297 WATTLED PIGEONS. 



somewliat less than a Horseman, are reckon'd lighter, and 

 more expeditious in their Flight, for ten or twenty Miles, 

 but the Horseman if good, will generally out-do them at a 

 greater Length; they ought to be flown and train'd like 

 the foregoing." 



During the last few years the Dragoon has been ex- 

 tensively bred and shown, and its popularity has been so 

 great that, even at first-class shows, it has been encouraged 

 with a classification and an amount of prize money out of 

 all proportion to its merits. This pandering to false taste 

 in pigeon breeding culminated at the Oxford Show of 1876, 

 where Dragoons had eighteen classes, against sixteen for 

 Carriers, Pouters, Tumblers, and Barbs combined. Weari- 

 some discussions have also gone on for years over the stan- 

 dard of a Dragoon, and I am not aware if those who have a 

 place in their hearts for fancy pigeons which the Dragoon 

 is capable of filling have settled the matter amongst them- 

 selves yet. Some time ago the National Peristeronic Society 

 of London appointed a committee of its members to con- 

 sider the question, and, on the 6th January, 1880, this 

 committee, after taking the subject to avizandum, handed in 

 the following report, which it was hoped would have been 

 accepted as the conclusion of the whole matter; but it merely 

 opened up some fresh discussions, so that their deliverance 

 can only be called an interlocutor after all. 



" Gentlemen, — Your Committee, appointed to consider and 

 note the points of the Dragon, have the satisfaction of pre- 

 senting in their Report the following enumeration of pro- 

 perties which, subject to your approval, will constitute the 

 Standard of the Dragon as recognised by the Members of 

 the National Peristeronic Society. 



"The Shull wedge-shaped and broad, yet proportionate to 

 the stoutness and length of the beak, slightly curved when 

 viewed from the side or front, thus showing no angle or ex- 

 tended fiat surface. 



