193 FRILL-BREASTED PIGEONS. 



Danish or Nortli German pigeons known here as Meeves 

 [Mdvchen], which bear about the same relation to African Owls 

 that Skinnnms do to Carriers. 



The African Owl Pigeon. 



It was about the year 1858 that the first pair of African 

 Owl Pigeons known to the present generation of British pigeon 

 fanciers was imported into this country. They were exhibited 

 at the Crystal Palace Show, by their importer, Mr. E. Y. Har- 

 court, and the description of them in The Field newspaper of 

 22nd January, 1858, is as follows : " Owls (all colours) well repre- 

 sented ; but the best pair of Owls in the Show was certainly 

 a pair of whites, in the class for other varieties, under the 

 name of ' Booz ' Pigeons from Tunis." Since then thousands 

 of these beautiful pigeons have been imported from the North 

 of Africa, chiefly, I believe, from Tunis. The late Mr. John 

 Baily, jun., who, with his father, did a large business in 

 exporting and importing fancy pigeons, informed me that these 

 beautiful birds were bred, he understood, about the mosques 

 in Tunis, and allowed to pair together as they liked. If this 

 is so, they must certainly be the only variety there, or the 

 breed could not be kept pure. As far as I know, no experienced 

 fancier has yet visited Tunis, so we have but little informa- 

 tion regarding these birds, and can only judge of them as 

 they appear. How they originated, or came to be located in 

 Tunis, is a mystery. The great proportion of those brought to 

 this country are quite worthless in comparison with the select 

 few in each shipment ; so that Mr. Baily told me that latterly 

 it did not pay to import them, as, when the one or two good 

 ones had been picked out, the rest were unsaleable. From the 

 careless treatment they generally get on the voyage, as well 

 as from the fact that a great proportion of them arrive in 

 their nest feathers, canker, and other diseases of the head 

 and throat, are very prevalent among those that come to this 

 country, so that I have known only some ten or fifteen per 



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