THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Joy SI, I860. 
“XVI.—That on show-day, the third Monday in November, 
the Committee shall go on business at eleven o’clock precisely, 
and no bird or birds shall be by them received after that time. 
They shall be guided in all their decisions by the above standard 
properties, additional beauties, and regulations. 
“ XVII.—Any Member using abusive language to another 
shall be fined not exceeding 5.?. This and all other fines to go to 
the general fund of the Society. 
“XVIII.-—That no Member shall show more than one Jonque 
and one Mealy, which shall be bred by himself only. And if any 
Member shall obtain a prize contrary to this, or any other rule or 
article herein contained, he shall, whenever such imposition is dis¬ 
covered, forfeit all claims on this Society, and be expelled for ever. 
“ XIX.—That the owner of every bird to which a prize is 
adjudged, shall, previous to his receiving the same, deliver to the 
President a written declaration, signed with his name, according 
to the following form :—‘ I do declare the bird or birds shown 
by me this day, were bred by me in partitions subscribed for, and 
from birds duly qualified, and agreeable to the rules and orders 
of this Society, which I am willing to verify on oath, and to 
satisfy the Society in any further explanation they may require.’ 
“XX.—That if any Member shall reflect on, or censure any 
Committee appointed for inspecting birds on show-day, or any 
person or persons composing part thereof, on show-day or any 
other time, they shall be liable to, and pay such fine as a majority 
shall think proper; and no Member is allowed to breed his birds 
more than ten miles from the Society house. 
“XXL—That if any Member wilfully deviate from, or refuse 
to conform to, any of the foregoing rules and orders, although 
no fine or penalty is mentioned herein for such transgression, the 
majority may inflict such fine as they may think proper, and the 
defaulter refusing to pay such a fine not to be permitted to show 
his birds, or to subscribe again to this Society, unless balloted for 
as another Member. 
“ XXII.—That all disputes shall be settled by a majority of 
Members then and there present. 
“D. Horne, President, 
“ 5, Thorney Street, Bloomsbury.” 
Since the establishment of an Annual Exhibition of Canaries 
and British and Foreign Birds at. the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, 
the London fanciers are becoming aware that there are other 
varieties of Canaries worth cultivating, and, consequently, find 
their rules rather arbitrary. Thus, the latter part of Article XL, 
which enacts, “ That the Members of this Society shall not breed 
any Gay Birds, or Mules, unless every partition used for that 
purpose is subscribed for,” is, I believe, generally disregarded, 
and the Society now overlooks Members breeding, or tacitly 
allows them to breed, Mules and other varieties of Canaries with¬ 
out paying the subscription for them as formerly, provided they 
do not use them as feeders or nurses for the London Fancy birds. 
A clause in Article IX. formerly enacted that, “All birds sold 
to dealers that are not subscribers is illegal,” seems to have been 
previously dispensed with ; but I am of opinion that some other 
clauses require ameliorating or making rather more liberal, which, 
no doubt, will be the ease as fanciers from various parts of the 
country meet together to discuss the points of their favourite 
birds. 
The following I extract from a little work entitled “ The Bird- 
keeper’s Guide.” “ All prize birds must have eighteen black 
fiying-feathers in each wing, without a white one. This being 
the number which most birds are supplied with. They must 
also have every feather in their tail black, amounting to twelve. 
“Although these birds when clean moulted off and exhibited 
for prizes appear like a ball of burnished gold, yet, when in their 
first or nestling-feathers they resemble a green bird, except their 
cap and saddle, which are both clean and free from any foul 
feathers. 
“The properties for which the true fanciers breed are as 
follows :— 
“1st. Property , cap for colour and magnitude. — From the 
beak to the back of the neck of a clear orange colour. 
“ 2nd. Spangled lack. —The ground must be of a ricli colour, 
the feathers edged with black. 
“ 3rd. Open saddle. —The feathers on their loins must be free 
from black, the same colour as the cap. 
“4th. Wings and tail for blackness home to the quill. —Every 
feather in wings and tail must be black, without any white ones. 
“ 5tli. Fair breast and regular. —The whole of their breast 
must he free from black feathers, of the same tint as cap and 
saddle. 
“ These are the main points for which they breed ; for although 
some fanciers enumerate several others, they are now considered 
trifling and of secondary consideration. This rich aud regularly- 
contrasted plumage adds much to their beauty as well as profit 
to the breeders.” 
IUd.—“ If you wish very high-coloured birds, breed Jonque 
and Jonque. Each bird should have all the properties specified 
in the before-mentioned articles : but I would recommend a 
Jonque cock matched with a Mealy hen, or you may transverse 
them; one should be what is termed strong, the other fine. Strong 
means those birds with plenty of black ; fine, the reverse. 
“Although the old ones may be of the best, breed, still many 
of their offspring maybe foul. For instance: Either broken- 
capped, or having one or two white feathers in their wings or 
tail, cither of these defects prevents them from being considered 
prize birds. These birds are oftentimes very high coloured, and 
will answer the purpose of those who wish to breed high-coloured 
birds. 
“ They are in general considered by gentlemen who breed prize 
birds as refuse stock, and are in consequence sold oil'at low prices, 
and may be bought, from 10s. to 20.v. each.” 
I may bo thought to have dwelt rather long on the London 
Fancy ; but as it is a bird to which much attention has been paid, 
I thought it best to give my readers the benefit of all the informa¬ 
tion I could gather.— B. P. Brent. 
(To be conlinued.) 
DECOY COMBS-ABSENCE OF DRONES IN 
FIRST SWARMS. 
Tiiose who are acquainted witli the method of keeping bees on 
the depriving-system well know that sometimes the insects do 
not take possession of additional room at the sides .or tops of 
their hives, while they more readily do so below. In this case 
the bees have only to begin, or rather continue, to add more cells 
to the combs; whereas, in the first two cases, they have to pass 
over finished combs, especially at the top, and begin to make fresh 
cells. Pieces of combs are sometimes fixed into the additional 
to decoy the bees into taking possession ; hut this plan, though 
good, sometimes fails even with strong stocks. Lately, however, 
I have tried bits of combs containing brood, on which the bees 
readily clustered to protect them, and soon began to repair the 
damaged cells, and thus commenced comb-building. But though 
I mention this, I am well aware the plan cannot be of npicli 
practical use, owing to the difficulty of getting pieces of brood- 
combs, which can only be had at the risk of some injury to the 
hive from which the larvae are taken. Those, however, who have 
bar-liives can of course do this more easily and with less injury 
than by turning up a common hive, and extracting a bit of comb 
in which there are larvae. The plan, however, is worth trying 
when one is anxious to get a bell-glass of honey at the top of a 
hive into which the bees will not enter. 
While on this subject I may notice that there seems to be some 
doubt respecting there being sometimes no drones in swarms. 
Some years back I mentioned this to Dr. Bevan, who agreed with 
me that first swarms sometimes contained no dones; but after 
ones never left the stocks without them.—J. WlGHTON. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Lice on Chickens {Brahma ).— We do not know what description of 
nests you use, hut we can tell you what they should he. They should be 
on the ground, the bottom should he a sod of grass, and a' little straw put 
on the top of it; a board on each side will serve to keep the eggs in. You 
will never have vermin in this ; hut if you use baskets and hay you will 
inevitably have them. Your chickens died from lice. When one is thus 
infested immediate relief is given if a little oil he put with the finger on the 
poll of the head, and under each wing. A dust bath is the cure, but it 
must he dust—gravel and sand are both too heavy ; and with the dust half 
a pound or a pound of flowers of sulphur should be mixed. The pen will 
be cleansed from vermin, if the walls and corners are thoroughly and care¬ 
fully lime-whited. 
Canaries (L. —I suspect from your description that the bird is a 
hen, nor does there appear to he anything the matter with it at present. 
Your treatment seems good, except that I would advise the discontinuance 
of hemp seed, as well as rape and maw seed, as in the majority of cases 
they will sooner or later affect the bird’s health. Plain diet is best for 
animals in confinement. The bird spreading its wings, and pecking its 
mistress’s fingers, shows that it is not awed by her presence. I do not 
know of a book I could recommend on the Canary, hut trust the present 
series in The Cottage Gardener, when complete, may be found acceptable. 
—B. P. B. 
Aviary. — E. C. would be obliged by a plan for an aviary to communicate 
with a conservatory, to accommodate eight pairs of Canaries. 
