339 THE SHORT-FACED TUMBLER. 



hood, caused me to associate witli pigeon fanciers there ; 

 and when I saw a race of birds (the Goolees) having all 

 the shape and carriage of Short-faced Tumblers, of much 

 the same size, and of the same style of head, it struck me 

 that, as the Mookee had been described by Willughby in 

 1676, the Goolee might also have been in England at that 

 time, and have helped to found the breed of Short-faces. 



About the year 1878, being in London, I met the late Mr. 

 Jayne, of Croydon, one of the principal breeders of Almond 

 Tumblers, and as he invited me to see his stud of birds, I 

 gladly availed myself of the opportunity. After seeing his 

 stock, I asked him if he believed that the Short-faced 

 Tumbler had been bred from the common Tumbler and 

 nothing else. He replied that it was the result of crosses 

 between the Tumbler and other varieties, that the African 

 Owl had been used in producing it, and that his friend, the 

 late Mr. Morey, was the only mau he ever knew who could 

 give its true history. Eaton in his 1858 book, at page 187, 

 says : " The late Mr. Harry Edward Morey, chairman of the 

 City Columbarian Society, and an excellent old fancier, used 

 to say, however low his stud of birds was reduced, he had 

 never been without pigeons for the last sixty years." The 

 combined evidence of Mr. Jayne and Mr. Morey, therefore, 

 goes back to the last century, and it is probable enough that 

 Mr. Morey had spoken in his youth to men who had been 

 pigeon fanciers before the Treatise of 1765 was ever designed, 

 and that was about the time the Almond Tumbler became of 

 consequence in the fancy. Since speaking with Mr. Jayne on 

 this subject, I found in the Field newspaper of 19th Oct., 

 1872, a report of an address he delivered to the members of 

 the IsTational Peristeronic Society when he was president. 

 His subject was "The Almond Tumbler," and I quote the 

 following sentences : " You are aware my only hobby has 

 been a Short-faced pigeon, and, of all the varieties, none can 

 equal, in my idea, the Almond Tumbler; if for no other 



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