122 FANCY PIGEONS. 



marking, and often either bare or only half-feathered on 

 the legs. 



Some five or six hundred large vessels leave Calcutta for 

 Great Britain every year, and few of them without some live 

 stock on board as pets, for sailors are very fond of a monkey, 

 parrot, or pair of birds to amuse themselves with on the 

 long voyage. In this way, many black Sherajee Pigeons, such 

 as can be bought for 2s. or 3s. a pair, have reached this country, 

 and probably they have been coming for the last 200 years 

 or more ; but the earliest mention of this breed I know of 

 in our literature, is in the Poultry Chronicle, vol. iii., page 

 443, in the report of Prescot Show, in Lancashire, on the 4th 

 July, 1855, as follows : " The pigeons seemed to be the sub- 

 ject of universal interest. Among these were two pens, 

 quite new (and distinct as to variety), and which, we believe, 

 have never hitherto been shown at any public competition, 

 We allude to birds entered as 'Tailors.' Why so called we 

 know not, but are informed the original parent birds were 

 imported from the Canadas (under that name), at an immense 

 expense, by the late Earl of Derby, for the Knowsley aviary." 

 And then follows the description of them, agreeing with 

 what I have given of the Sherajee, except as to mottled breast 

 and feathered feet, which shows them to have been merely 

 sailors' pigeons, though called " Tailors " ; and no doubt they 

 were bought in Liverpool out of some East India vessel, the 

 Canadas not having any such stock to part with. Again, at 

 page 491 of the same volume, they are referred to by Mr. Brent 

 as follows: "I beg to second Mr. Eaton's appeal to pigeon 

 fanciers, and hope they will support the Anerley Show; and 

 trust to see some of the rare varieties there, such as Laughers, 

 Silk Fantails, Taylors, and others." 



In Brent's Pigeon Book, and in Eaton's 1858 Treatise, the 

 name of " Tailor " is dropped, and that of " Lahore," or " Martin," 

 substituted, the former being given because Brent had found 

 they came from that city, and the latter on account of their 



