149 PIGEONS OF PECULIAR VOICE. 



the Continent, that Blood Bed Trumpeters of high quality 

 are in existence. He informed me that he saw a pair of 

 them in Paris. Some idea of their rarity and value may 

 be learned from the fact that the price asked for them was 

 3,000 francs; and he learned afterwards that they had been 

 sold at this price. He described them as fine in colour, and 

 well-lustred. I have no doubt that there must be Yellows as 

 well. I have never bred any of the new Trumpeters, but 

 my experience with the former kind, both here and in India, 

 with English ones, showed me, that they alter very much 

 in feather during their first moult, after which I always 

 found them to moult without further change. A bird which 

 moulted into a fair mottle, always came out of the nest 

 entirely black, or with only a few grizzled feathers on the 

 wing coverts. If there was much white on a nestling, it 

 generally got very gay, and some would become half white 

 when almost black in the nest. I never saw a bird get 

 darker during its first moult. 



QUALITY OF FEATHER. The choice Trumpeter should be 

 long and loose in feather, the flights should reach beyond the 

 tail, and all the feathers should be soft and silky in texture. 



SIZE. The size of the Trumpeter should be above the 

 average of fancy pigeons; the larger it is the better, for, if 

 rose, &c., are in proportion, large size adds to its appearance. 



SHAPE. The appearance of a good bird is that of a very 

 low standing, broad-set, short-necked pigeon, almost close to 

 the ground, unable to see about it, except in a downward 

 direction; it gropes about from place to place, and is fond 

 of retiring into corners, where it drums to its mate. 



VOICE. One of the chief pleasures in keeping Trumpeters 

 is to hear their pleasant notes. They are, with their sub- 

 varieties, and the Laughers, the musicians of the Colum- 

 barium. I would think little of a bird, however good in 

 fancy points, if quite deficient in voice; and, although it 

 cannot be taken into account in judging at a show, it should 



