372 FANCY PIGEONS. 



These are the chief colours, valued, I believe, in the order 

 named. Then come silvers, preferred with bars of as dark a 

 dun as possible ; dun chequers, called silver chequers ; yellow 

 mealies, called creamies ; and lastly blacks, which are sooty or 

 blue black, showing bars of a deeper black. 



My opinion of the Short-faced Antwerp is in accordance with 

 that of a great many men who are the mainstays of the pigeon 

 fancy. I cannot admit that it has one original point in its 

 composition entitling it to be called an original variety, and all 

 the diagrams and illustrations published of it only confirm this 

 opinion. The chief difference between it and the Owl is said to 

 be that the latter is essentially a short-faced pigeon, which the 

 Antwerp ought not to be. No doubt all the Owl tribe are known 

 as Short-faced Frilled Pigeons ; but they would quite as correctly 

 be called blunt-faced, for mere shortness of face is not any desi- 

 deratum in them, as it takes away room for the filling up of the 

 forehead behind the beak wattle. This when well-developed 

 gives them, above all else, a look of quality, just as it does 

 the Antwerp. 



The Short-faced Antwerp may be difficult to breed good 

 according to the standard laid down for it ; but, when bred as 

 good as can be, it is no more than a pigeon with some Owl points 

 in its head, and, for the most part, clothed in the mere off 

 colours of fancy pigeons. I think the encouragement it gets 

 tends to foster low art in pigeon breeding, wastes time and 

 trouble that might be much better employed, and that there is 

 no result, from an artistic point of view, in its production. 

 Many fanciers, whose judgment of pigeons is acknowledged to 

 be sound, agree with me in this opinion. 



The Long-faced Antwerp Pigeon. 



During the past few years this variety, bred for the show-pen, 

 has come into considerable prominence. Those birds I have seen 

 were very large pigeons, mealy and red chequer in colour, with 

 enormous, long, arched heads, and a considerable amount of 



