The Breeds of Pigeons. 15! t 



angularities. The neck should be short and stout, the 

 shoulders very broad and massi\e, with a bold, round 

 chest. The back, although not flat, should not be 

 too rounded. The wings should ha\e great strength, 

 both of quill and web, and should be carried well up. 

 The legs should be strong and muscular. In size the 

 Antwerp should be large yet not ungainK- or Runtish 

 in appearance. 



The sub-varieties are differentiated as follow s ; — 

 The short-faced should be, as its name implies, short 

 in beak and short in skull, yet it must be vtrv broad 

 and full in skull, and when \ie\\cd in profile the skull 

 of the shortface should resemble the shape of a pennv 

 piece. Few, indeed, come up to this ideal, the pre- 

 A'ailing fault being lack of rotundit\' ; but the short- 

 faced Antwerp, like the English Owl, want^ .a round 

 head, with the eye centrallv placed. Tlie be.'ik and 

 head of the mediinn-face should be longer than that 

 of the short-face, Init there should be the same full- 

 ness, ^\■idth .and strerigtli of muzzle, the difference 

 being that whereas the short-face should be round, 

 the medium-face is so elongated in face and back 

 skull as to make tlie head appeai- oval in shape. The 

 long-face presents greater length of face and sweep 

 of skull than the medium-face, and there is a corres- 

 ponding increase of stoutness and length of beak, and 

 quantitv of beak w.attle. 



The shape of bod\- and carriage should be the 

 same in all three di\asions, and it should ne\'er be 

 allowed to become clumsv and slo\enl\'. Breeders 

 have gi\'en so much attention to substance of head and 

 beak that thev have somewhat neglected colour, 

 shape, and carriage of bodv, and neatness of feather. 

 If attention is given to these points, ■\\'hilst preserving 

 the massi\'eness of head and beak, especially of the 

 inider mandible, the Ant-werp should again become 

 much prized and sought after. 



The colours mostlv seen are silver duns and red 

 chequers. There are blues and blue chequers, but 

 thev are seldom seen, and when seen are far behind 

 the other colours \n substance of head and beak. \'\'hen 



