274 FANCY PIGEONS. 



beak is a chief defect. The Briinn Croppers are cheerful and 

 lively, are fond of flying rapidly, and of flapping, but do not 

 like to go near strange dovecotes. It is a worthy parallel to 

 the fine English Almond Tumbler, and as neat, elegant, and 

 cheerful in its way. Nothing prettier can be imagined than 

 a loftful of these lively, neat, and amorous pigeons, among 

 whom there is no end of courting and caressing. The loving 

 cock drives the hen before him, all the while inflating his crop 

 and cooing, while she walks forward in proud decorum. It 

 flies lightly, quickly, and with flapping wings, and is very per- 

 severing in its flight; in this the inflated crop helps, for it 

 happens that the Briinn Cropper can float for from fifty to 

 sixty steps in the air, holding its spread wings high over its 

 back without moving them. No other pigeon is able to do so 

 for so long a distance. Generally speaking, its flight differs 

 from that of other pigeons. If a swarm of these Croppers fly, 

 it is clearly seen how fond they are of it. It is for them a 

 pleasure to fly in wide circles around their house for half an 

 hour. The Briinn Cropper, when affected, runs on high legs, as 

 if on stilts, standing even on its toes, and inflating its round 

 crop so full that it reaches a diameter of 7^ centimetres " (3in.). 

 The length of the Briinn Cropper (llin.) seems out of all 

 proportion to its limb, and I think, considering the weight of 

 the bird, it is mis-stated. Compared with our Norwich Cropper, 

 the Briinner is, doubtless, a smaller and more slender pigeon ; 

 but those I have had were very little less than my best Crop- 

 jDCrs, which attained a diameter in crop up to 5in., 4|in. being 

 commonly seen. The Briinn Cropper is certainly smaller in 

 girth, and shows its thighs more than our Cropper, but its habit 

 of crossing its wings is a bad fault, in my opinion. I had one 

 Isabel-coloured Briinner hen which did not have this fault, 

 and some who saw her considered her one of the best shaped 

 little Pouters they had seen. She was S^in. in limb, and 

 14^ in. in feather, but had only a small crop compared with 

 that of a good Norwich Cropper. 



