VARIETIES OF FANTAILS. 157 



Fantail should be small. The oil-gland most pigeons possess is 

 often absent in the Fantail (not always), and there are also 

 liable to occur feathers which split into two stems from one 

 root, which is a fault. "We believe, however, this feature 

 often arises from plucking, the feathers of a Fantail so treated 

 often coming amiss : on which account even a damaged tail is 

 best, as a rule, left alone. 



The size of the tail occasions various difficulties occasionally. 

 If the bird carries its head too far back, it may go through the 

 tail ; the only remedy for which is to carefully tie the four 

 middle ones together so as to prevent this : after a while the 

 habit may probably be cured. Other birds do not carry their 

 wings low enough, so that the points pass through the tail 

 instead of under it : this may sometimes be cured by loading 

 each longest flight with a bit of lead, but the trouble is ill- 

 spent, and it is best to give up showing such a bird, and simply 

 shorten the flights sufficiently to save the bird the annoyance, 

 and make it comfortable for breeding. 



The English type of bird larger, with immense tails carried 

 over the back, little motion, and the head much higher -is now 

 little encouraged except in coloured birds. Blacks, blues, reds, 

 and yellows are sometimes seen of it ; but most of the whites 

 have Scotch blood in them, and are being rapidly bred to Scotch 

 properties. The Scotch type is shown in whites and what 

 are called Saddle-backs, which are all white except the sides of 

 the wings, which are coloured like a Turbit. By crossing with 

 other pigeons some peculiar markings have been produced, but 

 these have never maintained their position. There is also a 

 " laced " Fantail known, in which all the feathers have the web 

 disunited, like Silky fowls. 



In breeding Fantails, too small hens should be avoided, the 

 progeny being generally too delicate to rear. Smallness should 

 therefore be sought on the cock's side, with a moderate-sized 

 hen. If any point be deficient, it should of course be supplied : 



