I go Fancy Pigeons. 



of a great Number o£ Feathers, seldom less than four-and-twenty, which 

 it spreads in a very elegant Manner, like the Tail of a Turkey Cook, 

 and throws it up so much that the Head and Tail frequently meet. 

 They are called by some Fan-Tails, and I once saw one that had six- 

 and-thirty Feathers in its Tail ; but when they have so many Feathers 

 it is apt to make them lop their Tails, and not let it meet with their 

 Head, which is a very great Fault. They are most commonly all white, 

 tho' I have seen both black, blue, red, and yellow Pieda, but the white 

 ones have generally the best Carriage in their Tail and Head : There 

 are two Sorts of these broad tail'd Shakers, the one having a Neck much 

 longer and more slender than the other ; but the longest Neck is the moat 

 beautiful and the moat esteem'd." 



If the chief varieties of fancy pigeons, excepting the native breeds of 

 the pouter, and carrier, did exist in anything like perfection in Moore's 

 time, they must have declined in quality during the following century ; 

 for it is during the lifetime of the present generation that the barb, 

 trumpeter, fantail, jacobin, owl, and turbit have been improved, and in 

 every case by the introduction of foreign blood. So that our day may 

 be well termed the renaissance of the fancy. Moore mentions two varie- 

 ties of the fantail, but the long-necked, tremulous, short-backed variety, 

 seems to have died out in England, along with good quality in the rest of 

 the above-mentioned kinds. 



The Indian fantail, as found in Calcutta, is usually entirely white, 

 with a large well-spread tail, a long back, and without much tremulous 

 motion in the neck. It is rare to get them both smooth headed and free 

 of leg feather, as moat have a peak-crested head or grouse-feathered 

 legs, while some have both. The Indian fanciers are fond of putting 

 small brass bangles on the legs of their fantails. Thia they do when 

 they are in the nest, so that they cannot fall off when full gi-own. The 

 bangles being hollow and open at the edges, have small metal balls put 

 into them. Their edges are then brought closely together, and as the birds 

 walk about a tinkling sound is produced. The tail feathers of Fantaila 

 in India are sometimes cut off short, and peacock's feathers introduced 

 into the hollow stumps. If well done this has a pretty effect. After the 

 entirely white fantails, whole blues, and ash-colonred or barless blues are 

 the commonest. The latter are nearly even in colour all over. I knew a 

 fancier in Calcutta who had a breed of glossy green lustred blacks, with 



