134 THE PRACTICAL PIGEON KEEPER. 



Archangel ; and the second that the beaks are white, or with 

 only a touch of black on the very tip. The general pecu- 

 liarities of the birds Mr. Ludlow describes as follows : — 



" On reference to the accompanying representation it will 

 be seen that they are in appearance also somewhat novel, and 

 dissimilar to our English breed. The beak is not, as in mo-st 

 Tumblers, of a dove or 'spindle' character, but straight, and 

 moderately thick and strong. Nor does the head possess the 

 high crown or projecting forehead so common amongst our 

 native Tumblers ; but it is rather long, yet nicely in keeping 

 with the peculiar elongated hollow back and narrow form of 

 the bird ; the neck is rather short, the legs also short, and the 

 eye of a ' pearl ' colour. I may say that great length and 

 hollowness from neck to tip of tail is a most desirable feature, 

 and such is (apart from a trial) one of the best signs of quality. 

 The entire length, as I have said, should be long; still the back 

 itself is actually short. The birds possess an elasticity of form 

 which is quite uncommon, and whilst trotting about in search 

 of food, &c., or after taking a refreshing draught, they will 

 raise their tails, and thus hollow their backs to a strange de-- 

 gree. Another remarkable feature in them is that the little 

 pointed oil-gland, immediately above the tail (common to 

 poulti-y and most kinds of pigeons), is Tiot to he found in any 

 jDure birds of this breed, which is quite destitute of this common 

 characteristic. 



" The tail also is peculiar and quite uncommon. It is long, 

 and composed of from fourteen to twenty-two feathers, sixteen 

 being about the average number in these birds; these are 

 arranged equally on either side, one above another, and the 

 two top ones, diverging a little outwards, show a slight division 

 in the tail, but there is not the slightest affinity or resemblance 

 to a ' fan ' tail, as some might suppose by the excessive number 

 of feathers, but it is a distinct peculiarity of this breed (twelve 

 being the normal number of taU-quUls in most pigeons). Tlie 



