134 THE PRACTinAI, PIGEON KEEPEE. 



Archangel ; and the second that the beaks are white, or with 

 only a touch of black on the very tip. The general pecu- 

 liarities of the birds Mr. Ludlow describes as follows : — 



" On reference to the accompanying representation it will 

 be seen that they are in appearance also somewhat novel, and 

 dissimilar to our English breed. The beak is not, as in mont 

 Tumblers, of a dove or ' spindle ' character, but straight, and 

 moderately thick and strong. Nor does the head possess the 

 high crown or projecting forehead so common amongst our 

 native Tumblers ; but it is rather long, yet nicely in keeping 

 with the peculiar elongated hollow back and narrow form of 

 the bird ; the neck is rather short, the legs also short, and the 

 eye of a ' pearl ' colour. I may say that great length and 

 hollowness from neck to tip of tail is a most desirable feature, 

 and such is (apart from a trial) one of the best signs of quality. 

 The entire length, as I have said, should be long; still the back 

 itself is actually short. The birds possess an elasticity of form 

 which is quite uncommon, and whilst trotting about in search 

 of food, &c., or after taking a refreshing draught, they will 

 raise their tails, and thus hollow their backs to a strange de- 

 gree. Another remarkable feature in them is that the little 

 pointed oil-gland, immediately above the tail (common to 

 poultry and most kinds of pigeons), is not to he found in any 

 pure birds of this breed, which is quite destitute of this common 

 characteristic. 



" The tail also is peculiar and quite uncommon. It is long, 

 and composed of from fourteen to twenty-two feathers, sixteen 

 being about the average number in these birds; these are 

 arranged equally on either side, one above another, and the 

 two top ones, diverging a little outwards, show a slight division 

 in the tail, but there is not the slightest affinity or resemblance 

 to a ' fan ' tail, as some might suppose by the excessive number 

 of feathers, but it is a distinct peculiarity of this breed (twelve 

 being the normal number of tail-quills in most pigeons). The 



