Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1884-09-18
VARIETIES oF PIGEONS.
The Fan-TaiI One of the Handsomezt
-Peculiarities Orthe Birds


fan-tail pigeon struIting up and down
its cage cooing in plaintiTe and tender
manner until its sweet notes were
drowned by the fierce hawkings of the
jealous green parrot. Numerous as
they are. they have all sprung from a
few varieties of the common species,
which have been carefully bred by man,
and not by numerous crossings with
other species, either allied OF remote
This fan-tail | consider the finest speci-
men of the pigeon possess" and, as
if to do honor to the fancier for his
compliment, the bird inflated its neck
and cooed tenderly as it went round
and round In a circle and kept moving
its head as though picking up food.
THAT bird and its mate cost me $40,
and do not care about selling them as
would prefer keeping them myself
The bird was white, with a black
head and tail, the latter being its chief
beauty. The fan was double and the
tail had thirty feathers in it, which
stood erect and possessed singular
trembling motion peculiar TO this bird.
They are, unfortunately, awkward
fvers. and if the wind is any way
strong the bird is apt to be overturned"
What other varieties have you?"
well in that cage there by the
window is the carrier pigeon, which,
as you know. is used to carry letters,
and at one time was a favorite sort
of a mail train. Then the cage next
to it contains the Turkish pigeon.
which is of the same race as the carrier,
but YOU will observe that it is great
deal larger, while its bill is tubercu-
lated at the base and naked red skin
surrounds the eyes. That bird on the
counter is 3 tumbler, SO named be-
cause when it attempts to alight it
tumbles' over and over in the air like
rubber ball That other bird in the red
cage is the Jacobine, and you will
observe that it has crest of feathers
forming cute little hood. 1t is general
ly small but OF graceful form, and its
hood, breasts, and back are generally
of reddish brown, although some
rare varieties are pure white. Another
kind, which unfortunately | do not
possess, is the cropper. This bird
initiates its gullet in disagreeable
manner until it looks all out of shape.
1t has handsome plumage, but this
initiation often causes diseases and
thereby death. making it a poor bird
for fanciers to handle.
lis there much of trade in pigeonsp
''In the cities, no; in the country.
yes. You see, pigeons generally like
some nice barn or other building to
live in where homes are built of boxes.
They never alight on a tree In the
city they are not noticed on account of
thenumerous buildings but in the coun-
try they are considered acompanionable
bird and often convenient TO eat, making
a very fine pot-pie. Farmers often have
droves around, and eat nearly all the
young ones s-fast as they begin to hy,
leaving only enough 10 make up for
old ones, which die off They are
very peculiar in their habits, one
characteristic being that they take up
with strange pigeons and will fly away,
one or two at time, with the stranger,
until the whole flock has moved to new
quarters and new masters. Another
peculiarity is that the male bird will
sit on the eggs the same as the female.
and furnishes half of the food for the
young. The common pigeon is un-
doubtedly what was known 10 the
ancients, and is the biblical dove which
was sent out from the ark and returned
the olive branch. An interesting fact
concerning pigeons is that they drink
like cattle-with long continuous
draughts-without raising their head.
Another thing is they feed their young
with the white curd-like contents of
the crop, the male being even better
supplied with this tender food than
ri a famala - Dbic10o Noaoe
Those skeptics who have doubted
the usefulness of the mosquito need
doubt no longer. The Berrien, Ga,
NewS says that the life of r. @, Hous-
ton was saved by mosquitoes drawing |
the poison of rattlesnake bite from
his leg while his companions left him
in swamp to procure medical assist
ance.
Ex-Governor Prescott, of New Hanrp-
shire. has secured 10 portraits of dis
tinguished men for the State House.
Dartmouth College, his alma mater, and
Exeter Academy, where he received his
earlier education Among these at
Exeter are portraits of Daniel Webster,
Edward Everett, Lewis Cass, Jared
Sparks and George Brancroft
A recent edition of the New Orleans
Picayisne was printed on paper made
of bagasse, the refuse of sugar cane
after the juice is squeezed out, and the
event has created quite a stir among
the paper manufacturers. The sugar
planters of Louisiana, who have burned
this hitherto worthless stuff to get rid
of it, now see a possibility of making
It - of II
enthusiastic of them think it will be
nearly as profitable as the sugar crop.
The size of the Soudan has been
conveniently represented TO the imagi-
nation by the statement that if you
draw line from st. Petersburg to
Bordeaux, and another from London to
Constantinople. you will intersect
country about the size of the Soudan:
Further, if you take away nineteen
twentieths of the population of the dis
tricts of Europe within the area above
described, and deserts of rock and
sand varying from $4,000 to 150 600
square miles are thrown in, that would
give picture of the Soudan.
= The name of the inventor of the
thermometer is unknown, and the ear
nest me1GlOn VI IL rs u SClOHIIllc dppll-
ance, then fifty years old, was in
work by DIR. R. Fludd, published in
1858. As to the instrument as it now
exists, Robert Hooke suggested the use
of the freezing point. Haley the boil
ing point and the substitution of mer-
curry for spirit, and Newton blood heat
Fahrenheit, although a German by
birth. WAS protege of James i, and
died in England. Reamur's thermom-
eter in its final form owes it origin to
De Luc; and although the centigrade
thermometer is almost universally at
tributed to Celsius, it was really in
vented by Linneus. Celsius instru-
ments had its scale the reverse way.
the boiling point being 0 degrees and
freezing point 100 degrees.
A few days ago a boy named Ulmar,
of Portland, Me, got piece of steel
into one of his hands. A surgeon ex-