312 Fancy Pigeons. 



the first must positively please us most, not on account of its beauty, but 

 on account of its peculiarity, which consists therein that the bird with its 

 great length, and upright bearing, shows a very voluminous upper body, 

 and a high, thin underbody, both of which are only joined by the slender 

 figure. Dr. Bodinus says ' the English cropper gives the impression of a 

 large beautiful statue placed on a small pedestal, ' and I find this very 

 striking. The Pomeranian cropper, on the other hand, appears very 

 compact, firm, and powerful, yet shows in the parts of its body, and in its 

 whole appearance, such great harmony as I have never seen in any other 

 race of croppers, with the exception of the striped Hollanders" (whole 

 coloured croppers, with white long bars). " If we examine more closely 

 the whole impression of both races, we find that in both the character 

 of the nation is exactly expressed. The Englishman likes the unusual 

 and peculiar, and the Pomeranian (especially the New Fore-Pomeranian) 

 likes the less striking, but compact and strong, and from these motives 

 in the breeding both races have evidently arisen. After having seen 

 that the total impression with each race is quite different, we find that 

 the differences in the single parts of the body are not important. 

 This circumstance lets us know that both races are nearly related, there- 

 fore there remains only the question whether one race descends from 

 the other, and which has been the original, or whether both have arisen 

 from some common stock. In my opinion we find the answer to this 

 question very easily, if we look practically into the way and manner of 

 degeneration in both races. That both easily degenerate with careless 

 breeding lets us know that both races are not yet very old, but in this 

 respect we must not think of the generations of man, for, no doubt, 

 both races have existed 200 — 300 years. If we now examine the degene- 

 racies of English pouters, the shorter legs and less upright carriage show 

 their ancestors must have had these faults. With the degeneration of 

 Pomeranian croppers we find lower and less feathered legs, white spots 

 on the wings and white snips on the forehead, which leads us to suppose 

 that they proceed from a race which had bare legs and white heads. 

 Only the old German croppers are so marked, and I therefore take them 

 to be the original of our croppers." 



From the foregoing it is evident that there is enough resemblance 

 between the English and Pomeranian croppers to establish a connection 

 between them. Sailors speak of every northern European who is not a 



