159 PIGEONS WITH ERECT TAILS. 



the Burmese. It seems to me, after consideration, tliat 

 Moore's Leghorn Runt was either the breed known on the 

 Continent as the gi-eat Maltese Pigeon, or the species described 

 by Neumeister as the Monteneur, said to be formerly common 

 in Stralsund and Griefswald in Pomerania. As I shall after- 

 wards show, when treating of the Pomeranian Pouter, there 

 appears to have been some connection between the fanciers 

 of London and Pomerania dui'ing the early part of last 

 century, and my idea is, that Moore's Leghorn Runt, though 

 apparently of the type of the great Maltese Pigeon, was so 

 large that it must have been more like the Monteneur. 



A very exhaustive treatise on the Hiihnertauhen has lately 

 appeared in G. Prlltz's " Mustertaubenbuch," now publishing, 

 in parts, in Germany. Mr. O. Neef informs me it is from 

 the pen of the Baron Yon Washington. 



The Burmese Pigeon. 



This variety, called in Germany cler EpaulettenschecTt, 

 Hilhntauhe, or, as we would say. Shoulder-mottled Hen, or 

 Fowl-shaped Pigeon, is certainly the most pronounced in 

 type of the race. It stands high on the legs, with a short, 

 erect tail, below which the flight feathers ought to meet at 

 the points, though sometimes they are carried above the tail ; 

 but this is not correct. The long, swan-shaped, tremulous 

 neck, suggests a remote connection with the Fantail Pigeon; 

 and, indeed, a fan- shaped tail on a good specimen of the 

 Burmese would transform it into a long-legged Fantail. The 

 tail feathers, however, in this bird, are as abnormally short 

 as they are unusually long in a good Fantail; so that, when 

 held in the hand, the feet ought to extend beyond them. 

 Whether or not the Burmese came to Europe from BuiTaah 

 or India I am not aware, but I never saw anything like it 

 during my residence in the East. The idea has struck me 

 that either this pigeon, or the Mookee, might have been the 

 Narrow-tailed Shaker of Willughby. In size, Burmese Pigeons 



