282 Fancy Pigeons. 



forward in the body, or widely placed, the latter often appearing quite 

 bowed in thigh from a front view. A ponter should show all his limbs 

 as far as the thigh joint, but many have this joint concealed in the 

 feathers of the body, their thighs lying close to their body like a runt's, 

 instead of standing well out. Finally, there is the way the limbs ought 

 to be feathered. The correct style is known aa stocking-limbed, or with 

 the legs entirely covered with short, soft, downy feathers. These feathers 

 may overhang at the hocks, as much as shown in the illustration. The 

 feathers on the toes must, however, be very long, spreading out from each 

 toot for three or four inches. For a short time after the annual moult, 

 these toe feathers remain perfect in some birds, if care has been exercised ; 

 but they never remain perfect throughout the season, and usually get 

 broken before they are full grown. They give such birds as have them 

 a very fine appearance, but very few are naturally furnished with them 

 in perfection, if the limbs themselves are just completely stockinged, and 

 not overfeathered. Pouters proper, as apart from small croppers, are 

 not now found entirely bare-legged, the least amount of leg-covering 

 being about half of the leg bare, or with short feathers on the outsides 

 of the limbs and on the toes. This is how the portrait of a 'pouter is 

 represented in the Treatise of 1765, which shows the gradual improve- 

 ment in this respect from Moore's time. Pouters are now found from 

 half leg-feathered to rough limbed, some of the latter having coarse hock 

 feathers reaching the ground, and toe feathers over six inches long. 

 Such leg-feathering quite impedes graceful movement in a bird ; but as 

 it often comes in those otherwise excellent, such are bred with others 

 under-feathered in limb. In matching stocking-legged birds together, 

 the produce is rather inclined to come bare-legged, and it is annoying 

 to find what are otherwise the best young birds so. Rough limbs have, 

 and I fear always must have, a place in every loft ; but as a matter of 

 individual taste I dislike them very much, greatly preferring thin limbed 

 birds, as they are infinitely handsomer, more graceful, and have greater 

 freedom in movement. It can be seen what a hea-v^ tax on the pouter 

 breeder this matter of leg-feathering is of itself. All else may be about 

 right, but it is three to one against the limbs being properly feathered. 



Length of feather, i.e., the length from the point of the beak to the end 

 of the tail, is next to be considered in the shape of the pouter. This is 

 ascertained by holding the bird in the left hand, then, placing the index 



