Jfuly 33, 1874. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICDLTDBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



89 



placed tbem in our loft, but were unable to tell any difference 

 between tbeiu and the commonest of our point heads. 



A way to refine a good strain of Fans is to judiciously inter- 

 breed them, culling out the coarsest and largest young ones. 

 One of the finest strains we ever obtained was by matching a 

 rarely good male to his own daughter, and her son to herself. 

 We kept the strain true for several generations by matching odd 

 nests, and then introduced the old bird again ; and by crossing 

 his progeny with the established strain, produced far better 

 birds than the originator of the strain. Whenever such a strain 

 shows weakness in points or constitution, care most be taken to 

 invigorate it by the introduction of fresh blood. 



Fantails are as good breeders and nursea as any of the va- 

 rieties. For us they averaged a pair of young every seven weeks 

 all the year round ; the loft being heated by a register stovB 

 during the winter. Their boxes must be large, 18 by 18 inches, 

 no fronts except a strip 4 inches high along the lower part of 

 the box, to prevent the young from falling out. 



There must be nothing against which the tails may be broken. 

 Water to wash may be allowed twice a- week ; the floor kept 

 sanded ; a piece of rock salt (alum salt) where the birds can get 

 it, and plenty of mortar broken into bits smaller than peaa. A 

 piece of salt codfish is also considered quite a delicacy by the 

 birds, and they will pick at It for da/s together. 



Fig. 80.— The fantail.' 



The Fantails become exceedingly familiar, and we have had 

 to push them out of the way, when cracking mortar with a 

 hammer, to prevent cracking their heads. We also had a pair 

 build a nest and hatch a pair of young in a corner of the desk 

 behind the inkstand, which the writer was obliged to use daily 

 during their incubation. A favourite position of the unoccupied 

 bird was upon the shoulder of the person at the desk. It is said 

 that familiarity breeds contempt, but in this case it was the 

 reverse, as the birds were very well-behaved birds, and took as 

 much interest in the writing of articles as any of the readers 

 could have done in the perusal of them, and they enlivened 

 many a weary hour of a very weary winter. — Dr. W. P. Mobgan, 

 Baltunore. — [Pet Stock, Pigeon, and Poultry Bulletin.) 



[The above, taken from this month's New York " Pigeon 

 Bulletin," is, perhaps, the very best article on the Fantail which 

 I ever had the pleasure of reading. It is clearly written from 

 experience, and there is also a freshness about it which is not 

 always to be found in descriptions of Pigeons, authors too fre- 



* This illustration is copied without acknowledgment from our No. 512, 

 published January 19th, 1871, and is repeated here. — Eds. 



quently following each other in forma of expression. Dr. Morgan 

 speaks of the two heads, point and smooth ; as regards England 

 this matter is settled, and a point-headed Fan would never 

 obtain a prize, we deeming that the point utterly spoils the 

 gracefulness of the head. As to the two varieties, the English 

 and Scotch, something has been done recently, for I have lately 

 seen prize birds in England with evidently Scotch blood in 

 them. This I approve, for although the graceful little Scotch 

 bird does not in its entireness find favour south of the Tweed, 

 yet an admixture of Scotch blood would be highly beneficial to 

 the large-tailed English bird. Motion would be added to, style 

 would be given, and the size diminished, with the full tail pre- 

 served. Never yet have I seen an engraving which did justice 

 to this bird. Even Mr. Ludlow's pencil has been less happy 

 with this variety than it usually is ; but I look for him to do 

 better than as yet he has done, and that he will produce a grace- 

 ful portrait of this the most graceful of all Pigeons. The Carrier 

 is noble ; the Pouter grand ; the Fantail graceful. I do not 

 think it well to picture the tail feathers ragged and broken at the 

 end, though we know they mostly are in an exhibition pen ; 

 but I have had Fantails for months without broken or rough 



