200 Fancy Pigeons. 



Fleet-street, seeing a print of this Bird" (the jacobin) " at a 

 window, stopped to make his observations thereon, and having well 

 viewed it, he went in and purchased it, declaring to the seller that he 

 never saw a stronger hkeness in his life ; and as for the wig, it was 

 exactly the same he always wore. For he imagined it altogether a 

 oaricatura of one of liis intimate acquaintance ; and the person of whom 

 he bought it, did not think it necessary at that time to undeceive him." 



The picture of a jacobin in the Treatise represents a very round- 

 headed, short-beaked, rather down-faced, apparently high-cut bird, with 

 the broad eye wattle of a good jacobin. It is entirely dark thighed and 

 vented, and fall flighted as far as seen. The chain feathers are long, 

 but do not meet in front as they ought to do. The mane is clearly 

 brought out, but is not so even at its ridge as many modern birds have 

 it. We know that the short-faced tumbler had not reached a high degree 

 of quality when the author wrote, and, as he says, *' the true jack is a 

 very small Bird, very little bigger than a tumbler"; we know that, 

 whatever its size was when Moore wrote, it was by no means the smallest 

 of pigeons thirty years afterwards. The fact is, all the small varieties 

 of pigeons produce extra small stock occasionally, and although small 

 size is admired in many varieties, quality in the properties that go to 

 make them excellent ought not to be, and is not, sacrificed for size. 



One of my set of eight old paintings of pigeons is a self-coloured 

 jacobin, with feathered legs and bare feet. It is a gravel-eyed, short and 

 open chained, large bird, not worth consideration from a fancier's point 

 of view. Although I was able to rub off the varnish from the other 

 seven pictures, I could make nothing of this one ; but from what I can 

 make out, it represents a blue with black bars. 



There is not mnch difference in modem opinion regarding what a 

 jacobin pigeon ought to be, excepting on the property called the mane. 

 Some say the mane is wrong, and that a breed existed having a clean 

 division of the feathers all round the back of the neck, which was the 

 true breed. If this is correct I have never seen it, and, moreover, I do 

 not believe it is natural for the feathers of the jacobin to grow in this 

 way. I have formed this opinion from the observation of great numbers 

 of the breed, both British and foreign, not poor half-bred looking things, 

 known in country places, and by mere keepers of pigeons, as ruffs, but 

 what were fairly good jacobins. The feathers at the back of the neck in 



