VARIETIES OF FANTAILS. 157 



Fantail should be small. The oil-gland most pigeons possess is 

 often absent in the Fantail (not always), and there are also 

 liable to occur feathers which split into two stems from one 

 root, which is a fault. We believe, however, this feature 

 often arises from plucking, the feathers of a Fantail so treated 

 crften coming amiss : on which account even a damaged tail is 

 best, as a rule, left alone. 



The size of the taU occasions various difficulties occasionally. 

 If the bird carries its head too far back, it may go through the 

 tail; the only remedy for which is to carefully tie the four 

 middle ones together so as to prevent this : after a while the 

 habit may probably be cured. Other birds do not carry their 

 wings low enough, so that the points pass through the taU 

 instead of under it : this may sometimes be cured by loading 

 each longest flight with a bit of lead, but the trouble is Hi- 

 spent, and it is best to give up showing such a bird, and sim.ply 

 shorten the flights sufficiently to save the bird the annoyance, 

 and make it comfortable for breeding. 



The English type of bird — larger, with immense tails carried 

 over the back, little motion, and the head much higher — ^is now 

 little encouraged except in coloured birds. Blacks, blues, reds, 

 and yellows are sometimes seen of it ; but most of the whites 

 have Scotch blood in them, and are being rapidly bred to Scotch 

 properties. The Scotch type is shown in whites and what 

 are called Saddle-backs, which are all white except the sides of 

 the wings, which are coloured like a Tiurbit. By crossing with 

 other pigeons some peculiar markings have been produced, but 

 these have never maintained their position. There is also a 

 " laced " Fantail known, in which all the feathers have the web 

 . disunited, like SUky fowls. 



In breeding Fantails, too small hens should be avoided, the 

 progeny being generally too delicate to rear. Smallness should 

 therefore be sought on the cock's side, with a moderate-sized 

 hen. If any point be deficient, it should of course be supplied ; 



