304 FANCY PIGEONS. 



In Eaton's 1858 book, page 59, there is also the following 

 note by Mr. John Boys : " Thirty-six years ago, when my 

 collection of Dragons (about thirty) every morning brought me 

 from London, in slips, the leading article of the Morning Post 

 newspaper, tied round the leg " — regarding which, Eaton adds : 

 " From London to Margate, seventy-two miles ; a decent fly, 

 and proves Dragons can do work." 



Blue and blue chequered Dragoons ought to have a dark 

 eye wattle, something like that of the Mahomet Pigeon. It 

 appears to get lighter in colour with age, and, if report can 

 be believed, is often produced artificially. 



Foreign Wattled Pigeons. 



French Bagdads. — There are various kinds of beak and 

 eye-wattled pigeons described by Continental writers, all of 

 which are called Bagdads, or Turks, which serves to show 

 they are considered to be of Eastern origin. Such as seem of 

 distinct breed from our Carriers, though undoubtedly belonging 

 to the same family, are described as follows by Boitard and 

 Corbie, whose work on pigeons, it must be remembered, was 

 published in Paris in 1824. Whether or not the varieties 

 mentioned are still in existence is more than I can say. 



Great Wattled, or Mushroomed Bagdad {Pigeon Bagadais 

 a Grande Morille). — "A mushroom, or large fleshy excres- 

 cence on the beak ; large ribbon round the eyes, forming, when 

 the bird is old, a second eyelid, fleshy and reddish, which falls 

 over the eyes and prevents it from seeing. These ribbons (eye 

 wattles) are sometimes so large that they join at the top of the 

 head. Beak curved and crooked; eye black. This bird is thick, 

 high on the legs, large, and short in the body, the neck fine and 

 long, wings short, legs bare. Its backmost part is always of 

 an inflamed red. There are several sub-varieties, with plumage 

 black, red, black and white, dun, &c. They all produce little, 

 and with difficulty; they have also become very rare, and are 

 scarcely preserved, except as a curiosity." 



