180 FANCY PIGEONS. 



and Almond Tumbler in the Treatise, the former is all we want 

 in head and beak, the latter a mere Long-faced common Tumbler. 

 Nothing could be more erroneous than to say, as Brent and 

 others have said, that a Short-faced Baldhead with a Jacobin's 

 hood and chain would be the perfect Jacobin. It might be a 

 pretty pigeon, but it would be the very opposite of a Jacobin in 

 many ways. 



Jacobin Properties. 



The properties of the Jacobin are size, shape, carriage, head, 

 beak, eye, legs and feet, quality of feather, hood, chain, tippet, 

 rose, mane, colour, and marking. It must not be inferred 

 that I consider them valuable in the order named. I shall 

 merely describe what I consider a perfect bird, and no bird 

 can be considered very good which is not fairly well up in all 

 points. The same remarks must be held to apply to my 

 descriptions of all other varieties. 



Size. — There is considerable difference in size among 

 Jacobins. When other things are equal, the smaller pigeon 

 is to be preferred. By equal, I mean equal in proportion 

 to size. 



Shape. — The neck ought to be long. This is a grand property, 

 the effect of which can easily be seen by comparing long-necked 

 and short-necked birds together. The body ought to be long, 

 and narrow in girth. A well-bred Jacobin, which weighs the 

 same, or even rather more, than a pigeon of another variety, 

 will easily force its way through the bars of a cage which will 

 effectually confine the latter. I have seen this illustrated 

 in the case of a very small African Owl and a Jacobin, the 

 latter being much the heavier pigeon of the two, which 

 gives a good idea of the difference in shape between the two 

 varieties. 



Carriage. — A Jacobin of the best type, whose head is well- 

 smothered in hood and chain, is unable to see well about it. 

 Such birds have a groping way of going about, and endeavour, 



