TRUMPETERS. 189 



and the Bhanks themselves furnished with very long quiU- 

 feathers. 



The old style of English Trumpeters excelled in foot-feather, 

 but rose and crest were poor. About 1860, or soon after, how- 

 ever, Messrs. John Baily and Son began to import birds from 

 Russia, with enormous development of rose and crest, so far 

 superior that they beat all the old stock. Their foot-feather 

 was less developed ; but this point has been improved, and the 

 Russian Trumpeter is now the accepted standard. The eyes 

 are pearl, and the colours black, white, black-mottled, and 

 splashed. It is a long-feathered bird, loose in feather, and 

 being also large in body, appears very large in size. Nothing 

 can be more stately than the way a Trumpeter cock walks 

 about when courting his hen. 



Trumpeters deserve to be considered a very high class of 

 pigeon, but are not general favourites, being unfortunately very 

 delicate. It is not probably the climate — since they come from 

 Russia — but more likely the usual confinement in which they are 

 kept, which is too much for them. Be the cause what it may, 

 imported birds are peculiarly liable to consumption, for which 

 it might be well to try small doses of hypophosphite of soda. 



The lighter mottles and splashes do not look nearly so at- 

 tractive as blacks and the orthodox mottle, or rather approach 

 to it, for we have never yet seen a really good rose-mottled 

 Trumpeter. The most likely plan of breeding such would be 

 to go on matching blacks with the better mottles. 



In breeding for fancy properties the voice of the Trumpeter 

 has been nearly lost, in many birds entirely so. It is never 

 taken into consideration in judging. There is, however, a true 

 laughing or trumpeting pigeon, with clean legs, not only described 

 by Moore, but later by Brent; and in 1878 a pair of these 

 birds were shown by Mr. Betty at a meeting of the National 

 Peristeronic Society. They were blue-chequered, very small, 

 dove-hcadod, i>nd clean-legged. 



