feathers; for when young, such a cold bath is apt to numb and injure them.

The diseases to which chickens are liable are the chip, pip, and roup. When suffering from the chip, the little things sit moping and chipping in corners, and seem to be perishing with cold; warmth, and some mustard or pepper put into the water are the best, and in fact the only, remedies. The pip is a white skin growing upon the tip of the tongue; it may be cured by scratching the skin off with the nail, and rubbing the place with salt. The roup is another disorder which requires warmth to counteract its effects; the bird's nostrils should be washed out with warm water, and some pills, composed of butter and chopped rue leaves, administered every day. Full-grown fowls are sometimes attacked by this disease, and it not unfrequently proves fatal.

69

PIGEONS.

WILLIAM BROWN, who wrote those beautiful poems in the time of Queen Elizabeth, entitled "Britannia's Pastorals," speaking of the colour of a dove's neck, says no one can tell where the blue and purple begins or the green ends. Nor is there a more graceful object in creation than a beautiful dove. The horse is not more elegantly formed in that fine sweep from head to back which makes Hogarth's "line of beauty," or part of the letter S. Then no queen can move more stately than the proud pigeon with his head thrown back and his breast thrown forward, walking as if he were the lord of all creation, and fully conscious of his own beauty. What an eye he has, too; there never was a precious stone discovered in the world to equal it: it has the liquid light of the diamond, the fiery blaze of the ruby, and as for plumage, all the colours of the rainbow and all the shades of all the flowers that ever blowed, may be found in the dove's neck alone. What a lover of doves King Solomon must have been, and how beautifully he alludes to them, and how his heart rejoiced when he spoke of the voice of the turtle being heard again in the land, and said of his lovely queen, "Thou art fair, my love, thou hast dove's eyes," calling her his "dove in the clefts of the rocks;" then he speaks of "doves by the rivers of waters," and of his "dove being the only one of her mother;" and it is pleasant to know that there were pigeon-fanciers and a cooing of doves in the ancient

streets of Jerusalem-those streets which on a later day our blessed Saviour trod. From time immemorial they have been the emblems of impassioned love and faithful attachment, and the fidelity of the turtle-dove to its mate has been sung by our great Shakespeare and almost every other poet, and is now proverbial.

THE STOCK DOVE, OR WILD PIGEON.

The stock dove, or wild pigeon, is supposed to be the original stock from which the different varieties of the domestic pigeon are derived, but this has never been clearly proved. It is about fourteen inches in length, and in plumage is exceedingly beautiful. It is one of the three species that live wild in our country, the other two are the turtle-dove and ringdove, the latter being the largest of the three, and so called from the black ring round its neck, which is edged with white. The head, neck, and upper part of the back of the stock dove are of a deep bluish grey and purple colour, reflected on the sides with green and gold, and that so delicately, as caused William Browne, the poet, to write,

"That none can say, though he it strict attends,

Here one begins, and there another ends."

Its breast is a faint reddish purple, belly, thighs, under tail coverts, and the lower part of its back and rump, a light grey, or ash colour; primary quill feathers dusky, edged with white; the others grey, marked with two black spots on the exterior webs, so as to form two black bars across each wing; its bill and legs are red, and its claws black. Stock doves are migratory birds, visiting England in large flocks at the beginning of November, and retiring at the end of the spring, though some remain with us, like the ringdove, all the year, and only change their quarters in search of food. The stock dove builds a slovenly nest of sticks, which can be seen through, and lays two eggs.

THE TURTLE-DOVE

is one of the prettiest of the species; its bill is a bluish-brown, eyes yellow, and surrounded by a crimson circle; the back of its head is of an ashen-gray colour, and on each side of its neck is a patch of black feathers, margined with white; its back is ash colour, and each feather tipped with reddish brown; wing coverts reddish brown, spotted with black; quill feathers dusky, with light edges; the throat, neck, and breast tinged with a beautiful red; the two middle feathers of the tail brown, and the others dusky, tipped with white, and its legs red. They visit England in May, and leave in September. Young birds reared by domestic pigeons soon become accustomed to the dove-cote, but

as they are very susceptible of cold, they require to be protected from the chills of winter. Turtle-doves may be fed with any kind of grain, peas, beans, and such like. They soon become tame in confinement, and caress those who feed them. The best thing to keep them in is a warm cage; there are cages made purposely for them.

THE COMMON PIGEON.

Common pigeons are generally blue or ash coloured, with white backs and red legs; but by paying attention to the crossing of breeds, their plumage may be enriched with tinges of copper, yellow, and other lively colours. They require very little care, and are very prolific, breeding seven or eight times a year, laying two eggs each time, which generally produce a male and female; and it is amusing to watch the eagerness of the male to sit on the eggs while the female rests and feeds herself. The young, when hatched, require no food for some time but what they receive from the female.

THE FAN-TAIL, OR BROAD-TAILED SHAKER.

This beautiful variety of the pigeon tribe receives the name of FAN-TAIL from its habit of spreading out the feathers of its tail like a turkey-cock, and that of BROAD-TAILED SHAKER from its breadth of tail, and a peculiar quivering motion of its neck. It has a full breast, and a short, handsomely formed, arched neck, which it carries in a graceful, swan-like curve. tail, according to the rules of the fancy, should consist, at the least, of twenty-.

Its

four feathers, and at the most of thirty-six, which number it should not exceed, for if the tail is over-crowded with feathers, the bird suffers it to droop, a defect never passed over, although the bird may be faultless in every other respect. Fantails whose plumage is pure white are more highly prized than those displaying red, yellow, blue, and black-pied colours, their carriage of the neck and tail being considered by far the most striking and elegant.

THE NARROW-TAILED SHAKER.

Some fanciers are of opinion that this bird is a breed between the broad-tailed shaker and the stock-dove, whilst others imagine that it is a distinct species. Its neck is shorter and thicker, back longer, and it has not so many tail-feathers as the broad-tailed shaker, neither does it expand its tail so fully, keeping the feathers rather closed one over the other, so as to resemble a fan when some little way open. The colour of its plumage is generally white, but a few different tints, and even an almond variety, are to be met with occasionally.

THE DUTCH CROPPER.

This species of pigeon is gravel-eyed, and thick, short, and clumsy in the body and legs, which should be feathered down to the feet. These birds have a large crop or bag under their beak, which they can inflate with wind, or depress at pleasure, and they are such careless parents, taking so little heed of their young ones, that it is requisite to put the little things, as soon as they have fed off their soft meat, under a pair of dragoons, pouters, or small runts. Care must be taken to supply the croppers regularly with food, else they will gorge themselves a habit they are extremely addicted to unless properly tended.

THE ENGLISH POUTER, OR POUTING HORSEMAN,

This fancy pigeon was originally bred in England, and thence derives its first name, and from being a cross breed between a horseman and a cropper, its second title; through judicious pairing with the cropper, it has attained great beauty and high value. Pouters are very expensive birds to rear, as the strain will soon become degenerate and worth nothing; the fancier will, therefore, even if he commences with a stock of several pairs, be often obliged to sell or exchange really good birds for inferior sorts, in order that he may be enabled to cross the breed. As the old birds pay little attention to the wants of their young ones, it frequently happens that they are starved to death; careful fanciers, therefore, never allow them to hatch their own eggs, but "ring the changes," by putting them under a hen dragoon that has lately laid, and placing the eggs of the latter bird under the pouter, in order that the pouter may commence incubation, otherwise she will lay again in a short time, which, often repeated, would in all likelihood kill her. Every bird must be kept by itself during the winter season, and their coops must be lofty, so that they may not acquire a stooping habit, which is a very great fault. In the spring every pair of pouters must have two pairs of dragoons to tend and feed them, but care must be taken that the dragoons are kept in a loft separate from the pouters, else a cross breed may probably be produced, and the stock become degenerate.

The rules laid down by the fanciers regulating the various properties which a first-rate pouter should possess, are-from the point of the beak to the tip of the tail the bird should measure eighteen inches; its shape should be fine, and its back hollow and tapering from the shoulders, for if there is a rise in its back, it is termed hogbacked, and therefore considered defective; it should carry the shoulders of its wings close to its body, and display the wings without straddling. Its legs, from the toe nail to the upper joint of the thigh, should be seven inches in length, stout, straight, and well