105 PECULIAR FEATHERING. 



ends of their feathers, more especially those of the wing 

 coverts and secondaries, being goffered or crimped, as if by 

 a pair of curling tongs, as Brent describes it. This appear- 

 ance is often seen in a less degree on hard-feathered pigeons, 

 like Dragoons. As Brent says, the Frillback must not be 

 confused with the Friesland Runt. Some fanciers, however, 

 are of opinion that the Frizzled Pigeon must have been 

 produced from the Frillback; but I think this is doubtful. 



The Lace Pigeon. 



The Lace Pigeon is another variety, distinguished, like the 

 Frizzled and Frillback Pigeons, by the peculiar formation of 

 its feathers. It has its prototype in the Silky Fowl of 

 China and Japan, which early travellers called a fowl bearing 

 hair or wool on its body instead of feathers. This pigeon 

 was unknown to Moore, and was first described in our pigeon 

 literature in the " Treatise " (1765), where a very good plate 

 of it may be seen. It is described as white in colour, turn- 

 crowned, and as being valued on account of its scarcity, 

 and the peculiarity of its feathers, "the fibres or web 

 of which appear disunited from each other throughout 

 their whole plumage, and not in the least connected, as in 

 common with all other pigeons, where they form a smooth, 

 close feather." 



The Lace Pigeon, which is known in France as the Pigeon 

 Sole (Silky Pigeon), and in Germany as the Seiderihaartaube 

 (Silken-haired Pigeon), is of much the same size and bearing 

 as the common field pigeon. It is almost always pure white 

 in colour, and generally smooth-headed. The fibres of all 

 its feathers are disunited, and appear as if every second 

 one had been cut out. The wing coverts, and quill and 

 tail feathers, with their long, fringed rays, have given it 

 its English name of Lace Pigeon. It is not so hairy or 

 woolly in appearance as the Silky Fowl, but more like the 

 produce of that fowl when crossed with a common one. Its 



