146 THE PRACTICAL PIGEON KEEPER. 



to this than to an eighth of an inch or more in mere actual 

 length. 



As to shape and position, the thigh must have a fair 

 amount of muscle, and the whole limbs be placed pretty close 

 together. They must not be too bent at the hock, which is 

 being cow-hocked, nor, on the other hand, be quite straight, 

 which 'looks loose and weak. The hocks should be turned 

 slightly in and the toes slightly out. In regard to feather, 

 the thighs and shanks should be well covered with soft, rather 

 small feathers, longer feathers spreading well out at the toes. 

 The faults here are being scant or almost bare; or, on the 

 other hand, furnished with flaggy feathers and more or less 

 vulture-hocked. 



The " crop " is to be as spherical as possible, and carried 

 exactly even, and not on one side, as is sometimes the case ; 

 on these conditions size of crop is a merit. It should be 

 capable of being fully inflated, and not so over large as to 

 then bulge behind the bird. It should also carry up well, so 

 as on the one hand to bury the beak on top, and on the 

 other to flow easily into the lines of the body below. A crop 

 carried low often shows a nick or angle at its junction with 

 the breast, and this fault is heavy odds in a pen against a 

 bird when its opponent is good in this point. 



Slenderness of girth, or of body round the shoulders, is 

 one of the most attractive properties. A first-class Pouter 

 appears surprisingly small in the hand on this account. Of 

 course the age of the bird has something to do with it, all 

 Pouters getting somewhat stouter with each year ; and it also 

 depends (so far, at least, as appearance of it goes) very much 

 upon the wings being clipped up tight at the shoulders : a 

 point in which age also tells to disadvantage, especially in 

 hens which have bred. To show this point well a Pouter 

 must be slightly hollow in the back, the want of which is 

 called being " hog-backed." It is this property which was 



