CHAPTER LXXIV. 



THE ENGLISH POUTER. 



This noble pigeon haa always been considered one of the finest varieties, 

 sharing, with the carrier, the premier position in the fancy since the time 

 when we have any records on the subject. It is referred to by Willughby 

 as follows : " Croppers, so called because they can, and usually do, by 

 attracting the air, blow up their crops to that strange bigness that they 

 exceed the bulk of the whole body beside. A certain SoUander informed 

 Aldrovandtcs that these Krojipers Duve, as they call them, are twice as 

 big as the common Domestic Pigeons, which, as they fly, and while they 

 make that murmuring noise, swell their throats to a great bigness, and 

 the bigger the better and more generous they are esteemed. Those 

 that I saw at Mr. Cope's, a citizen of London, living in Jewin-street, 

 seemed to me nothing bigger, but rather less than Euuts, and somewhat 

 more slender and long-bodied. These differ no less one from another in 

 colour than the precedent" (i.e. runts). 



Meagre though this description be, we can learn from it that, 200 years 

 ago, the London pouters were large pigeons, slender and long in body, 

 and with great crops. Sixty years later, however, we have Moore's 

 succinct account of the origin of the English pouter ; but whether it was 

 merely a traditionary account, or a narrative of facts within his own 

 knowledge, cannot now, I fancy, be determined. First of all, he de- 

 scribes the Dutch cropper as follows : " This Pigeon seems to be 

 originally Dutch, being naturally thick" (this is curious reasoning), 

 " and its Name is derived from a large Bag, or crop of Wind, which they 

 carry under their Beak, and can at Pleasure either raise or depress ; they 

 are thick bodied and short, their Legs are likewise thick, short, and 

 feather'd down to their Feet ; their Crop is large, but always hangs low ; 

 the Feathers on their Thighs hang loose, whereby they are said to be 



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