340 



JOUENAL OF HOBTIODLTUEE AND OOTTAQK GABDENEK. 



[ April W, 1875. 



naked and others feathered feet ; the hoods are erect and 

 lirge.' With part of this I agree, but I certainly do not want 

 any erect hoods; for the closer the feathers fit the head the 

 better, aud the more the bird is valued ; at the same time, 

 though, there are other properties, aud very important ones, to 

 be looked for. 



" The Jacobin is well known over England, France, and 

 Germany, and derives its name from its having a clear white 

 bead, enveloped, as it were, in a hood of dark feathers, re- 

 sembling the shaven crown of a monk partially covered with a 

 cowl. The German name, ' Zopf or Periiicke Taube,' signifies 

 having a wig; and Willughby, in his ' Ornithology,' 1678, says 



they are called by the Low Dutch ' cappers,' for reasons I have 

 mentioned above. But perhaps the beat treatise on the Jacobin 

 is Moore, 1735, who says in his ' Columbarium ' :— ' The Jacobin 

 is ofttime the smallest of all Pigeons, and the smaller still the 

 better.' All fanciers must agree with me that ten years ago the 

 Jacobin was very poorly represented ; but latterly no bird has 

 improved so much (except, perhaps, the Trumpeter), and now 

 many almost perfect specimens are to be found. Its general 

 colours are black, red, and yellow ; but at large shows very 

 often good whites are to be found. In whites, though we lose 

 a great point — viz., colour, yet a really good white with a pearl 

 eye ia not to be met every day. 'The head, tail, and flight 



Fig. 82.— The Jacoein. 



feathers of a Jacobin should in all cases be white. There are 

 Pigeons occasionally seen, and are called Jacobins, which are 

 one colour, and I have known instances of all black and all 

 blue. The latter I have kept, and bred blue birds from them 

 with white properties, but never raised anything fit for the 

 exhibition. 



" With regard to the number of white flight feathers, it is a 

 disputed point; and, as they say in Lancashire, differeot folks 

 have different opinions; for my own part, I am satisfied with 

 seven or eight white flights in each wing, though there are 

 fanciers that say a perfect specimen should have ten. This, 

 however, is not an important point; at the same time it must 

 be remembered I am not an advocate for a bird short of white 

 flights. To run through the principal points of a really good 

 bird is more easily done on paper than by breeding, though a 

 well-lnown fancier and dealer in London— in fact, I have heard 

 him designated a Pigeon without feathers— tells me he finds 

 Jacobins as easy to breed as weeds in hia garden, and can rear 

 annually any amount of good birds. The beak should be short 

 and rather stout, with a small wattle, and in many cases you 

 will find the lower mandible dark; this is not a disqualification, 

 though white is preferable. The eye in all cases must be pearl. 



I have had many good specimens spoilt with either a 'gravel' 

 or a ' bull ' eye, and either is in my idea a great fault, and a 

 very unpleasant thing to get into your loft, as it may take years 

 to breed out. The head should be short and well enveloped at 

 the back with closely- arranged feathers of the same colour as 

 the body of the bird, which gives the bird an appearance of 

 having the feathers glued on to the skull, so close should they 

 fit; joining this arrangement of feathers, which is called the 

 hood, should be another range of feathers, reaching down to the 

 shoulders, or rather they should go further, and encroach more 

 to the breast of the bird, forming a chain, or, as the Dutch call 

 it, ' the cravat.' These feathers should be long and close, and 

 the more even and close they are set the more is the bird 

 esteemed. I think the hood and chain are almost the principal 

 points of the head, and give to the bird a very strong resem- 

 blance to the portraits of good Queen Bess. In getting this 

 chain we must not lose sight of size, for the larger the bird 

 the heavier ought to be the chain and hood ; aud I must again 

 remind you that the Jacobin as a Toy, and one of our prettiest 

 Toys, should be small, and the smaller it is the better; in fact, 

 as "Mayor in his treatise says, it sbould be very little larger than 

 a Tumbler. At the bottom of the chain or mane wo come to 



