hour; but in an open cote, the case is different. Some persons recommend that some of the pinion feathers of one wing should be drawn; others that one wing should be cut; and others that they be tied with a piece of string to the cote. These plans are, however, rather cruel, and scarcely needful.

In the first place, do not buy old pigeons, but procure birds that have not yet flown. Place them in the holes for which they are intended, and fasten them in by means of a few stout wires across the entrance. Feed them well, and in a few days they will be very unwilling to leave their new home.

With a few words on the different breeds of pigeons, this article must terminate. Figures of several important varieties are given, in order to assist the reader in identifying the birds when he sees them.

The Carrier pigeon is known by its peculiar form, and the wattles that decorate the bill. The carrier is to pigeons what the greyhound is to dogs, being made for speed, and having close plumage, a slender neck, vast propulsive power, and large expanse of lung. This is the pigeon which was once so largely used as a messenger. Pure carriers are very rare, and a mixture of the horseman or dragon is mostly employed.

The Tumbler derives its name from its odd habit of falling over when on the wing, and dropping for some yards before it resumes its course. These birds ought to fly very closely together, and when that is the case, they afford a beautiful sight as they soar upwards. If tumblers are kept, they should be turned out by themselves, and it is always better to include in the stock one pigeon which will soar to a great height, as they will all follow him and learn his beautiful art. There are many

varieties of tumbler.

The Jacobin is remarkable for the growth of the feathers on the back of the head and neck, which are reversed, and form a large ruff, something like that of the vulture. The bird is sometimes called the Jack. There is another pigeon which resembles the Jacobin, and is sometimes mistaken for it: this is the Ruff, the hood of which is larger than that of the Jacobin, but the feathers do not grow so near the shoulders.

The Nun is so called on account of the dark feathers on the head, which contrast with the white plumage of the body. The head may be either red, yellow, or black, but, whatever colour it may be, the flight and tail feathers must agree with it. The Helmet is something like the Nun, but is a smaller bird, and the head feathers do not form a hood. The head ought to be black.

The Pouter is a large, handsome-looking pigeon, standing very

upright, and having a very hollow back. It derives its name from a habit of puffing out its crop, which is sometimes distended to such an extent that the bird loses its balance and falls down.

The Owl is so called on account of its short beak and round head. On its breast it has a circular tuft of feathers, technically named the "purl." The Turbit has also a short head and beak, and is known by a tuft on the back of its head. The Barb ought to be dark plumaged, with a tuft on the back of its head, and a scarlet circle round its eyes. It is supposed to have been originally brought from Barbary.

The Trumpeter is so named from a peculiar cry which it occasionally utters. It ought to have a tuft of feathers at the root of the beak, another on the back of the head, and the legs and feet ought to be thickly covered with plumage. The Fantail is handsomest when perfectly white. The spreading tail ought to have at least twenty-four feathers, and always to be kept erect. The breast must be very full.

CONJURING.

BY GEORGE FORREST, M.A.

THE PENETRATIVE PENCE.

TAKE six copper pence, and get a whitesmith to bore out the middle of

five of them, leaving only a ring about the tenth of an inch in width. Then let him bore the sixth in a similar manner, but not cut all the metal away, so as to leave a thin shell of copper. Next, let him run a rivet loosely through them all, so that they can be viewed sideways, and have a little stop made at each side in order to prevent them from being moved so far as to show their real character. Paint the inside with dead black. Then prepare a cardboard box which will just slip over the pence, and make it very handsome on the outside. Paint the interior with the same dead black as was used for the false pence. Have under your table a little shelf, placed so that the spectator cannot see it.

Fig.1

2

Some conjurors have the shelf fixed by hinges to the table, and supported by a catch, which is withdrawn by placing the foot on a pedal. In the upper half of the accompanying illustration may be seen the method of cutting and arranging the false pence. Fig. 1 is a section of them when completed. Fig. 2 shows a section of the upper penny, which has been hollowed, as well as the rivet which is fastened to it. Fig. 3 shows one of the rings, together with the hole through which the rivet passes. In the lower half of the illustration, fig. 1 represents the false pence as they appear when moved upon each other so as to delude the spectators with the idea that they are real coins.

3

Fig. 2

Fig. 2 is the ornamental cover; and fig. 3 shows the method in which the shelf can be made to drop when the lever is pressed.

Before you perform the trick, place the sham pence on the shelf. Take six real pence, place them on the table, gather them up, press them together, and slip the cover over them. Say that when you strike the cover with your wand the pence will disappear and fall through the table. As you say this remove the cover, take the pence in your hand, and hold them under the table, as an illustration of your remarks.

Put the real pence on the little shelf and take the false pence instead. Place them on the table, taking care to press them sideways so that they shall appear to be real coins; settle them straight and put the cover over them. Strike it smartly with your wand, at the same time pressing the pedal with your foot. Down fall the real pence with a great crash; you pick up the cover, holding it tightly so as to take up the sham pence within it; hold it to the audience, showing that it is empty; drop the sham pence neatly into your hand and throw the box on the table, so that the spectators may examine it, if they like. While picking up the real pence you can slip the sham ones into your pocket.

This capital trick may be varied in different ways; one of the neatest variations being to change the six copper pence into a silver sixpence. This is of course accomplished by slipping a sixpence under the sham coins when they are placed on the table, and omitting to strike the pedal. The pedal, by the way, is not absolutely necessary, for the same result may be obtained by a bit of string; or even by holding the left hand under the table and pushing the pence into it with your finger. In that case, it always adds to the spirit of the performance if you let them drop singly into the hand, and pretend to wonder why they do not fall faster.

THE MAGIC DICE.

Many tricks are managed on this principle, namely, having a hollow imitation of a solid object and exchanging the one for the other. I will, however, only describe one mode, which is frequently exhibited by peripatetic conjurors under the name of the Magic Dice.

Cut a cube of some hard wood and paint it so as to resemble a die. Get a whitesmith to make for you a copy of the die in tin, of the exact size of the wooden model but with one of the sides omitted, so as to make it like a cubical box. Have a second box made just like the first, except that it is a little larger, so as to slip easily over the other. Paint the small box on the outside exactly like the wooden die, and clean the large box as brilliantly as you can. Paint the inside of both of a dull

black, or line them with black paper. Let them all be thoroughly dry, and you are ready for your performance.

Borrow a couple of hats from the spectators, and as you take them to your table slip the sham die into one of them. Produce the real die and say that you will drive it through the crowns of the hats and afterwards mend the hats so that they shall be as good as ever.

Select the best hat you can find and place it upon the other. Put the real die on the crown of the upper hat, slip the cover over it, and say that when you have cut a proper hole in the upper hat the die will fall through into the lower hat. As you say this take up the cover and put

the real die into the lower hat as an illustration.

Now, take out the false die, which the spectators will fancy to be the real one; replace the hat, and put the tin die on the crown of the upper hat, just as had been done with the real one.

Slip the cover over it, take a knife, trace four lines on the crown of the hat, guiding the knife with the edge of the die, and pretend to cut through the crown, letting the knife slip through your fingers at every cut, so that the blade seems to be passing through the hat. When that is done, strike the cover with the wand, grasp it tightly so as to take up the false die inside it, hold it up to the spectators so as to show that it is empty, and then throw the real die out of the hat in which you had placed it.

The egg and cup trick, with differently coloured balls produced out of one box, and several similar delusions, are managed on the same principle.

THE HUNDRED GOBLETS.

This trick, which at one time excited such a sensation, is almost absurdly simple. Nothing looks more wonderful than to see a man borrow a hat, show the spectators that it is empty, and then put in his hand and pull out a hundred polished goblets, which he piles up in a vast pyramid of glittering metal.

The manner in which this feat is achieved is as follows:-The goblets are made of tin ware, conical in shape, something like extinguishers with the tops cut off, and like the horn mugs that used to be so common in farm-houses. The conjuror takes care to show only a side view of them, inasmuch as they have no bottoms, and are, in fact, nothing but hollow truncated cones. Each is slit down the side. You perform the trick by pushing the goblets inside each other, a process which is permitted by the slit; those in the inside being squeezed together, and those on the outside being expanded. They are then placed carefully on a little shelf, fastened at the back of your chair, or to a table where it cannot

be seen.

As you walk away with the hat, pass by the little shelf, stick the middle finger of the right hand into the hole at the top of the compressed goblets, and by merely bending the finger you bring them into the hat unseen. You can then take each goblet out separately, being