FANCIERS’ 

known. I think there are now living, of the original Wistar 
family, three brothers, and each brother keeps the Big-Eyed 
Tumbler to this day, and all birds descended from the old 
Eggleton stock. I think myself that most people would 
from its appearance in the engraving regard it as a cross 
between a Barb and a Tumbler; but as I have said, ‘* Wilt- 
shire Rector ” should see a living specimen before condemn- 
ing it; and I would further say to our ‘‘cousins across the 
Atlantic,” if you want a new and pleasing variety of Toy 
to introduce into your lofts, try the Big-Eyed Tumbler. 
One peculiarity I would like to mention, right here, is that 
the head of the young bird always remains bare of feathers 
until all the body feathers have grown; running about the 
loft they have a singular and forlorn appearance at this 
stage of their existence, but when fully feathered and de- 
veloped they are birds that never fail to attract the fancier’s 
attention. Contrary to the satinet, which is notoriously 
uncertain in breeding to feather, these birds can always be 
relied on; their progeny when from Black parents are 
always Big-Eyed Blacks; when from Reds, Big-Eyed Reds 
and soon. The color most admired is the Black, because 
of the greater contrast between the color of eye and feather, 
and the bird mostly spoken of among fanciers here is the 
Big-Eyed Black. 
I could go on with facts and descriptions, gleaned from a 
friend, an old breeder and admirer, but as I think I have 
produced evidence enough to prove that this bird is not a 
new variety, I must leave these for some future paper. 
Yours truly, BLUE JACOBIN. 

(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
A FANCIER’S PIGEON LOFT. 
Friend WADE: 
Having noticed in your Journal several descriptions of 
breeding lofts for pigeons, and having had many opportu- 
nities of seeing some of the best in this country, I thought 
it might be of interest to your readers to have a short de- 
scription of the best and most extensive one that I have ever 
seen, and I am quite confident it has no equal in this country 
at least. It is owned by Mr. George F. Seavey, of Cam- 
bridgeport, Mass., a gentleman not only interested in pigeons 
alone, but has some very fine stock imported direct by him- 
self, from Messrs. Beldon and Bailey, England, of Golden 
Spangled and Silver Spangled Hamburgs, (the winners of 
a number of premiums) also, Silver and Golden Sebright 
Bantams. 
His pigeon loft is in a brick building that stands alone 
by itself, and the size of the room devoted to the feathered 
tribe, exclusively, is one hundred and fifty feet long, thirty 
eight feet wide, and about ten feet high. 
It is lighted by forty windows, equally distributed around 
the building, giving plenty of light, and, what is far more 
essential, an abundance of pure fresh air. There is a foun- 
tain located near the centre, furnishing fresh water at all 
times, and an excellent chance for them to bathe. In this 
room are several large apartments (as large as many of the 
breeding lofts I have seen) with matched board partitions, 
about three feet high, and wire netting from these partitions 
to the roof of the building. In these different apartments 
are kept odd birds, a room for the males, another for females, 
and others for sick birds. ; 
His breeding boxes are two feet deep, about the same in 
width, and fifteen inches high, giving an abundance of room 
JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 


675 

for two nests in each box, with a deep and high partition 
between them, with the fronts to the nest so constructed as 
to be taken out, so that each apartment can be easily cleaned. 
The front is made of one quarter inch, round, hard wood, 
about two inches from centre to centre, with an aperture 
in the middle, about three inches up from the bottom of the 
box, so the young cannot get out until they are able to take 
care of themselves ; but the old ones come and go at pleas- 
ure. A shelf is constructed before the door, and is hung on 
hinges so that it can be turned up to close the door, mak- 
ing a complete mating cage; the shelf stands out at right 
angles from the box, and so put on that it will never fall 
down, thus giving the birds an excellent chance to light on 
before they enter. The whole front is hung with hinges at 
the top, so that it can never be left open, but is for con- 
venience of cleaning the box. 
Having an abundance of room, the nests are not crowded 
together, and the birds do not trouble each other. He 
intends to keep about one hundred and fifty breeding pairs. 
He has imported some very fine stock direct from England, 
and has been very successful in breeding. He has the fol- 
lowing variety of birds : 
White, Black, Blue, Red, Dun, and Yellow Carriers; 
White, Black, Blue, and Yellow Fantails; White, Black, 
Red, Yellow, Blue, and Dun Jacobins ; White, Red Wing, 
Black Wing, Yellow Wing, Blue Wing, and Silver Wing 
Turbits; Almond, Kite, Agate, and Black Mottled Tumblers; 
some of them the closest inside tumbling birds I have ever 
seen. He now has orders in England for several varieties 
of rare birds, and he spares no pains or expense to get first- 
class stock, and any one interested in pigeons, I think would 
be much pleased with a visit to his lofts. 
W. W. STEVENS. 
PORTLAND, ME. 

> 

DISEASES OF PIGEONS. 
Jos. M. WADE. 
DeEAR Sir: I notice an inquiry in the Poultry Bulletin, 
from a pigeon fancier, who inquires how to prevent disease 
among the pigeons. The editor’s advice is in my opinion 
not good. He says shut off the draft—leaving only one side 
of the loft ventilated. I should say, from my own experi- 
ence, provide for ventilation on all four sides until late in 
the fall, and close the north and west sides during the cold- 
est nights in winter. Clean the loft and furnish a fresh 
supply of gravel once a week while confined in the loft; but 
I should advise giving them a flying exercise in the open air 
almost daily, in which case old birds will keep healthy. I 
have kept and given all sorts of medicine, until within six 
months, which I believe killed them quicker than the dis- 
ease. But, when I gave them plenty of fresh air and exer- 
cise, and a clean loft instead of medicine, I have no trouble, 
for the sick ones generally recover when there are any such. 
Still, for wing disease I occasionally use with success, and 
can recommend, Walton’s Roup Paste. I have lost quite 
a number of young birds this year from roup, diarrhea, 
and cancer, which I think results from the unusually warm 
weather. 
The complaint seems to be general, both in Canada and 
the States; but cooler weather restores health. In summer 
I change the water three timesaday. I love my pets, but 
do not make any money on them. A fancier must be able 
to pay fancy prices in order to make it pay and keep up the 
fancy. Yours truly, A. GOEBEL, 
Canada, 
