FANCIERS’ JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 

ways inferior to what they call the English. Others have 
remarked that they are apt to tumble too much, and to lose 
ground, that is, sink beneath the rest of the flight, which is 
a very great fault; but I have observed the.same by the 
English, and am apt to believe that most of the extraordinary 
feathers have been produced by mixing with the Dutch 
breed, for it is generally observed that the English Tumblers 
are’ chiefly black, blue, or white. 
This pigeon affords a very great variety of colors in its 
plumage, as blacks, blues, whites, reds, yellows, duns, silvers, 
and, in short, a pleasant mixture of all these colors with the 
white. But amongst all, there is a mixture of three colors, 
vulgarly called an almond, perhaps from the quantity of 
almond-colored feathers that are found in the hackle; others 
call it an ermine, I suppose from the black spots that are 
generally in it; however, I am sensible the name is not 
compatible to the term so called in heraldry, which is only 
white spotted with black; yet, as the gentlemen of the Fancy 
have assigned this name to this motley color, I shall not 
quarrel with them about a term. If the three colors run 
through the feathers of the flight and tail, it is reckoned a 
very good almond, or ermine, and is much valued. 
N.B.—Anermine Tumbler never comes to the full beauty 
of its feather till it has twice moulted off, and when it grows 
very old will decline, till it runs away to a downright mot- 
tle or other color. 
These pigeons, by their flight, afford an admirable satis- 
faction to those gentlemen of the Fancy that have time to 
attend them and make their observations; for, besides the 
pleasure they afford by their tumbling, which is very con- 
siderable, they will rise to an immense height in the air, so 
that sometimes the eye can scarcely follow them. I have 
frequently lost sight of them, though they have been almost 
perpendicular over my head, and the day has been very 
clear and serene; yet, by a fixed regard of the place where 
I lost them (for they never ramble far like the Horseman, 
and, if good when they are used to each other, a flight of a 
dozen will keep so close together that you may cover them 
all with a large handkerchief), I have at length perceived 
them, but so small that they appeared no bigger than a 
sparrow. 
(To be continued.) 
ITEMS. 
In order to make our “Item” column as interesting as possible, we 
would be obliged to our readers for contributions of original matter, how- 
ever short—yes, let it be condensed and to the point, in a variety of 
style—facts and fancies interesting to fanciers. ‘ 



pes Cincinnati is to have a zoological garden, for which 
purpose a tract of land, containing over sixty-six acres, has 
been purchased, a short distance outside of the city. 
pas Doinag Weti.—Mr. C. N. Brown, of Unadilla 
Forks, New York, informs us that he took thirteen pre- 
miums on fifteen entries at the New York State Fair, just 
closed, at Rochester, N. Y. 
pa@s~ The elephant Romeo is eulogized by an exchange 
as a ‘self made elephant.’? He came to this country with- 
out a dollar in his trunk, took Greeley’s advice, went west, 
and died, recently, worth $40.000. 
pas~ New York and Chicago have parks of a thousand 
acres in extent. Philadelphia has one of three thousand 
acres, with a river running through it and pleasant drive- 
ways for miles along the banks.—Boston Transcript. 

699 

ges A sure cure for a sitting hen—put her on live clams 
instead of eggs. As the clams begin to get warm they open 
their shells, and the hen don’t go on that nest the second 
time. 
gegs- The following is the latest epitaph : 
Here lies interred Priscilla Bird, 
Who sang on earth till sixty-two ; 
Now, up on high, above the sky, 
No doubt she sings like sixty, too. 
PECULIAR ATTACHMENT. 
pes~ I have a Hong Kong gander that was raised about 
the yard, and this spring, when the goose was sitting, he 
mated with my little boy, four years old, and would follow 
him all about, and call for him if he got out of sight. He 
would show fight to every one else, but allowed the boy to 
catch him and play with him at any time. 
S. G. Woop. 
ge@S> Ferrets.—E. P., page 40, Country Gentleman, asks in 
regard to ferrets hunting rats. I answer that they are hunted 
in various ways. The old English way is to have some dogs 
trained with the ferrets, so that the dogs will not kill them. 
The ferrets are let loose where the rats are. They soon drive 
out the rats, and the dogs killthem. Ferrets are not a spry 
animal, but they are all hunt. Ihave kept ferrets for a num- 
ber of years. I first got them for sporting to hunt gray 
rabbits. We use dogs to run the rabbits into their holes, 
and ferrets to drive them out. I have let one of my ferrets 
out in my out-buildings, and let him hunt a day or two, 
and then catch and put him in his pen. The rats he does 
not kill will take leg-bail. One of my ferrets got out of his 
place last fall; was gone two weeks, and came back all 
right, and was trying to get back in his house. Ferrets are 
easily tamed so that as you can handle them as well as a cat. 
I have one that will follow me about just as a cat would. 
I can put him in a barn and let him hunt awhile, and then 
call him out to me. The male ferret is the best to hunt, as 
he will endure three times as much as the female.— Country 
Gentleman. 
ga@s The Maine Farmer, in referring to instinct in ani- 
mals, mentions the crowding of sheep together for defence, 
and fish swimming about in schools, and then stops. Now, 
few people, or almost nobody, doubts the instinct—reason, 
we call it—of animals and even insects; bnt crowding to- 
gether of animals, fish and birds, is not an evidence of fear 
or for self-defence. It is not so with flocks of birds, geese, 
for instance, or of any bird; it is their nature to do so, and 
may be regarded as a family attribute. Look at the herds 
of countless buffaloes, and many other wild animals; and 
ants working in nests; then look at the solitary king yellow- 
jacket, (we do not know the entomological name of it), bor- 
ing into the earth a round hole nearly an inch in diameter, 
below the reach of frost, with no defence but its sting, which 
is long and death to any other insect it strikes with it. It 
is a swift flyer, and its prey is generally the locust, which it 
gathers in large numbers, carries it into its hole, sometimes 
at a considerable distance, on its sting, sucks or stores up its 
substance, then expels it from its hole with its hind legs. 
The locust is aware of its enemy’s power, and sometimes at- 
tempts to get away, but a single thrust with its long weapon, 
causes the locust to utter a peculiar cry of pain and then 
succumbs without a struggle. It is true this insect hasa 
powerful defence in its sting, but the house-fly and numer- 
ous other flies have none.—Ezchange. 
