144 OUR DOMESTIC FOWLS. 



development of its crop ; but whicli, in form 

 and proportions, had little to recommend it. 

 All pigeons are capable of inflating tlieir crop 

 ■with air, and thus of distending it. In the 

 pouter, the crop is remarkably capacious, and, 

 •when inflated, assumes an almost globular 

 form, extending from the under mandible to 

 the top of the chest. This vast inflation of 

 the crop does not, in our eyes, add anything 

 to the beauty of the bird, as it produces au 

 appearance of distortion, while the bird in 

 order to carry it -with ease is obliged to carry 

 itself upright, with the legs straight and stiff, 

 in a line with the erect body. Some think 

 this gives the bird a majestic air, but it seems 

 to us to be a stiif unnatural strut. The 

 pouter often measures eighteen inches in 

 length from the point of the beak to the end 

 of the tail ; the legs, or tarsi, are long and 

 covered with fine white down ; the back is 

 concave, and the tail large. The general 

 colours are blue, rufous, or fawn, regularly 

 pied with white ; we have seen many of a pure 

 white, but these are not preferred. In the 

 arrangement of the markings, and in various 

 minor details, pigeon fanciers find much to 

 interest themselves ; to us they appear un- 



