10 FANCY PIGEONS. 



little while compared to tlie time pigeons have been kept in the 

 world as domestic birds ; for we know they have been carefully 

 bred for thousands of years. No other domestic animal I 

 know of has branched out into such variety of form and 

 colour, from which I infer they have been long and ex- 

 tensively cherished by their admirers. Every leading fea- 

 ture of the bird seems to have been already played upon, 

 so that one might almost be unable to suggest any new 

 variation from what already exists ; and yet, even lately, a 

 quite new variety of pigeon appeared. This case occurred 

 about thirty years ago, and is recorded in the pages of 

 the Poultry Chronicle (1854-5). The bird in question was 

 a sport from common baldpate tumblers, and a reference 

 to the illustration, which will be found in the Chronicle, 

 will show what its peculiarity was. From the crown of its 

 head rose a crest of rather long waving feathers, quite 

 different and distinct from the peak or shell crest of many 

 breeds. The account of the bird, as given at the time by its 

 owner, Mr. W. Woodhouse, was as follows : " This curious 

 pigeon is alive, and in my possession. It is a pure-bred 

 baldpate, of which it has the properties — viz., clean cut, 

 pearl-eyed, clean-thighed, and ten-a-side. It is the only one 

 in the world, and is a cock bird. Several competent judges 

 have seen it, and consider it a freak of Nature ; but, what- 

 ever it is, it is a wonder. Several of my friends wish me 

 to breed from it to get more, but of this I am doubtful." 

 A few weeks after the above was published, Mr. Brent, the 

 well-known authority on pigeons, wrote as follows in the 

 Poultry Chronicle : " A month or two back, Mr. James Pryer, 

 a neighbour of mine, and a tolerable judge of pigeons, in- 

 formed me he had seen something curious in that line at 

 Sevenoaks. He described it as a common chequered dove- 

 house pigeon, with some rather long feathers growing from 

 the head. Seeing Mr. Woodhouse's description of his crested 

 baldpate, I showed him the cut, and he assured me that, so 



