THE ALMOND TUMBLER. 83 



side to it. There are two kinds of Fanciers, 

 the " head and beak " and the " feather Fanciers " 

 the former striving for grandeur in formation 

 of head, the latter for splendour in colouring of 

 feather. The head and beak Fancier is not above 

 suspicion. He abhors a bird that is " mousy " 

 or " pleasant-faced." It must have a grand 

 " stop " to it, by fair means or by foul. So he 

 drifts into the ignoble knack of " making up " 

 the head of young birds, thus trying to reach his 

 ideal by a short cut. Mr. Fulton, in his classic 

 tome on Pigeons, reveals the method of the mal- 

 practice, for which candid utterance he deserves 

 the warmest thanks of all honest men. There 

 is no way of putting down an evil practice so 

 thoroughly effective as dragging the monster out 

 by the ear into the fierce light of publicity, and 

 allowing a virtuous and indignant public to kill 

 him by criticism. May the tireless clamour of 

 public criticism assail the nefarious practice of 

 crushing into shape a Tumbler's skull, until it 

 becomes one of the sins of the past. It is a 

 disgrace to humanity ; it is the scandal of the 

 Fancy. 



The practice is cruel. Many young birds are 

 killed, literally crushed to death, in the process. 

 Those that survive suffer for life. In extreme 



