: BY WILLIAM G. BARTON. 71 



you want him to, it is an easy matter to put his bill into 

 your mouth and blow him up, as a boy does a football. 

 He will retain this air when set down, and strut about 

 with as much satisfaction as. if he did it himself. This 

 habit of inflating the crop is in some degree common to all 

 pigeons and aifords them unmistakable pleasure, although 

 once in a while the pouter may have a difficulty in dis- 

 charging the air, perhaps even fall over backwards. 

 They generally fly with much wing clapping and often 

 with their crops fully inflated. When very hungry they 

 are apt to gorge themselves, and all the pigeon books give 

 instructions for hanging up a gorged pouter in a stocking 

 leg. The pouter should be very tall and slender, with long 

 legs that are properly feathered, long wings and tail, and 

 a full round crop. He should be as perfectly marked as 

 possible. There are blue-pied, black-pied, yellow-pied, 

 red-pied, white, and other colors. Indeed most varieties 

 of fancy pigeons are found of different colors. There is 

 a small or "bantam " variety called the "pigmy" pouter. 

 The Scotch are noted for their fine pouters. 300 has 

 been paid for three pairs, and $135 for a yellow-pied 

 hen, and probably even larger prices have been realized. 

 Prices like these are not rare among rich and enthusiastic 

 fanciers, and figures as astonishing may be quoted for all 

 the more important varieties of fancy pigeons. 



The Carrier is by many fanciers placed at the very head 

 of the fancy, but it is not a favorite of mine. It has 

 beauty, because it is a pigeon, and is very curious, but re- 

 quires a high degree of culture to fully appreciate it. One 

 must "be educated up to it," as the old saw-sharpener said 

 to the man who objected to the music of his file. The 

 carrier is now poorly named because, although its ances- 

 tors were undoubtedly used for the purpose which the 

 name suggests, this fancy carrier is, by the highly devel- 



