70 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— October 28, 1856. 
“ By this management persons would be encouraged not 
only to keep the different breeds of Ducks and Geese pure, 
but also to endeavour, by crossing the pure breeds, to obtain 
the best for food, which, of course, is the great object. 
“ Having kept Geese for some time, permit me to remark, 
that I have found the Toulouse breed a very valuable one ; 
last year my poultry-man raised fifty-seven young from two 
old Geese.—W. M.” 
WARTED PIGEONS. 
(Continued from page 51.) 
Class 1, Variety 8 . —THE BARB, OR BARBARY 
PIGEON ( Colombo, vulgo Indica dicta.) 
French. German. 
Pigeon Polonais. Indianische Taube. 
The Barb, according to Mr, John Moore (1735), derives 
its name from being originally brought from Barbary, and I 
have read that they are to be found wild in that country, 
but for the truth of which assertion I cannot vouch. W. 
A. Osbaldiston, Esq. (1792), calls it also the Polish Pigeon, 
which is its French title; while the Germans call it the 
Indian Pigeon, like Aldrovandus (1600), who styles it 
Columba vnlgo Indica dicta , though Mr. Moore gives the 
Latin name as Columba Numidica. These Pigeons, I have 
been informed, are much prized in India; and I have seen 
an excellent specimen, twenty-two years old, that was 
brought by a French gentleman from the West Indies. 
The Barb much resembles the other War ted or Wattled 
Pigeons, but is more compact, and has the shortest beak 
of any of them; like them, too, its purest colour is black. 
The head should be thick and broad, the broader the better; 
the beak, also, thick and very short, bearing a small wattle 
on it. Aldrovandus says the eyes are Crocus-coloured, but 
English fanciers prefer them pearl, and they are surrounded 
by a broad cere of naked, red skin—the broader, evener, and 
redder it is, the more are the birds esteemed; the neck 
long and thin; the chest full; the body long; the feet 
rather stout, and the pinion feathers very long. They 
are of medium size, though the English fanciers have 
rather dwarfed them; and, much as I admire the short, 
compact form of an Almond Tumbler in that bird, yet, in 
this breed, I consider it as a departure from the true 
type. Tastes may differ, but, nevertheless, I consider it 
most correct to maintain the original form. The genuine 
plumage is coal black, though many other colours are 
obtainable, as dun, white, red, yellow, blue, and pied. 
Some, too, have turned crowns; but this is evidently 
derived from a cross, perhaps very remote, while others 
have a frill on the chest, which undoubtedly arises from 
a cross with the Owl or Turbit, a very common practice 
in Germany. White Barbs, like other White-wattled 
Pigeons, are generally hull-eyed, a defect that detracts 
greatly from their value. The fancy points of the breed to 
which the most importance is attached consist in, first, 
the breadth, evenness, and bright red colour of the cere 
round the eyes. This is narrower in young birds, and 
does not attain its full size till the bird is four years of 
age ; the cere, too, often loses its redness during sickness 
or from age. The second point I regard is the shortness 
and thickness of the beak; the third, the width and 
form of the head. Then there are other characteristics 
in the form of the body or general shape of the bird not 
noticed by many fanciers, and which are much more 
observable in many of the continental birds than in our 
own. In them the neck is rather long, thin near the head, 
and stout where it joins the body, being slightly curved 
forwards in front; the shoulders are wide, and the tail and 
pinion feathers long. These last peculiarities of the breed 
have been lost sight of by English fanciers, owing to the 
greater attention paid to the eye and head. They are a 
very pure race, and stand high in the estimation of 
amateurs as Fancy Pigeons.—B. P. Brent. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
The Prizes at Anerley Poultry Show. —“Can you give me any 
information as to when we are likely to receive the prizes of the late 
Anerley Show, or even if ever ?—G. R.” 
[The above is only one of the many notes which we continue to 
receive on this subject. We communicated with the Secretary of the 
Anerley Show, and received assurances that all the prizes but one had 
been paid. In this he appears to have been mistaken; and as the 
members of the Committee seem to wish to shuffle out of the loss they 
incurred, we can only advise every prize-winner, without any exception, 
to proceed in the County Court against some member of the Committee. 
We are told that the Committee will lose heavily by the Show, and we 
regret that such is the case; but that no more justifies them in 
“repudiating” their debts than the inconvenience of paying justified 
the American States in repudiating theirs.] 
Soaping Pigeons’ Wings. —I would beg to endorse Mr. Tegetmeier’s 
remarks as to soaping the wings of Pigeons to prevent their flying for a 
short time. 1 have very successfully done so since seeing the advice, 
and can safely say that I believe there is no better plan for attaining 
the like object.—13., Kenilworth. 
Swellings near the Eyes op Spanish Chickens.—" My Spanish 
chickens have many of them a swelling, some on one side, some on 
both, before the eye, between the eye and the beak. In some of them it 
seems to have been overcome in the course of nature; others are still 
disfigured by it. Itisnota puffy swelling of the eye-lids, as in roupy 
fowls, but a tumour, like a Pea, under the skin. The eyes are rather 
affected, and there is a little snuffling in the nose. The birds run about 
the fields, and pick out the very insides of my growing Mangold Wurtzel, 
and live upon corn, bran, and pollard. They sit rather too close on the 
roost in a good barn ; but that is their own choice, and is the only thing 
which seems to me unhealthy in any of their antecedents.— Rustic us A. B. 
[I believe the swelling here described, which I have often seen (in fact, 
a Dorking hen was forwarded to me to-day in which it existed), to be an 
affection of the lachrymal duct, or tear passage, leading from the angle 
of the eye into the nasal cavity. In a very severe case, where the swelling 
was very large, I have opened it and removed the tumour. When the 
swelling has not increased I have never seen any evil arising from its 
presence beyond the disfigurement it occasions. The peculiarity in this 
instance is its existence in several fowls at once, as, when occurring in my 
own birds, the cases have been single. Should any application be 
desired, friction with any ointment containing iodine offers the best 
hope of success.—W. B. T.] 
LONDON MARKETS.— October 27th. 
COVENT GARDEN. 
Our remarks of last week will apply pretty generally this ; but we may 
note an increased dullness in business that is not easily accounted for, 
unless the northern markets are now getting better stocked, as they 
have, up to the present time, been very extensive customers, thanks to 
the railways, which can dispatch our most perishable articles to almost 
any part of the kingdom, 
POULTRY. 
The market remains in the same state, with a good supply and bad 
trade. There will not be much alteration till the middle of next month. 
The supply of Pheasants is greater than it was. 
LargeFowls 4s. fid. to 5s. Od. each. 1 Hares 
Smaller do 3s. Od. to 3s. 6d. 
Chickens .. Is. gd. to 2s. 6d. 
Grouse .... 2s. Od. to 2s. 3d. 
Partridges.. Is. 6d. to Is. gd. 
Pheasants .. 3s. 3d. to 3s. fid 
. 3s. Od. to 3s. 3d. each. 
Ducks .... 3s. Od. to 3s. 3d. ,, 
Geese.(is. Od. to 7». Od. ,, 
Rabbits.... Is. 5d. to Is. 6d. ,, 
Wild ditto. lOd. to Is, ,, 
Larks.lOd. perdox. 
London : Printed by Hugh Barclay, Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar ; and Published for the Proprietors 
at The Cottage Gardener Office, No. 20, Paternoster Row, in 
the l’arsh of Christ Church, City of London.—October 23, 1356.' 
