78 THE PRACTICAL PIGEON KEEPER. 



between eye and eye very little ; but the effect of the whole 

 head was thick and chubby, and so far quite contrary to the 

 Carrier type. 



But there are other disadvantages of this kind of eye 

 wattles. They are a constant source of misery to the bii'd. 

 The wattle, being so thick and soft, as the bird gets old often 

 falls down more or less over the eye. This has to be cut off, 

 and the bird is then relieved for a time ; but the wattle grows 

 so fast that the process has often to be repeated a second or 

 even a third time. Still more constantly, however, these 

 fleshy wattles form under the eye what are known as " spouts," 

 or, in other words, a groove or gutter, from which fluid con- 

 stantly flows. Tills is generally supposed to be caused by the 

 thick wattle pressing on the eye-ball, and thus causing irrita- 

 tion, the resulting fluid causing the spout ; but we are inclined 

 to think the usual cause is precisely the opposite, and that the 

 heavy wattle draws the lid away from the eye. If the reader 

 pulls his lower eye-lid away from the eye-ball for a few moments, 

 the irritation felt and the secretion of fluid which follows will 

 show at once what we mean ; and in no other way can we ex- 

 plain the constant occurrence of small pimples on the inside 

 surface of the eye-lids in these cases. Any large eye-wattle is 

 rather subject to form a spout, which may also follow a peck 

 from another ' bird, or any other injury; but the fleshy-eyed 

 birds are far the most subject to it ; and as the constant dis- 

 charge from, the eye is very weakening, this is a very serious 

 consideration, and a strong reason for preferring thin-eyed 

 birds. 



Besides the head-points which have now been described, 

 Moore justly lays great stress upon a long and thin neck, which 

 was even then beginning to be deemed a property. It is con- 

 sidered so now in the fullest sense, and it almost invariably 

 carries other properties with it. For instance, a Carrier should 

 have good length of thigh and leg, and be as long in feather 



