( 246 ) 

 WILLIAM BERNHAIU) TEGETMEIER. 



BY 



F. VV. SMALLEY. 



At Golder's Green, on November 19th, 1912, there passed 

 away, at the great age of ninety-six, that well-known 

 naturalist, breeder, exhibitor, judge, author and jour- 

 nalist, William Bernhard Tegetmeier. Born at the small 

 village of Colnbrook in Buckinghamshire, on November 

 4th, 1816, a son of a surgeon in the Navy, Tegetmeier 

 originally intended following his father's profession ; and 

 ^A•ith this object in view passed the necessary examinations 

 in medicine and surgery at University College, London ; 

 indeed, for a time, he became a practising surgeon, but 

 the call of Nature became too strong for him, with the 

 result that he threv/ himself whole-heartedly into the 

 work of a naturahst and journalist. By so doing he 

 proved, during the rest of his long life, of the greatest 

 service to all breeders of poultry and pigeons and 

 exhibition-stock generally, and to such his name will go 

 down to future generations as one of the few men to whom 

 the huge industry of breeding poultry and pigeons for 

 exhibition and utility purposes owes its origin. 



Pigeons always held chief place in Tegetmeier's heart, 

 his two favourite groups being dragoons and racing 

 homers, varieties which, in no small measure, owe the 

 high position they hold to-day to his early efforts on 

 their behalf, and in connexion with the last-named, 

 he made the acquaintance of the best fanciers in the 

 home of the Pigeon Voyageur — Belgium — and Mas the 

 first to inaugurate " pigeon races " from Brussels to 

 London. 



Turning to Tegetmeier's literar\^ work, foremost comes 

 his book, published in 1868, entitled Pigeons : their 

 Structure, Varieties, Habits, and Management, a masterly 

 work on the different breeds as they existed then, and 

 illustrated in colours by the late Harrison Weir, himself 

 a well-known fancier. About the same time he brought 



