72 



black, though I will not assert that there are no pieds of the species. 

 There are but few of them in England, and I have been informed that 

 in Holland they have asked five and twenty guineas for a single pair of 

 them. 



COLUMBA TABELLABIT GUTTUROSA. 



The Powthig Horseman. 



182. — This Pigeon is a bastard strain between the Cropper and the 

 Horseman, and according the number of times that their young ones are 

 bred over from the Cropper, they are called first, second or third bred ; 

 and the oftener they are bred over, the larger their crop proves. The rea- 

 son of breeding these Pigeons is to improve the strain of the Powters, 

 by making them close thighed, though it is apt to make them rump, from 

 the Horseman's blood. (*) They are a very merry Pigeon upon a house, 

 and by often dashing off are good to pitch stray Pigeons, that are at loss 

 to find their own home ; (f ) they breed often and are good nurses, gene- 

 rally feeding their young ones well. I have known these Pigeons to be 

 six inches and six and a half in legs ; they are a hearty Pigeon 

 and, give them but meat and water, need very little other attendance. 

 Some of them will home ten or twenty miles. (J) 



* 182. (Mayoe, p. 106.) — But having now brought the strain of the Pouters to so 

 high perfection, that practice is disused. 



+ (Matoe, p. 106.) — Which gives great satisfactiton to those gentlemen who delight 

 in the Flying Fancy. 



% 182. (Eaton.) — ^There cannot be a doubt among Fanciers that the Pouting Horse- 

 man is a hybrid, between the Cropper and the Horseman, coming nearer in appear- 

 ance to an English Pouter in miniature than a Horseman does to a Carrier in minia- 

 ture, as I observed in a former part of the work. At the sale of Bantams, Pigeons, 

 &c., belonging to the late celebrated and spirited Fancier, Sir John Sebright, I was 

 astonished to see the English Pouters in miniature, possessing the five properties of the 

 Enghsh Pouter, viz., 1st. — Length and shape of body ; 2nd. — Length of Legs ; 3rd. — 

 Crop ; 4th. — Feather ; 5th. — Shape or carriage. It is the sagacity of the Horseman 

 that enables it to find its way home, twenty miles or upwards, which proves they are 

 good flyers, provided they are light in body and small in girt (to use the old Fanciers' 

 term, of passing them through the ring of your finger, comparatively speaking.) 

 I have seen some of these light-bodied Pouting Horseman that appeared to me 

 to fly as light as Tumblers, and when flying with the Tumblers, their round globular 

 crops, well filled and up, has a very pleasing effect, owing to the contrast of the Tum- 

 blers. With regard to dashing off, they are not ouly a merry but a spirited Pigeon ; 

 not only spirited, but graceful in the extreme ; I would rather see an elegant shape, 

 small or narrow-girt Pouting Horseman, six and a half inches in the leg, (think of this. 

 Gentlemen of the Pouting Fancy !) than an English Pouter, even if it would measure 

 seven inches. A large English Pouter, with thick girt and hog-backed. Style is a 

 gi^and thing, and the Pouting Horseman is the English Pouter in miniature, retain- 

 ing all its properties. 



(Eaton.) — How often it happens at a grand show of these remarkable, fine, large, 

 English Pouters, after having been previously prepared for shovping, that is separating 

 each cock and hen, and not allowing them to see a Pigeon, show well in their own 

 pens ; but when put into the show pen, a male bird, expecting it will show, it 

 stretches forth its head and neck, apparently taking a sight of all the Fanciers in the 

 room, almost as mx^ch as to say to some of them — you owe me something : some may 

 show to a certain extent. It is very disheartening to Gentlemen Fanciers of the 

 English Pouter when this takes place, after forwarding their birds miles, &c., to give 



