136 THE PIGEON BOOK 



record of faithfulness to the breed. To the young fancier 

 about to take up fancy pigeons for the first time a sufiS- 

 cient number of anxious questions as to housing, food, 

 and management generally present themselves, making it 

 inadvisable that he should add to them by taking up a 

 breed with a natural tendency to disease and a hundred 

 other complications sufficient to break the heart of an old 

 and experienced fancier. Here the Magpie steps in like 

 a bright little fairy, healthy and hardy by nature, 

 sprightly and cheerful, free from those appendages and 

 growths which render some breeds very liable to disease. 

 The Magpie is essentially a bird of type, type of head 

 and body as well — ^type before everything. I will take 

 the head first. It must be thin and fine, narrow between 

 the eyes, the face must be long (but not weak) between 

 the eyes and the beak, but well filled up ; nothing is 

 uglier than a weak, pinched-in face in front of the eye. 

 There should be no sharp rise of the head from the beak, 

 but a graceful, continuous curve from the tip of the beak 

 right over the head ; nothing abrupt, sharp, or angular 

 anywhere. Looked at sideways, a Magpie should have 

 what is called a straight face — that is to say, the line of 

 division between the mandibles should be straight and in 

 a line with the centre of the eye. What is known as a 

 down-faced Magpie is one that has a slight curvature of 

 the face and beak downwards; " Scandaroony " I would 

 term it. Another fault, only of quite a different charac- 

 ter, is the " Roman nose " type of head; it gives a bird 

 rather a " Homer " appearance. I do not like it in the 

 show pen, but I have found such a bird of great use for 

 breeding purposes. It is invaluable to counteract the 

 tendency of the modern long-faced Magpie to become 

 " weedy " or " snipy " faced. The term " fine in 

 beak " sounds pretty on paper, but a Magpie can easily 



