that whatever is the quantity, the quality must be uniform and gradual from one end to the other. If in waving it, one part feels weaker or more stiff than another, at once reject it as bad. Some judgment, which words can scarcely convey, is required to detect this; but if you take in your hand a long green withy stick, and wave that about, you will readily perceive what is the nature of the objection I am endeavouring to point out; though I fear long experience in choosing alone will enable you to become a complete judge in such matters. I, myself, from being perpetually, I may say, two or three times every year, for some years past, required by friends, to choose for them,-can detect flaws in a rod by the feel which would be invisible to the eye; but this is only to be done by practice, as my words, I fear, must fail to explain it. You will feel that the upper part is too heavy for the lower, and that there is a sensation as though it would break in the middle. In a good rod, on waving it about with moderate force, you will never experience this sensation-but feel satisfied that the lower part is fully strong enough to support every succeeding superior inch. you As to the quantity of Elasticity, or its curvature, tastes vary. For myself, I prefer a rod that has the middle degree,-being neither too stiff, nor too elastic; and, in choosing such, you can't go far wrong; but had better have a rod too stiff, (provided it is otherwise well graduated and apportioned,) than the other way; as the latter is particularly objectionable in fighting a heavy fish, especially in dangerous wate or from off a rooted bank; as it is also during windy weather. Neither is it possible to throw a large and consequently heavy fly with a very pliable rod. And whatever other doctors of fishing may say, I know from experience that it is as easy to cast a fly lightly with a stiff as with a pliant rod. I must leave this entirely to your choice and judgment; not omitting, however, to mention that Mr. Eaton of Crooked Lane tells me, that of late years he finds stiff fly rods of every description preferred, and from the quantity he sells weekly he is some authority upon the subject. Too great a degree of elasticity is now generally as the fault of Irish rods, and I do not certainly recommend these for that reason. I do not go so far as the author's of the recent work I have just referred to, who condemn rods," pliable almost down to the hand," because I consider the term altogether indefinite. Every rod ought to play in fact, "quite down to the hand," or else it cannot be well proportioned, but, mark the distinction, it should not, "seem" to "bend down to the hand," and then the advice is good. looked upon CARRIER PIGEONS. Drawn and Engraved by W. R. SMITH. THE pair of pigeons shown in our engraving are the property of the artist. The one is a dun and the other a black, the favourite, and indeed, the only legitimate colours with fanciers. The birds are thoroughbred; and for flight, plumage, and beauty of form, they may challenge a comparison with any pair of pigeons of the same kind in the kingdom. The carrier pigeon is a large bold-looking bird, standing, very erect; -with a long, narrow head; a long and elegantly curved neck; beak long, stout, nearly straight, and well furnished with a handsome tilted wattle. There is also a large circle round the eye of a substance similar to the wattle on the beak. With fanciers, the larger this circle, the more is the bird valued, though to the unitiated it generally is considered a deformity. In some birds this circle is as large as a half-crown. Carriers have strong bony pinions, with long flightfeathers, and a long tail. They are of various colours-white, blue, blue-pied, black-pied, and dun-pied; but with fanciers, the dun and the black only are acknowledged to be thorough-bred*. The "young The best time to match carriers is in March. couple," as they say in announcing fashionable weddings in the newspapers, should be placed in a pen by themselves; and it is not only necessary to supply them with food and water, but also to notice if they feed; for sometimes after being removed from their accustomed cot to a new pen, they will become sullen and not eat for two or three days. Under these circumstances it is best to let them feed in their usual place in the morning, and afterwards return them to their pen, By repeating this for two or three days they will become reconciled to their new abode. Carriers differ from all other pigeons in one particular, which is, that, notwithstanding all the attention that can be bestowed upon them, they never become attached to their keeper. Carriers, when not breeding, ought frequently to be allowed to fly at large, otherwise they lose much of their vigour and handsome appearance. When kept closely confined they not unfrequently become so weak that they can scarcely rear their young. Though carriers are endowed in a higher degree than any other kind of pigeon with the peculiar faculty of finding their way home from a great distance, yet in order to develop it fully, it is necessary that they should be trained. The pair of carriers whose portraits are given in our engraving, were allowed to fly at will till they were three * These colours are obtained in the greatest perfection by matching a black and a dun, not by matching a black with a black, or a dun with a dun, as a person unacquainted with the mysteries of pigeon-breeding might very naturally, but erroneously suppose. months old, and were occasionally urged upon the wing in order to their becoming thoroughly acquainted with the locality of their home. When about four months old they were taken to Harrow, a distance of ten miles, and being there set at liberty, they arrived at home exactly ten minutes aferwards. On being taken out to the same place a second time, they performed the distance in eleven minutes and a half. They were next taken to Godstone, in Surrey, a distance of nineteen miles, which they performed in eighteen minutes. They were afterwards sent to Haverfordwest in Wales, a distance of two hundred and sixty-five miles, where they were confined for three weeks; on being set at liberty they found their way home in something less than eight hours. The following fact, illustrative of the peculiar instinct of the carrier, we have received from an unquestionable authority. A few years ago several pairs of carriers were sent to Antwerp, where they were kept confined for two years, and on the expiration of that time, being liberated, early in the morning, they arrived at their old home, in Hertfordshire, on the evening of the same day. WILLOW FORD VILLAGE AND ITS DOINGS. No. 1. THE SUBSCRIPTION PACK. SITUATED as our little village of Willowford is, in the very heart of a midland county, far from the metropolis, and all its wicked ways, without so much asa railroad or an opposition coach running within miles of the spot; no wonder that we, its inhabitants, remain in that unsophisticated state so much contemned by your march-of-mind-ites, and Penny Magaziners, and at the same time, so often looked back upon with regret by another class of persons, the lovers of old English life, and old English customs. Whether we are less intelligent than our neighbours, I do not pretend to say; whether our minds are less fitted for the reception and reflection of the great lights of philosophy, it is not for me to determine. We may be less learned than our fellows, but I am sure we are not less happy. From whatever cause it may spring, certain it is that the wonderful discoveries of the nineteenth century have had little influence on the destinies of Willowford. There is not so much as a Temperance Society in the whole village: the old women without teeth are the only tea-totallers: the wonders of steam are recognized only in its operations upon the kettle lid: gas is regarded in the same category with prussic acid and fire-damp, or something invented by the devil to take away human life: the genius of Macadam has never trodden our roads; Cobbett's corn has never polluted our soil. In short, we are a most obstinately old-fashioned race of people; at least a century be |