The Fantail. 195 



pigeons, but ten or twelve of the fibres may adhere together and be 

 divided from another set. Fantails with as many as forty-two tail 

 feathers have been noticed. I never counted more than thirty-six. The 

 number is not of so much consequence as the shape of the taQ. It 

 ought to form as complete a circle as possible, the opening at the bottom 

 being something like a fourth part of the circle, or a little less. Through 

 this opening the flights should project, and not cross at their points. 

 The perfect tail is quite flat, and, when viewed in profile, perpendicular. 

 It ought not to incline forward, which is worse than being a little 

 arched or inclining backward. I have never seen the perfect tail on a 

 really first class shaker, though I have seen it on a bird of no merit 

 otherwise. The difficulty is to produce carriage and tail combined, and 

 the nearest to it is, of course, the best. While some persons even prefer 

 an arched tail on a shaker, they have not indicated how much or how 

 little arch they want. Surely the perfectly flat fan-shaped tail is what 

 is wanted, and what has been seen, though not with all else perfect. 

 My own illustration is not that of a quite flat tailed bird, and is, so far, 

 not that of a perfect bird. 



Feather. — I have referred to whole-feathered fantails, such as white, 

 black, blue, silver, red, and yellow, and to turbit-marked or saddle- 

 backed ones. The latter ought to have the wings, including the scapular 

 feathers, coloured, the flight feathers and aU else white. They have been 

 seen very correctly marked, though generally mottled on the head and 

 neck, and otherwise foul, and such have often red or yellow irides. The 

 eyes may be either hazel or gravel-coloured in a saddle-back, but 

 not broken. Tellow eyes would be difficult to breed, and would be so 

 far an additional property. Whole-feathered yellow fantails come 

 from Germany, I understand, but are not of good quality. There they 

 have also coloured birds with white tails, and reversely marked ones, 

 as well as saddle-backs, which are all described and illustrated by 

 Neumeister. I think much of my old paintings of almonds and a yellow 

 saddle-back, evidently portraits, as they show me that such birds for- 

 merly existed. 



Boitard and Corbie, in writing of the fantail, say: "It is all white, 

 or white with the head and tail black ; they are also found with the 

 shoulders (manteau) and tail affected with all the colours common to 

 pigeons." Saddle-backs are preferred with only coloured wings ; but I 



o 2 



