288 FANCY PIGEONS. 



it was customary for the Jews, during the last century, to 

 wear their beards when the English did not do so, the word 

 may be no corruption or technicality, but mean, literally, 

 bearded. The Carrier seems to have had little jew wattle in 

 Moore's time; he refers to the beak wattle as being "some- 

 times join'd by two small Excrescences of the same kind on 

 each Side of the under Chap." The picture of a Carrier in the- 

 Treatise of 1765, however, represents a bird well jewed. The 

 jew wattle ought to be similarly formed to that on the upper 

 mandible, though less in degree; so that, when all is fairly 

 well formed, the beak with its wattles, upper and under, has 

 the shape of a peg top. Sometimes the jew wattle grows 

 very much forward, and is heaviest towards the point of the 

 beak; and this, though not the correct form, is generally 

 found on what are very stout birds. A form of beak wattle 

 called the " walnut wattle " has the three portions on the 

 upper mandible very much in one mass, and not so pro- 

 minently defined as in the peg-top style. This form, when 

 large and well-shaped, is also valuable. A full-sized beak 

 wattle should measure 4in. in circumference. 



THE HEAD ought to be long, narrow, and flat on the top. 

 Length is necessary for the growth of eye wattle, and to 

 prevent the crowding together of the beak and eye wattles. 

 Length of head assists what is called the distance, or space, 

 dividing the eye wattle from that of the beak, and this is. 

 also improved by the tilting of the latter. However, Moore 

 very truly says, when writing of the distance : " But I cannot 

 allow this to be a Property, because when a Carrier comes to 

 be three or four years old, if the Eye is broad, and the Wattle 

 large, they must of Necessity meet." This is no doubt true; 

 at the same time, a clear dividing space or distance between 

 the wattles is admired, and, the greater the length of head, 

 the more distance there will be. The head ought to be narrow, 

 and, as much as possible, equally broad over its length; it 

 ought also to be flat across, and is sometimes depressed on. 



