The Breeds of Pigeons. 201 



carriage. Its beak wliich is flesh-coloured should 

 be straightly set on and of medium substance. The 

 wattles should be small, fine, glovelike in texture, and 

 white in colour. The face should be long, well drawn 

 out, and nicely filled so that it presents a long even 

 sweep, rising gradually from the wattles to the top 

 of the skull, which should be nicely rounded at the 

 back, falling into the neck without any break or 

 angularity. The eye, the most distinguishing 



characteristic of the Cumulet should be clear white in 

 the iris which is large in proportion to the size of the 

 •eye, the pupil being correspondingly smaller, the 

 cere should be very fine and white in colour. The 

 body is like unto that of the old-fashioned Flying 

 Tumbler in shape, but is larger in size, the keel being 

 of medium depth, with a bold chest, strong powerful 

 looking wing butts, carr.ying strong broad flights of 

 good length, well above the tail, which should be 

 horizontal and off the ground. The legs should be 

 clean, free of feathers below the hock, and of a length 

 proportionate with the body so as to give the bold alert 

 carriage which is so strong a feature of the breed. 

 Condition is an important factor in the show pen, and 

 thus, unless a Cumulet is " in the pink " it possesses 

 little chance of success. Lancashire and Cheshire 

 are the strongholds of the Cumulet Fancy, the breed 

 having few followers outside these counties. Why 

 it is difficult to say. 



THE ENGLISH OWL. 



The F^nglish Owl is a very widely bred and highly 

 popular member of the Columbarian family. Further, 

 it is breel and kept by fanciers of high position in the 

 Fancy, it being one of the most valuable of our Fancy 

 Pigeons. In fact, to the Owl belongs the credit of 

 Tiaving fetched the highest price in the records of the 

 Fancy. An En.glish Owl, which was bred by that 

 most 'estimable fancier, Mr. Stephen vSalter, of Ryde, 

 having been sold for £200. 



The E^nglish Owl of the present time is a vastly 

 different Pigeon to its ancestor of thirty or forty years 

 ago. In those days it was smaller in both head and 



