THE ART OF THE FANCY. 15 



the Fancy, and win their laurels in the show- 

 pen. The best bird has yet to be bred. 



Lord Lytton says : " Man is so formed for 

 design by the Great Designer that in his veriest 

 amusement he still involuntarily seeks an object. 

 He needs a something definite a something 

 that pretends to be practical, in order to rivet 

 his attention." To impart a real lively zest, 

 the Fancy sets before us a clearly defined object, 

 which is to raise an ideal bird. Every Pigeon- 

 Fancier has an ideal of his own before him, and 

 so has everybody else for that matter, if life be 

 worth living. The farmer has his ideal cow ; 

 the artist an ideal picture he strives to paint ; 

 the business man has an ideal fortune he labours 

 to amass ; the preacher an ideal sermon he 

 aspires to preach. Every young lady pictures 

 the husband she prefers kind, devoted, obedient, 

 rich, docile, distinguished. Young men are 

 equally shrewd, and can describe accurately the 

 Angel-wrapt-in-clay they want for a wife one 

 who is domesticated as well as ornamental 

 one who is clever in the kitchen and accom- 

 plished in the drawing-room. May he get her : 

 she is a rara avis. 



The object of my leisure is to raise an 

 ideal bird. I have selected a variety of the 



