86 THE PRACTICAL PIGEON KEEPER. 



find this is a delusion. Besides its value in this respect, the 

 Dragoon has the merit of a very high degree of aesthetic beauty, 

 and is one of the best breeders and feeders known, so that the 

 refuse birds may be made very useful. It is a good Homing 

 Bird; and until the recent importations from Belgium, was 

 the principal pigeon employed for carrying messages in this 

 country. 



Some years ago there was considerable difference as to 

 the correct ideal of a Dragoon. Breeders in London and its , 

 neighboui'hood showed a propensity to obtain as much beak- 

 wattle as possible ; while in the Midland counties a long and 

 thin head, with little wattle, and a different type in some other 

 important respects, generally prevailed, each party claiming to 

 have the " original " type. These views have, however, 

 gradually approximated, and the difference is not now very 

 great ; but as some still maintain the contrary, it may be well 

 to place the truth of our statement beyond dispute, in order 

 that beginners may not be misled by mere verbal disputes, 

 such as are too common among pigeon fanciers. 



That veiy exaggerated Carrier-like wattles were once shown 

 in and about London we have never known disputed, and is 

 established by Eaton, who relates how he has often seen indubi- 

 table Carriers shown as Dragoons — sometimes with success, and 

 sometimes not. The gradual change from this false standard 

 will need no further proof than the representation on the opposite 

 page of a beautiful blue Dragoon which won many cups and 

 other prizes a short time ago, and which, up to this day, we have 

 seldom seen surpassed. "We give it as the now accepted type 

 of a London Dragoon. This bird had, in fact, only one definite 

 fault, viz., a little " jewing," or wattle, on the under mandible, 

 which we have erased. From this identical pigeon, then we 

 will describe the present moderated and now accepted type as 

 follows. The length of face to centre of the eye, as nearly as 

 possible, in a proper sized bird, 1| inches (the proper size bein" 



