PIGEONS. 327 



as for instance, if the head is very long, narrow, and flat, it is 

 reckoned, as far as shape is concerned, perfect ; if the contrary, it is 

 termed a barrel head. The properties of the wattle of the eye are 

 its breadth and circular and uniform shape, for if one part appears to 

 be more scanty than another, it is termed pinch- eyed, and is of com- 

 paratively little value ; while if it is full, even, and free from irregu- 

 larities, it forms a rose-eye, which is highly prized. The wattle 

 should be wide across the beak, and short from the head to the point 

 of the beak, and lean a little forwards from the head, as the bird is 

 said to be peg wattled if it lies flat. The beak must be black, long, 

 straight, and thick ; if it is an inch and a half in length, it is con- 

 sidered a long beak, but it must never measure less than an inch and 

 a quarter; if the beak is crooked, or, as it is termed, hook- beaked, 

 or a thin spindle beak, the value of the bird is much diminished. 

 This species is in general either dun or black in colour, although 

 white, blue, splashed and pied specimens occur ; the black and dun 

 birds are usually the most perfect in their properties; but as the 

 blues, whites, and pieds are very rare, inferior birds of these colours 

 are of considerable value. The carrier has been termed king of the 

 pigeons, from the elegance of its shape, and great sagacity. In 

 wager- matches these birds have flown from London to Antwerp, or 

 to Paris, in less than six hours. The telegraph will soon render them 

 useless ; but in early times they were the messengers sent in cases 

 of life and death. 



THE MAWMET. 



The mahomet, commonly corrupted to mawmet, and supposed to 

 belong to that species of pigeon which aided the great impostor after 

 whom it is named, by being trained to approach his ear, is a beautiful 

 cream-coloured bird, with bars of black across its wings ; and although 

 the outside or surface of its feathers is of a cream-colour, yet the 

 part next the body, the flue feathers, and even the skin, are of a dark 

 sooty tint; it is much about the size of a turbit, but instead of a 

 purle it has a fine gullet, with a handsome seam of feathers ; its head 

 is thick and short, eyes orange-coloured surrounded by a small naked 

 circle of black flesh ; it has also a little black wattle on its beak. 



THE BARB. 



This species was originally intro- 

 duced from Barbary ; in size it is a 

 little larger than the jacobine: it has 

 a short thick beak, a small wattle, 

 and a circle of thick naked incrusted 

 flesh round its eyes ; the wider this 

 circle of flesh spreads round the eye, 

 and the more brilliant it is in colour, 

 the more highly the bird is prized; 

 this circle is narrow at first, and is 

 not fully developed until the bird is 

 three or four years old. The plumage 



