EXHIBITION ANTWEEPS. 



181 



birrls of the same variety and with analogous properties are 

 now exhibited as "long-faced," "medium-faced," and "short- 

 faced," it is better to adopt the generic name employed above, 

 though the short-faced is the perfect type of the breed. There 

 is no doubt that this is really a Belgian bird, and has arisen 

 from the predominance in some localities of that Owl blood, 

 which, as stated in Chapter XIX., is one of the component 

 parts of the Homing Pigeon. To this day a frilled breast 

 is no unheard-of occurrence, though rare; and the Owly type 

 has to be rather care- 

 fully guarded against 

 in breeding. 



Most of the pro- 

 perties of the Exhibi- 

 tion Antwerp are in 

 the head, of which 

 we append an illus- 

 tration of the full 

 natural size. It will 

 be seen at a glance 

 that great capacity 

 and intelligence are 

 the characteristics of 

 this head ; and when 

 trained these birds 

 often make fair 

 Homers, though now 

 too valuable to be used for such a purpose, and seldom flown. 



First of all, we observe that the word " short-faced " is a 

 misnomer, because shortness is not a property. If it were, then 

 the shorter it was the better the bird would be, which is 

 not the case. Fig. 25 represents the profile, and Fig. 26 a 

 top view of a good mature head ; and if it were any shorter it 

 would be so much worse. The first and great point is that the 



Head of Ahtwerp. 



