183 THE JACOBIN. 



feathered bird, get as far as the middle of the head, over the 

 eyes. It should lie close, but not as if pasted to the head, a 

 slight space between it and the crown being well liked. It 

 ought also to be regular in its outline, and not split or 

 divided in its centre, as many are, but compact, well filled 

 up, and look like a feathered cap reaching over the head to 

 protect it. 



CHAIN. The chain, or frill, is the continuation of the for- 

 ward-growing hood feathers down each side of the neck. The 

 first difficulty with a good chain is the cheek feathers, or 

 whiskers, growing out against it, and causing irregularity in 

 its shape, to obviate which they are often weeded out. The 

 chain should come down on each side of the neck as far as 

 possible, and, without " taking hold of the Bill," should at 

 least meet in front, hiding the beak ; so that, in a first-rate 

 bird, the crown of its head is alone visible, both beak and 

 eyes being hidden in feathers. An exposed throat is faulty 

 according to its extent. In birds whose chains lap over, this 

 is not caused by one side lying right over the other, but by the 

 two sides meeting, and forcing their way through each other, 

 which, of course, causes a certain irregularity that cannot be 

 avoided. Otherwise, the whole outline of hood and chain 

 ought to be as even as possible. The feathers forming the 

 hood and chain should present a smooth surface, each one 

 lying in order; this is the difficulty with very long-feathered 

 birds, the shorter-feathered ones, with half an inch or more of 

 exposed throat, being much easier to produce good in this 

 respect. 



It will now be seen how a long neck adds to the appearance 

 of the Jacobin, and how it gives room for a display of chain. 

 Let a short-necked one be ever so good in hood and chain, 

 it looks mean beside an equally well-furnished long-necked one. 

 The ends of the chain must turn beautifully round at the 

 bottom. 



TIPPET. This is formed by the feathers growing backwards 



