THE BALDHEAD. 107 



This is how I first came to breed Shortfaced 

 birds. When I was an apprentice boy, I said 

 one day in the workshop : " I will tell you my 

 favourite Pigeons to my mind there are none 

 like a pair of Yellow Baldheads." Thus I 

 made my choice ; but how to get them was the 

 difficulty. I knew they were not to be had for 

 money, because they did not ' exist. I knew I 

 should have to breed them if I ever obtained 

 them. I tried the experiment the harder the 

 task the more fascinating it gradually became 

 to me. 



I bought several birds at Club Row and Kent 

 Street, Borough. Some of them had tidy knobs, 

 and were so badly cut that I crossed them with 

 pleasant-faced flying Balds, and recrossed till 

 the strain began to improve in style by this 

 method. Now and then I bred a better cut bird, 

 with better head properties, and this encouraged 

 me to persevere. In a few years I had quite a 

 respectable-looking little family around me. I 

 then began to exhibit them at Friendly Shows 

 for the " benefit " of a Fancier in misfortune. 

 Eventually my birds were much talked of, and 

 would draw a good company when I put a dozen 

 into a pen at one of these Shows. I began to be 

 quite famous in the Fancy, for " Oh such charm- 



