292 



OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



V. Pouter Pigeons 



All pigeons keep their food for a long time 

 in a sack within their breast. Their organs 

 of digestion are so made as to complete the 



The Dwarf Poctkk Pigeon of Amsterdam 



work their feeble beaks have left unfinished. 

 They all have, more or less, a frontal protuber- 

 ance formed by two lateral appendices to the 

 esophagus. In addition they ha\'e an upper 

 stomach fastened to the esophagus, which 

 receives the food, softens, and liquefies it ; 

 thence it passes into the masticating stomach. 

 These internal arrangements protrude the 

 breast, and those species which swell their 

 chests until their heads are thrown back and 

 nothing is seen in front but these unnatural 

 protuberances are called, in English, pouter 

 pigeons, from the sulky, pouting air this atti- 

 tude conveys. They may be regarded as the 

 product of artificial breeding much practiced 

 in central Europe, although American breed- 

 ers have given to these birds so monstrous a 

 shape that the Eiiglisli pouter is an alien 

 among the foreign birds of his own race. 

 Nevertheless he is sometimes sold for his 

 weight in gold. The English bird is long and 



lank in the legs, and is distinguished more by 

 the shape of his feet, his attitude, and the oval 

 of his breast than by the color of his plumage. 

 The original Dutch pouter is not long-legged, 

 and his protuberant breast is spherical like 

 that of certain other German species. The 

 head of the English bird is relatively small, 

 and it is essential with breeders that he 

 shall stand erect and hold his wings pressed 

 tightly against his body. Our breeders 

 insist that a pair of pouters must produce 

 young with legs and feet exactly similar to 

 the fi.xed t^-pe. Singular to sa)-, the male 

 and female obey his behest so implicitly 

 that their young as they develop have legs, 

 feet, and claws of the e.xact prescribed 

 length, while all their other points are 

 brought to a preordained perfection that 

 is nothing short of miraculous. 



The French pouter and the Brunner breed 

 have become of late c|uite serious rivals to 

 the other species of pouter pigeons. 



Of what use are these strange -looking 



pouters .? Solely, it appears, to furnish proof 



of the power of man to interfere with the 



nature of animals by steady and reflective 



application of breeding experiments. We 



have here a monstrous transformation, which 



renders the creature unfit for any natural use 



to which it might be put. Nevertheless, such 



-:Jr7r-^i»jgj 



The Al-mond Pigeon 



changes can be so confirmed as to give, in the 

 end, hereditary qualities. Pigeons used for 

 scientific experiments, especially the pouter 



