96 THE PIGEON-FANCIER. 



low cut because it looks more finished and hand- 

 some, and is, from of old, the correct thing. 

 Those readers who are familiar with Mr. Wol- 

 stenholme's beautiful drawing of the Baldhead, 

 engraved in 1852, and published by Matthew 

 Eaton, must admit the truth of this. A "high 

 cut" bird looks unpleasant and unnatural. It 

 is a burlesque on the beautiful. I know it is 

 an unpardonable sin to contradict the throned 

 opinions of your generation ; nevertheless, I 

 humbly assert the modern high cut bird is a 

 monstrosity. Reducing the white on the crown 

 of the head to a minimum, and driving the 

 coloured feathers as high on the top of the 'head 

 as you can get them, is undoubtedly the pre- 

 vailing fashion. But in an age when fashion 

 encourages such eccentricities as tight lacing, 

 tight boots, chimney-pot hats, and high cut 

 Baldheads, you are prepared for any aberra- 

 tion, however grotesque, it may be guilty of. 

 If you want to keep fashion straight, watch it 

 very sharp ; if you do not, it will run off into 

 the temple of folly, and worship at the shrine 

 of ugliness. Some Fanciers change the term 

 and call it close cut, but I dub it close cropped, 

 for its appearance reminds me of some one 

 recently liberated from Newgate. 



