THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, November 25, 1850. 10!) 
respecting the state of his prize birds occurred to me, only 
that I did send mine, and placed but T2 on the pen. ( Vide 
Bath and West of England Show, at Tiverton, Gold- 
spangled Hamburghs.) I knew better all the while. I knew 
they were not to be surpassed, and yet my judgment was 
set aside by a person as good a breeder as any man living 
of Cochins, and a decent judge of poultry generally. His 
huts and i/s did me. I knew better all the while. Men who 
have not made Hamburghs a study know no more about 
their quality than I do about my friend’s Cochins, and when 
he gives an opinion about my pets again, should it be 
adverse to my own notions, I shall knoiv better all the while ! 
And now for Mr. Brent’s excellent paper on Gold-pen¬ 
cilled Hamburgh Cocks. You have, Sir, hit the mark to a 
hair; no description could be truer than yours of the very 
bird that I sought information about; for “ W. H.” and 
“ H. N.” is the same individual. My Cochin friend came 
with his ifs and bats, and was as near as a toucher doing me 
again. I sent some feathers to the office of this periodical, 
viz., hackle, bars, and breast. I suppose they were not 
happily placed. Hence the reply, “ The breast feathers are 
not spangled," as the Letter Box affirms -; they are black at 
the edges (not moons), and when in situ form a variegated 
mass of feathers, evidently in a six-months-old bird, taper¬ 
ing down to strong pencillings or shadings. And I have no 
doubt, by-and-by, to find this kind of breast the one coveted. 
It is quite superb, and very far removed from a spangle. As 
to his tail, it is of a most exquisite colour; the feathers 
mostly are black, with specks of green and purple 
thickly dotted over them, becoming more defined, golden, 
and striated at the edges. The sickle feathers have not 
grown in proportion to the others, the bird being, from the 
first, weakly, so that I can only say they evidence stronger 
markings at the edges than the rest of the tail. He is of 
the most intense colour I ever saw. Some birds arrive at 
perfection much slower than others; indeed, I have gene¬ 
rally seen the most precocious in all breeds ofttimes the 
very worst. My opinion was so divided in regard to the 
very points Mr. Brent has cleared up, that, although knowing 
better all the while , this valuable bird was put up amongst 
the doomed ; and, having to forward a bird to a person in 
Somerset for a match, I inclosed the suspicious one for his 
inspection, by way of making up a basket. The reply I 
received was, “ Why the deuce didn’t you show the bird ? ” 
I shall hope to rest my faith on Mr. Brent’s experience, 
calling the little I possess into requisition; and as I can 
boast of breeding, with painstaking perseverance, all the 
Hamburghs ( Black included), of prize-taking quality, it is 
never too late to take the advice of so good a man as Mr. 
B., and confess for the nonce that I didn't knoiv better." 
I should look to Gloucester in the Spangled class if they 
were not so foolishly placed, viz., Gold and Silver, old and 
young. It is a lottery, and will, of course, deter many 
from showing. 
I see something asked about poison from toads. I saw 
an abraded cuticle last week, which had been passed over 
by a water newt, and it assumed the appearance of the most 
obstinate poisoned wound I ever saw. The exudation from 
a toad may be, under certain circumstances, very like it.— 
W. H., Exeter. 
ANERLEY PRIZES NOT PAID. 
I saw’, with some little surprise, a statement in The 
Cottage Gardener, that all the Anerley prizes had been 
paid with one exception, as I knew that at that time 
several friends who had obtained prizes, together with 
myself, had not. I believe I won five prizes, amounting to 
nine pounds ; not one farthing have I received. A month 
or so back I wrote to the Secretary for the amount of my 
prizes, when, instead of sending me a cheque, he coolly 
asks for a subscription towards defraying the expenses of 
the Show, having previously subscribed. If this is the way 
exhibitors are to be treated, Poultry Shows will soon be 
numbered with the things that have been.— Grenville F. 
Hodson, North Petherton. 
[We have a similar complaint from J. K. Fowler, Esq., 
Prebendal Farm, Aylesbury. Pie has received his Silver 
Cup, but not his money prizes. Also from John R. Rod- 
bard, Esq., Aldwick Court, Langford, near Bristol, he having 
neither received his prizes nor medal. Why do not those 
who have been thus wronged sue some member of the Com¬ 
mittee ?—Ed. C. G.j 
WATTLED PIGEONS. 
( Continued from page 70.) 
Class No. 1, Variety 4.— THE ENGLISH CARRIER 
( Columba tabellaria Britanniarum). 
The English Carrier Pigeon is often designated among 
fanciers “ the King of Pigeons ;’’ and, from its noble bear¬ 
ing, its power of flight, and its sagacity, well deserves the 
title. It is also rather larger than the general run of Pigeons. 
Most writers consider them as descendants from the Persian 
or Turkish variety, and it is most probable that such is 
their origin ; but their form is much altered from those 
birds, and I believe it is owing to an admixture with the 
Egyptian variety, known as Bagdads, Great Scandaroons, or 
Great Horsemen, and from which cross they, in all pro¬ 
bability, obtain the long beak considered so great a point in 
this breed, while the true Turkish or Persian is not re¬ 
markable for the length of this member; that the Tuikish 
and Egyptian varieties have been much confused ; and that 
from their mixture, with careful breeding, this breed has 
been produced, there can, I think, be little doubt. 
The English Carrier, as it now is, is pre-eminently a bird 
of the fancy; and, to produce a good bird, it must answer 
to numerous points and properties demanded by them, 
of which the following are some of the most generally ac- 
kn owl edgedThe beak must be long, straight, and thick. 
If the beak is bent or hooked, or is run out into a thin, 
spindly point of horn, it is reckoned a blemish. “ The 
wattle," says Mr. Moore, “ ought to be broad across the 
beak, short from the head towards the apex or point of 
the bill, and tilting forwards from the head; for otherwise j 
it is said to be peg-wattled, which is much disesteemed. 
The eye. —The irides of the eyes should be of a bright | 
orange-red or fiery-gravel colour; the cere round the eyes 
ought to be broad, round, and of equal width, which is a 
great point, and is termed rose-eyed. If uneven, the eye as j 
if it were not placed in the centre of the cere, it is then j 
called pinch-eyed, and is a great fault. The head must be i 
long, narrow, and flat at the top, having a slight depression j 
