CHAPTER LXXVIII. 



FOREIGN PIGMY CROPPERS. 



Some of the following varieties of continental pigmy croppers have been 

 known in this country for a good many years. The first that were 

 introduced, so far as I know, were self coloured blacks, reds, blues, &c., 

 which went by the name of Auatrians. Self colours with white wing bars 

 are also known, the moat beautiful being the delicate cream or light dove 

 coloured ones called Isabels. The smallest of these pigmies are now 

 generally known by their German name of Briinners. So far as I can 

 learn from the description of these varieties by Nenmeister and Priitz, 

 they ought to have clean legs. I have had them with feathers on the 

 outsides of the legs and middle toes, precisely the same as in many of our 

 Norwich croppers, but prefer bare legs. Tegetmeier figures a pair of 

 pigeons called Isabels very tall and rough legged, but entirely devoid of 

 crop, and with none of the shape of a cropper. He also figures a pair 

 of red Austrians which well represent such as I have seen, except that 

 their limbs are well covered with downy feathers, and their colour is too 

 bright. Such Isabels aa I have had were miniature pouters with hardly 

 any leg feathering, more delicate in colour than those Mr. Tegetmeier 

 represents in his book, uplopers in carriage, only medium sized in crop, 

 and they carried their wings crossed at the tips. They were splendid 

 fliers, floating lightly in the air with their wings upheld for great 

 distances, but they did not clap so loudly as Norwich croppers, nor 

 carry their tails so fan-like. They had the ability, mentioned by 

 Nenmeister, of bending their hock joints forward, when stretched to 

 their utmost height; but they were not nearly so small as he speaks 

 of, being very little less than average sized Norwich croppers. Mr 

 Tegetmeier gives the following weights and measurements of birds he 



