74 PIGEONS AND THE PIGEON FANCY ; 



chin. All tumblers have short " faces," but the difFerence 

 betvveen the coarsest, " mousy, " flying-tumbler and the 

 high-bred, delicjite, short-face is very great, and there are 

 all grades between. The Almond Tumbler should be 

 of a dark, rieh yellow color (difficult to describe — it might 

 be called a very light brown), dotted with small black 

 spots, while the fiight and tail feathers should eaeh show 

 distinct marks of yellow, black, and white. Some of 

 the finest specimens remind one of a tulip. The almond 

 birds often have young of other colors, which are used 

 in breeding other almonds. 



The Fantail or " Fan" is the best known fancy pigeon. 

 It probably originated in India, and many have been 

 brought home from Calcutta in Salem vessels. Ladies 

 always admire the fantail ; and a flock of pure white ones 

 strutting over a lawn, or a coUection of various colors, 

 white, black, blue, yellow, red, pied, saddle-backed» 

 feeding in a dense Cluster like a bouquet of fine flowers, is 

 worth going some distance to see. The old name for them 

 is Broad-tailed Shaker. The term shaker is on ac- 

 count of the peculiar quivering motion of their necks when 

 they strut. The tail of the common pigeon contains twelve 

 feathers while that of the fantail has been known to carry 

 forty. But erect carriage and symmetry of form are more 

 to be desired than a great number of feathers, and most 

 tails contain only between twenty and thirty. 



[Only short notes had been written about the followiug 

 varieties which were more or less fully described.] 



The Frilled Pigeons, with a frill on the breast like a 

 ruffied shirt-front, variously crested or plain-headed, in- 

 clude the foUowing, with many sub-varieties of color, etc. : 

 Turbit, Turbiteen, Satinette, Brünette, Bluette, Blondi- 

 ette, and Owl. 



The Jacobin, or "Jack," is apt to be poor, but when 



