322 PIGEONS. 



THE DUTCH CROPPER. 



This species of pigeon is gravel- eyed, and thick, short, and clumsy 

 in the body and legs, which should be feathered down to the feet. 

 These birds have a large crop or bag under their beak, which they 

 can inflate with wind, or depress at pleasure, and they are such care- 

 less parents, taking so little heed of their young ones, that it is re- 

 quisite to put the little things, as soon as they have fed off their soft 

 meat, under a pair of dragoons, pouters, or small runts. Care must 

 be taken to supply the croppers regularly with food, else they will 

 gorge themselves a habit they are extremely addicted to unless 

 properly tended. 



THE ENGLISH POUTER, OR POUTING HORSEMAN, 



This fancy pigeon was originally bred 

 in England, and thence derives its first 

 name, and from being a cross breed 

 between a horseman and a cropper, its 

 second title ; through judicious pairing 

 with the cropper, it has attained great 

 beauty and high value. Pouters are 

 very expensive birds to rear, as the 

 strain will soon become degenerate and 

 worth nothing ; the fancier will, there- 

 fore, even if he commences with a 

 stock of several pairs, be often obliged 

 to sell or exchange really good birds 

 for inferior sorts, in order that he may 

 be enabled to cross the breed. As the old birds pay little attention 

 to the wants of their young ones, it frequently happens that they are 

 starved to death ; careful fanciers, therefore, never allow them to 

 hatch their own eggs, but "ring the changes," by putting them 

 under a hen dragoon that has lately laid, and placing the eggs of the 

 latter bird under the pouter, in order that the pouter may commence 

 incubation, otherwise she will lay again in a short time, which, often 

 repeated, would in all likelihood kill her. Every bird must be kept 

 by itself during the winter season, and their coops must be lofty, so 

 that they may not acquire a stooping habit, which is a very great 

 fault. In the spring every pair of pouters must have two pairs of 

 dragoons to tend and feed them, but care must be taken that the 

 dragoons are kept in a loft separate from the pouters, else a cross 

 breed may probably be produced, and the stock become degenerate. 



The rules laid down by the fanciers regulating the various pro- 

 perties which a first- rate pouter should possess, are from the point 

 of the beak to the tip of the tail the bird should measure eighteen 

 inches ; its shape should be fine, and its back hollow and tapering 

 from the shoulders, for if there is a rise in its back, it is termed hog- 

 backed, and therefore considered defective ; it should carry the 

 shoulders of its wings close to its body, and display the wings with- 

 out straddling. Its legs, from the toe nail to the upper joint of the 

 thigh, should be seven inches in length, stout, straight, ani well 



