them. By continuing this for some weeks, they will get acciw 

 tomed to fly. Any that are determined not to rise need not be 

 let out with the flight, or even at aU. 



" When in fuU practice, they will start off from the trap 

 directly it is opened ; and, after rising high, and flying a good 

 time, according to the state of the air, will descend and sit on 

 the roof, gradually going in through tipping holes and bolt- 

 wires, as the trap ought to be closed, and not opened till the 

 next day." 



Should your tumblers be troubled with scouring, give them 

 whole rice, mixed with their ordinary food; or should the 

 scouring be obstinate, give them a pill three times a day, 

 composed of powdered chalk kneaded with syrup of poppies. 



THE POUTER. 



This is also a very favourite pigeon, and, without doubt, the 

 most curious of his species. He is a tall, strong bird, as he 

 had need be, to carry about his great inflated crop, frequently 

 as large and as round as a middling-sized turnip. A perfect 

 pouter seen on a windy day is certainly a ludicrous sight. 

 His feathered legs have the appearance of white trousers ; his 

 tapering tail looks like a swallow-tail coat ; his head is en- 

 tirely concealed by his immense windy protruberance, and 

 altogether he reminds you of a httle " swell " of a past cen- 

 tury, staggering under a bale of linen. 



A great pigeon authority says of the pouter, that to be 

 reckoned a handsome bird, it should possess the following 

 qualifications : — 



" His tail should be spread out, and not touch the ground, 

 nor droop close to or between his legs, and, above all, he must 

 not rest upon his rump, which is called rumping, and a very 

 g^eat fault. The shoulders of his wings should be kept close 

 to his body, and rather high up towards his neck j he should 

 also show the lower ends of the wings removed from the tail, 

 and keep his feet near together, walking chiefly on his toes. 

 He should measure eighteen inches from the point of the beak 

 to the tip of the tail, and the body of the bird should slope off 

 taper from the shoulders. The yellow-pied pouter should be 

 in irked as follows : — The front and higher part of the crop 

 snould be white, encircled with a shining green, mixed with the 

 colours with which he is pied, but the white should not reach 

 the back of the head, for then he is called " ring-headed," 

 there being a patch, in the shape of a half-moun, falling upon 



