95 PIGEONS OF COLOUR. 



illustrated pigeon book, now publishing, I fear it has become 

 lost. 



The Archangel Pigeon. 



The first mention of the Archangel Pigeon in English 

 literature is in Dixon's "Dovecote and Aviary" (1851). An 

 authentic account of its introduction into England is given, 

 by Mr. Betty, in Mr. Tegetmeier's work. The late Mr. 

 Frank Redmond, being in Ghent in 1839, selecting some 

 pigeons for Sir John Sebright, procured a pair of Arch- 

 angels. Sir John bred them for some time, and at his 

 death the greater number went to the aviaries of the Earl 

 of Derby, at Knowsley, at whose death they were distributed. 

 The English name is probably derived from the vivid metallic 

 lustre the bird carries on the back and wing feathers, 

 similar to what painters have shown on the wings of angels. 

 At least, it does not derive its name from the town of Arch- 

 angel. The German name is Gimpel, or, the Bullfinch Pigeon, 

 considered as very appropriate by Neumeister, who says : 

 "No other pigeon displays so decidedly its name by its 

 colouring as does the Bullfinch, and thus it can be dis- 

 tinguished at a first glance." According to him, it has only 

 been known in Germany for about fifty years, but whether 

 this time is to be reckoned from the date of his first edition, 

 or from the date of the copy from which I quote (1876), I 

 am unable to say. Some authors, he says, call it a native 

 of Southern Germany and the Tyrol, where it is common. 



I find from C. Malmusi's "Historical Notices of the Tri- 

 ganieri," or Pigeon Flyers of Modena (1851), that, besides 

 the present breed, the Triganieri of Modena formerly trained 

 three other kinds of pigeons for their aerial contests. 

 " Pausing now," he writes, " in my description of the quali- 

 ties of the Triganini, I will mention that three other distinct 

 species, or races of pigeons were trained to flight by the 

 Modenese Triganieri that is to say, the Turchetti, Timpani, and 



