
hen, Buff hen, of the respective worth of £1, 10s., and a prize- 
card. Entrance fee Is. Gd. each bird. Goldfinch Mules, two 
prizes of 10s. and 5s. each; to Yellow Goldfinch Mule cock and 
Bulf ditto, 10s. and 5s. each. Entrance fee Gd. each bird. There 
is also a class for fowl-feathered birds, either Scotch or Belgian 
Canaries, at an entrance fee of Is. each. But although the Show 
purports to be open to the United Kingdom, there is no variety 
class where English fanciers could show their birds, except 
Belgians. Extra prize for Canaries. A handsome silver-plated 
teapot, value £2 2s., for the best pair of Scotch Fancy Canaries, 
one Yellow, the other Buff. To be exhibited especially for this 
prize. Entrance money 3s. each pair. 
THE INDIAN GAME FOWLS. 
The Indian Game Fowl, though shown at Birmingham, 
Sydenham, and other places last season, taking prizes and com¬ 
mendations, has not, I think, been noticed in your columns. I, 
therefore, now beg to offer a few remarks, which I trust may call 
the attention of both the naturalist and amateur to one of the 
most unique breeds of our domestic poultry. Their peculiarities 
consist in the tail being set on in an horizontal position, in a 
similar manner to that of the Pheasant, so that the saddle hackles 
fall over and mix with it; this fowl being the only one I know 
that is unable to elevate his tail. The feathers on the head have 
all the appearance of being brushed up, so as to meet at the 
crown. The comb is something similar to the pea of the 
Brahmas, but more elevated behind. In colour, the cock is a 
mixture of green, black, and dark red. The hen is rather of a 
browner tint, and both have a strong metallic lustre. Being 
exhibited under “ any other breed,” they, unfortunately, usually 
occupy a pen where their peculiarly brilliant colour is not to be 
seen. But even in such a position, a few minutes will not be 
thrown away in an inspection of this link between our yard 
fowl and the Pheasant, to which bird, I may add, it bears a very 
strong resemblance when at liberty.— J. Lloyd. 
CROSS BETWEEN THE PHEASANT AND 
BANTAM. 
Will a hen Pheasant breed with a Bantam cock ? or a cock 
Pheasant with a Bantam hen? Which is (he better cross? 
What are the characteristics of the chickens, and where may 
they be had, and the probable price ?—G. J. L. 
[The usual cross, and therefore the most successful, is between 
the cock Pheasant and a Bantam hen. To accomplish this the 
Pheasant must be a tame-bred bird ; and to reduce it almost to 
a certainty, a Bantam hen should be allowed to hatch a mixed 
brood of Pheasants and Bantams. The produce is a hybrid. 
They are not uncommon, but they are always bred from large 
fowls. We do not know where any are now to be had. The 
appearance of them is curious ; they always have long tails ; they 
never have combs or gills, nor red faces. There is difference 
enough in size to have sexes attributed to them, but they are 
sterile—-at least, such is our experience. It is, however, said 
the female (!) will breed again if put to a perfect male. We 
believe it has never been done. We have had a dozen of them 
at a time, and those we called males had most earnest longings 
to sit; they would watch the laying hens, and fly on the nest 
the moment the hen had laid. There is in our mind no greater 
proof that no real sex exists, a3 the same desire belongs to 
capons. The Pheasant and Bantam hen should be always kept 
together, and the former should never see a hen of his own breed.] 
89 
PRIZE LIST OF THE WILTSHIRE POULTRY 
SHOW—PLUMAGE OF SPANGLED POLANDS. 
Thanks to “ W. W.” for his lines, and may they meet the 
eyes and touch the feelings of the authorities of the Wilts Agri¬ 
cultural Society, and other Shows. To the Wilts Society I 
wrote last year, as soon as I received the schedule, urging a 
change. The reply was, “ Too late.” I have again written this 
year, but received no reply. 
I gather from “ W, W.’s ” ending remarks, that Hamburghs 
should have four classes. Granted, in large Shows, but you 
cannot expect it in provincial meetings ; and I imagine it is far 
better to have two classes, one for Pencilled, the other for 
Spangled, irrespective of colour, than to pit Pencilled against 
Spangled. 
Does the topknot of Silver Polands become white with age ? 
and under these circumstances are they disqualified from prize- 
taking ? 
Is the cock’s tail ever pure white laced ? or is there greater 
difficulty in attaining the silver tail shown in the Hamburgh ? I 
fancy so.—J. II. 
[The Committees who have to manage Poultry Shows are 
obliged to be guided by past entries. Having two classes, they 
are able to offer two, or sometimes three prizes in each. If they 
had four, they could probably offer but one small prize in each. 
Your suggestion is correct; it is better to put Spangled and 
Pencilled in separate classes. No Judge can decide satisfac¬ 
torily where two breeds are classed together. He cannot even 
please himself. Suppose in a small Show there were four classes, 
with prizes of £2 and £1 each. The prize money would amount 
to £12. The entries probably twenty, at 5.9. per pen. Clear 
loss to the Committee, £7. Exhibitors and Committee should 
pull together; and the former should recollect all the pecuniary 
responsibility rests on the latter. 
The topknots of Golden and Silver Polands become whiter 
with age, but the birds are not disqualified thereby. 
The tail of a Silver Poland cock should not be laced —that 
would be a great fault; it should be tipped. It is more difficult 
to get this in Polands than Hamburghs ; but it is nevertheless 
sometimes attained, and is becoming every day more common.] 
ROOSTING-PLACES—KEEPING THE SEXES 
APART. 
In breeding Dorkings for the table this winter, I propose 
keeping the parent birds in an enclosed yard, away from the rest 
of my fowls, and giving them as a roosting-place an empty room, 
easily accessible by stairs from the yard, where they will be very 
snug. You seem to advocate in your paper a roosting-place open 
to the air on one side. What are the relative advantages of the 
two plans ? and would you advise me rather to build a rough 
shed for them ? I should say that my house is in a remarkably 
cold place, standing high on chalk downs. 
May I also ask for a few remarks on keeping the male and 
female birds separate when not breeding from them, and how far 
you think it worth taking trouble to provide separate runs?—C. E. 
[We have never advocated a room as a ropsting-place. Stone, 
brick, or wooden floors are all bad—nothing can be worse. At 
this season, and during the winter, it is by no means necessary to 
have one side of the house open. It is injurious rather than 
otherwise, especially in a cold place. If you have no roost for 
them, make one in a sheltered corner. It may be made of boards, 
and moveable by two men, on poles, like the old sedan chair, or 
it may be made of rods, with heath, straw, or furze worked in 
between them, so as to exclude all draught. We prefer boarded 
houses, as they are always useful, and they are inexpensive. One 
large enough for eight fowls will cost from 35s. to 45.?. They 
require no bottom, and should be six feet square, with a small 
door in one corner of the front. The perches should be twenty- 
four inches from the ground, and placed away from the door, run¬ 
ning from front to back. The ground should be covered with dust 
four inches deep. The roof should be six feet high in the middle. 
There is little to be gained by keeping birds separate, unless it 
is wished to change the males. It that case the hens should be 
alone for two months before the fresh cock is put with them, if 
it is in the spring; but it matters less at this season of the year, 
as the cocks are not so attentive to the hens in the winter. It is 
bad to have too many cocks with the hens, and, therefore, it is 
well to have a run that can be given up to them.] 
