76 



the quantity of almond coloured feathers that are found in the hackle : 

 others call it an ermine, I suppose from the black spots that are generally 

 in it ; however I am sensible the name is not compatible to the term so 

 called in heraldry, which is only white spotted with black ; yet as the 

 gentlemen of the Fancy have assigned this name to this motley colour, I 

 shan't quaiTel with them about a term ; if the three colours run through 

 the feathers of the flight and tail, it is reckoned a very good almond, or 

 ermine, and is much valued. 



187. — N.B. An ermine Tumbler never comes to the full beauty of its 

 feather, till it has twice molted off, and when it grows very old will de- 

 cline till it runs away to a down-right mottle or other colour. 



than in other generations, besides. Pigeon Fancying has its fashions ; at times, it is all 

 the rage to breed Carriers, other times the Pouters, then again Almonds, or black, red, 

 or yellow-mottled Tumblers. Had Mooke seen the Almond Tumbler in the state 

 Mayor described it, I believe he would have told us more about it ; he was too honest 

 a Fancier to have done otherwise, I cannot help thinking after carefully having studied 

 and digested Mooee's work, he paid more attention to the Carrier and Pouter than he 

 did to the Txmibler, It is very remarkable that MOOEE does not mention the black- 

 mottled Tumbler, the yellow mottled Tumbler, or the red mottled Tumbler, neither 

 does he mention the bald-head Tmnbler, or the beard Tumbler. He leaves me here in 

 a fix. Read ParagTaphs 185, 186. In Paragraph 186, Mooee says, this Pigeon affords 

 a very great variety of colours in its plumage, as blacks, blues, whites, reds, yellows, 

 duns, silvers, and in short a pleasant mixture of all these colours with the white ; at the 

 same time I am driven to exercise my brains upon this subject, and cannot help think- 

 ing there must have been black, yellow and red- mottled bald-heads, and beard Tumblers 

 in Mooee's day, as this Fancy ranks so high with Gentlemen Fanciers, I do feel 

 astonished and surprised he did not mention the mottles, bald-heads, or beard Tumblers, 

 for aught I know, the mottles, bald-heads, and beards, were as prevalent then as they 

 are now ; Mooee might have considered it unnecessary to mention, or might have con- 

 sidered he had mentioned it when he stated there were Tumblers of all colours : I 

 acknowledge there is, and of whole or self-colour, as it is termed by the Fanciers. 

 Mayor, thirty years after, gives an account of the blacks, yellows, and red-mottled 

 Tumblers, also of the bald-head and beard Tumblers. 



187. (Beent). — It is with considerable caution that I approach these peculiar pets of 

 the Fancy, for, as most gentlemen have some point in this hobby which they consider 

 paramount, it is impossible to enter into a full description of these beautiful httle 

 Pigeons in the small compass of this paragraph. I shaU, therefore, make a few general 

 remarks on the points, properties, and management of these birds, and recommend 

 those who desire a fuller description, to peruse Mr. J. M. Eaton's " Treatise on the 

 Almond Tumbler/' 



(Beent.) — The Almond Tumblers were obtained by careful breeding, selecting, and 

 crossing colours from the commoner kind of Tumblers, and after a long series of years, 

 by drafting and breeding in and in, as much as it was prudent, have they been brought 

 to the state of perfection in which they are now to be seen. I am inclined to think the 

 name of " Almond" originated in their grovmd-colour being formerly that of the well- 

 known "Almond (nut) ;" though they are now bred of a much brighter colour. The 

 colour of the Ahnond Tumbler is a mixture of yeUow, red, black, and white, well broken 

 and intermixed ; but short-faced Tumblers are of various colours and markings, as 

 black, white, yellow, red, kite, and dun, silver or blue, either whole coloxu-ed, mottled 

 with w^hite, bald-headed, bearded, or magpied. Their points of excellence may be 

 enumerated under the five following properties of head, beak, eye, shape, and feather : — 

 The head must be round, broad, and high, rising abruptly from the beak ; and the fuller 

 and more projecting the forehead, the more it is valued. The beak should be short, 

 small, straight, and tapering, measuring, from the eye to the end of the quick of the 

 beak, from five-eights to three-quarters of an inch in length, — the shorter the better ; 



