io8 Fancy Pigeons. 



In this country, pigeons of the Leghorn type have been shown under 

 the name of Burmese, or Florentines. The former name is quite erroneous 

 and misleading I think. Messrs. Baily and Son call them in their price 

 lists Florentine, Maltese, or Dodo pigeons, and varieties of the race are 

 known abroad by the first two names. Those I have seen were either 

 black, or black mottled with white on the head, neck, and wing coverts. 

 The following varieties of this race of pigeons are mentioned by Neu- 

 meister. 



Die Malthesertauhe, the Maltese pigeon, is of the size of a small English 

 bantam fowl, with a smooth head, somewhat long and tapering, a truncate 

 beak, strong nasal skin, deep set eyes, fleshy red eyelids, a somewhat 

 projecting crop, broad back, round arched breast, small short wings, 

 strong smooth red legs and feet, and a very short tail, standing up 

 straight over the pinions of the wings, and seeming as if cut off short 

 with scissors. The lower part of the body behind, is, as with the domestic 

 fowl, thickly provided with down. The whole form is globular, almost 

 as broad as it is long, and very high legged. The gallinaceous pigeon 

 has a turned-up rump, like the peacock pigeon (fantail). It takes long 

 steps, and its bearing, gait, and the movements of its head, are like the 

 hen. It propagates well, and brings up young ones all the year round, 

 except during the moulting season. The plumage is, with the pure 

 original race, self-coloured white, nest to it comes the whole-coloured 

 blue. With other coloured ones, as black and brown, its characteristics 

 are weakened. They are chiefly found in the neighbourhood of Linz. 



Judging from Neumeister's illustration of the Maltese pigeon, it would 

 appear to weigh something like three pounds per pair. He figures a 

 variety called the Khine Maltheser, or little Maltese, which appears 

 little bigger than a common tumbler. 



Die F/orentiner oder Piemontesertauhe, the Florentine or Piedmont 

 pigeon, is a peculiarly marked variety, which I have chosen for my 

 illustration. The head and neck, the wing coverts and flights, and the 

 tail are coloured. The back and scapular feathers are white. This 

 marking is also found with a slight difference in other pigeons, such as 

 the Modena flying pigeon and the Turkish domino. The Florentine is 

 described as being about the size of an English bantam hen, similar in 

 characteristics to the Maltese, and generally of blue markings. Neu- 

 meister mentions the Modena flying pigeon as a variety of the Florentine, 



