THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, March 31, 1857. 
451 
breed from with the brood hens about Christmas. The num¬ 
ber of hens should never exceed six, and in cold weather 
four, or even two (but not less than two ) are quite sufficient; 
in fact, I have found two do the best. It is not at all neces¬ 
sary that they should begin to lay before February, at which 
time you must begin to save their eggs for sitting. Perhaps 
it is better that they should not lay before that time, as the 
first clutch of eggs generally produces the strongest chickens, 
and no one here ever thinks of sitting a Game hen before 
March begins. Number of eggs about eleven, as too many 
will often spoil the whole. It is generally allowed here that 
cocks hatched about the end, or say the last ten days in 
March, are the finest birds in every respect. For “pullets” 
April does well, or even May. Any person not well ac¬ 
quainted with breeding will scarcely conceive the amazing 
difference there is between cock chickens bred in the end of 
March and those bred in the end of June or later, although 
from the same parents. Those bred in March will run high 
on the leg, he light fleshed, and large honed, while those bred in 
the summer will run low on the leg, he heavy hodied, and small 
honed. The March birds will be consequently much finer 
birds (supposing the breed to be the same), though of no 
heavier weight than the late birds. 
In breeding never cross colours, but if you must cross do it 
as near as possible to your own feather, though from a strain 
as far removed as you can. Game hens, if properly fed and 
attended to, generally hatch at the end of the twentieth day. 
The first egg of the clutch laid should be rejected, as it is 
almost invariably smaller than the rest (except, perhaps, 
the last one), as should also those laid after the hen begins 
to cluck. Eggs laid after a day’s interval are generally the 
best for sitting. All should, of course, be carefully marked 
and dated as they are laid. If you wish to have strong 
chickens never breed from stags or pullets, as no> fowls are 
fit to breed from until after their second moulting. If you 
are breeding in and in, put a known, good, well-made old cock 
with your two-year-old hens, or what is, perhaps, better, a good 
two-year-old cock with your old hens which have already 
thrown good chickens. If you are crossing, breed from a 
two-year-old cock with three-year-old hens, as the cock is in 
his prime at two, but the hen at three years old for breeding 
from, and let the hens be sisters, if possible, to prevent con¬ 
fusion about their eggs. 
With regard to what your correspondent, “ W.,” says 
about my remarks upon weight, he seems to forget that 
before a main of cocks used to he fought they underwent some¬ 
what the same training for some weeks as a prize fighter, 
which training often brought them down a pound in weight; 
so that “ W.’s ” weights for the Knareshorough main which 
he alludes to would not be very dissimilar to mine before 
the training, as he 1 could well add a pound to each of his 
weights named if the birds had been on then’ walks instead 
of going to fight: 4 lbs. 8 oz. was the favourite fighting 
weight here, and such birds, when out on their walks, weighed 
from 5 lbs. 3 oz.- to 5 lbs. 9 oz., which is about the best size 
in my opinion, though I have seen several 7 lbs. weight. 
Grey Duckwings are, I fancy, purer bred than Yellow Duck- 
wings. No one but a breeder of Game can judge Game 
fowls properly, and every would-he purchaser should be 
allowed to handle birds at shows with the consent and in the 
presence of the exhibitor or one of the Committee, as I have 
often done myself.— Newmarket. 
PIGEONS. 
#' 
Class 3, Variety 4.—OUR COMMON FLYING 
TUMBLERS. 
Of all the breeds or varieties of domestic Pigeons none 
are, I think, so interesting and amusing as the Flying- 
Tumblers, nor is there any breed or variety that contains so 
numerous an assortment of colours or sub-varieties; and by 
the cultivating of them the fancier may find amusement, 
both as regards their training for high flying and tumbling, 
and for their diversity of colour and accuracy of marking. 
They undoubtedly owe their origin to the old English 
Tumblers last mentioned, crossed with the Dutch or Con¬ 
tinental variety; and according as they are more or less 
highly bred, so do they in form and appearance approach 
the make of the high-bred Short-faced Tumblers, or the 
larger mousey or more jowlter-headed continental breeds. 
It will, therefore, become apparent that much latitude is 
given in this breed or variety to form ; but they will be the 
more valuable as they approach the standard of the Short¬ 
faced birds, always provided that they are sufficiently stout 
and of constitutions sufficiently strong to take long and 
high flights, in which their great attraction consists, and 
which the very high-bred and delicate Short-faced birds are 
too weak to perform. At the same time, it must not be over¬ 
looked that what allowance is made in this respect must be, 
in some measure, made up for by accuracy of marking and 
goodness of colour, as well as by their being bred and breeding 
true to their particular sub-variety. I am not aware of any 
colour common to our domestic Pigeons which may not be 
met with in this variety. Their plumage is as follows:— 
Whole colours, as black, blue, chequered, silver, dun, kite, 
red, yellow, buff, drab, ash-coloured, and mealy. A few are 
quite white; but by far the greater number are of one of 
the before-mentioned colours mixed with white. These 
mixed colours have various names, as follows:—A Mottled 
is an otherwise coloured Pigeon, but having white feathers 
sprinkled over the head, neck, and shoulders ; and accord¬ 
ing to the colour so is it called, a Black Mottled or a Red 
Mottled, as the colour indicates. A Grey Mottle is one that 
reverses this order except in tail and flight, which must be 
dark, the remainder of the plumage white, with a few dark 
feathers interspersed. These, when regularly mottled, are 
very pretty, and are sometimes called Ermine Tumblers, a 
very appropriate name. A Grizzle is one in which each 
and every feather is a mixture of white with some other 
colour, and is termed a Blue Grizzle or Black Grizzle, as 
the colour shows. Red Grizzle and Strawberry are synony¬ 
mous. A Haggle is an intermediate nondescript—neither a 
Mottle nor a Grizzle. A Splashed is something similar—be¬ 
tween a Mottled and a Pied. A Pied is a Pigeon whose 
colour is divided into certain patches or forms, which give 
rise to distinctive names. The first I shall mention is the 
Beard Pied, or, as it is called, the Blue-bearded Tumbler 
or Black-bearded Tumbler, &c., according as the colour 
of the body directs. I consider this marking peculiarly 
a Tumbler’s own, as I have noticed a tendency to it in 
some families of every variety of the breed which has come 
under my notice, and never in any other sort. To be 
accurate in marking, the under mandible should be light, 
with a white patch under the back reaching from the corners 
of the mouth to the eyes, and being nearly a finger’s breadth 
under the bill, and gradually dwindling to a point at the 
eyes, so as to give the appearance of a white beard, from 
which the name is derived. From seven to ten extreme 
pinion or flight feathers must be white on each side, as also 
the whole tail, upper and under tail coverts, and the feathers 
on the rump, vent, and thighs, the rest of the body being 
of one colour; Blues and Silvers, however, having black 
bars on their wings. On the accuracy and evenness of their 
marking does their proportionate value consist. If dark 
feathers occur on the thighs they are termed foul-thighed. 
If too much white down the neck it is said to be slobbered. 
The Piebald or Bald-headed Tumbler, called for short- 
i ness a Baldpate, resembles the preceding except the head, 
which is all white. The line passes a little below the beak 
J and eye, and must be straight and even all round the head, 
i when it is said to be clean cut; if otherwise, slobbered or 
foul-headed, and accordingly depreciated in value. Flight, 
tail, rump, vent, and thighs white, like the Beards. Both 
must have clear pearl eyes. Indeed, this is essential for 
all Tumblers. 
Beards and Baldheads are accounted the best and highest 
fliers. 
The Magpied Tumbler. This sub-variety derives its name 
from the distributions of its colour somewhat resembling 
those of our common Magpie ( Crovus pica). The marking 
is evidently German, in which country the Elster Tummler is 
more cultivated than in England. About twenty years back 
I remember seeing many very good Short-faced Magpie 
Tumblers in London; but these seem now to have degenerated 
into a comparatively worthless toy Magpie; bred so coarsely 
as scarcely to be recognised as a Tumbler, and also, in a great 
measure, to have lost the faculty of tumbling. As to mark- 
! ing, the whole of the wings, the lower part of the breast, 
