134 Fancy Pigeons. 



immediately hung- from the platform in full sight of the dovecote of the 

 adversary, or there was attached to its tail a little bottle of gunpowder, in 

 which a fuse was placed, and then, when the enemy sent out his pigeons, 

 the captive was let loose after the fuse had been fired, so that when 

 it arrived in the midst of the flight the bottle burst, and many of the 

 pigeons near were tilled or wounded. 



In the present day, however, such cruel reprisals are not in use, and 

 the sport is generally carried o lira, or on the terms of the redemption of 

 captives at the rate of a Modenese lira. 



I am indebted to the Italian books I have mentioned for the foregoing 

 information on the Triganieri, and chiefly to Malmusi' a "Dei Triganieri," 

 1851. 



The Triganica pigeon, which is of comparatively modern origin — other 

 varieties, as described under the Archangel pigeon, having been pre- 

 viously used for the sport — is said by Neumeister to be a variety of the 

 Huhnertauhen, under which classification he describes it. The marking 

 is certainly very similar to that of the Florentiner, but the Triganica 

 pigeon is now only a medium-sized bird, and though many of them 

 carry their tails somewhat erect, they ought to carry them horizontally. 

 This variety certainly shows some relationship to the Leghorn runt race 

 in being high on the logs, short in the flights and tail, and in being 

 marked much the same as the Flore)itiner, but its shape is in every 

 respect modified, and other elements have without doubt entered into its 

 composition. The illustration is from a bird lent mo by Mr. Ivatts, of 

 Dublin, which was very little larger than a common flying tumbler. 



There are no less than 152 colours in this variety, all of which have 

 received names from the Triganieri, and these may be found in Professor 

 Bonizzi's "I Colombi di Modena." Seventy-sis of these are what are 

 called ^chietti, or pure colours, that is, the pigeons are all coloured 

 without any entirely white feathers, and the other seventy-six are the 

 corresponding <ja:zi, or magpies of these colours, that is, pied with white, 

 like the illustration. Some of the most beautiful colours are, black with 

 the wiug coverts cberiuered with red, which I have attempted to show 

 in the illustration. Black, ■\\'ith the wing coverts heavily tipped with red, 

 so that the whole shoulder, as in a turbit, is red, the head, flights, and 

 tail being jet black. The same with yellow chequered or whole yeUow 

 shoulders. Dun head, flights and tail, the shoulders buff, but tipped 



