146 OUR DOMESTIC FOWLS. 



ordinary number, twelve. This development 

 of supernumerary tail feathers is very remark- 

 able, and would alone give the bird a strange 

 aspect ; but besides this, it has the habit of 

 throwing back its slender delicate neck till 

 the head almost touches the tail, while, at the 

 same time, the neck quivers with a tremulous 

 motion. In this attitude, the chest is thrown 

 forward, and the wings droop, while the bird 

 seems to exult in the display. The beak is 

 very shoi't, the head small, and the plumage 

 generally of a pure snowy white. Pied birds 

 are not in estimation. There is a variety 

 called the narrow-tailed shaker, which appears 

 to us to be nothing more than a cross between 

 the fan-tail and some common breed. Neither 

 of these birds have much power of flight. 



The Jacobine, or Capper. — This pretty 

 little variety is remarkable for the develop- 

 ment, silkiness, and reversion of the plumes of 

 the back and sides of the neck, which are so 

 disposed as to form a sort of full hood or muff 

 in which the head is almost buried. The head 

 is small, the beak short, the iris of the eye of 

 a clear pearl colour. The plumage varies in 

 colour, but fawn-yellow birds are preferred : 

 the head, the quill-feathers, and the tail, are 



