THE ART OP THE FANCY. 15 



the Fancy, and win their laurels in the show- 

 pen. The best bird has yet to be bred. 



Lord Lytton says : " Man is so formed for 

 design by the Great Designer that in his veriest 

 amusement he still involuntarily seeks an object. 

 He needs a something definite — a something 

 that pretends to be practical, in order to rivet 

 his attention." To impart a real lively zest, 

 the Fancy sets before us a clearly defined object, 

 which is to raise an ideal bird. Every Pigeon- 

 Fancier has an ideal of his own before him, and 

 so has everybody else for that matter, if life be 

 worth living. The farmer has his ideal cow ; 

 the artist an ideal picture he strives to paint ; 

 the business man has an ideal fortune he labours 

 to amass ; the preacher an ideal sermon he 

 aspires to preach. Every young lady pictures 

 the husband she prefers — kind, devoted, obedient, 

 rich, docile, distinguished. Young men are 

 equally shrewd, and can describe accurately the 

 Angel-wrapt-in-clay they want for a wife — one 

 who is domesticated as well as ornamental — 

 one who is clever in the kitchen and accom- 

 plished in the drawing-room. May he get her : 

 she is a rara avis. 



The object of my leisure is to raise an 

 ideal bird. I have selected a variety of the 



