138 



DOMESTIC PIGEONS. 



Chap. V 



Sub-race I. — The improved English Pouter, when its crop is fully inflated 

 presents a truly astonishing appearance. The habit of slightly inflating 

 the crop is common to all domestic pigeons, but is carried to an extreme 

 in the Pouter. The crop does not differ, except in size, from that of 

 other pigeons; but is less plainly separated by an oblique construction 

 from the oesophagus. The diameter of the upper part of the oesophagus 

 is immense, even close up to the head. The beak in one bird which I 

 possessed was almost completely buried when the oesophagus was fully 

 expanded. The males, especially when excited, pout more than the females, 

 and they glory in exercising this power. If a bird will not, to use the 

 technical expression, " play," the fancier, as I have witnessed, by taking 

 the beak into his mouth, blows him up like a balloon ; and the bird, then 

 puffed up with wind and pride, struts about, retaining his magnificent 

 size as long as he can. Pouters often take flight with their crops inflated ; 

 and after one of my birds had swallowed a good meal of peas and water, 

 as he flew up in order to disgorge them and thus feed his nearly fledged 

 young, I have heard the peas rattling in his inflated crop as if in a bladder. 

 When flying, they often strike the backs of their wings together, and thus 

 make a clapping noise. 



Pouters stand remarkably upright, and their bodies are thin and 

 elongated. In connexion with this form of body, the ribs are generally 

 broader and the vertebraB more numerous than in other breeds. From their 

 manner of standing their legs appear longer than they really are, though, 

 in proportion with those of 0. Uvia, the legs and feet are actually longer. 

 The wings appear much elongated, but by measurement, in relation to the 

 length of body, this is not the case. The beak likewise appears longer, 

 but it is in fact a little shorter (about '03 of an inch), proportionally 

 with the size of the body, and relatively to the beak of the rock-pigeon. 

 The Pouter, though not bulky, is a large bird ; I measured one which was 

 34 1 inches from tip to tip of wing, and 19 inches from tip of beak to end 

 of tail. In a wild rock-pigeon from the Shetland Islands the same mea- 

 surements gave only 28£ and 141 . There are many sub-varieties of the 

 Pouter of different colours, but these I pass over. 



Sub-race II. Dutch Pouter. — This seems to be the parent-form of our 

 improved English Pouters. I kept a pair, but I suspect that they were 

 not pure birds. They are smaller than English pouters, and less well 

 developed in all their characters. Neumeister 7 says that the wings are 

 crossed over the tail, and do not reach to its extremity. 



Sub-race III. The Lille Pouter. — I know this breed only from descrip- 

 tion. 8 It approaches in general form the Dutch Pouter, but the inflated 

 oesophagus assumes a spherical form, as if the pigeon had swallowed a 

 large orange, which had stuck close under the beak. This inflated ball is 

 represented as rising to a level with the crown of the head. The middle 

 toe alone is feathered. A variety of this sub-race, called the claquant, is 

 described by MM. Boitard and Corbie ; it pouts but little, and is charac- 



7 'Das Ganze der Taubenzucht 

 Weimar, 1837, pi. 11 and 12. 



8 Boitard and Corbie', ' Les Pigeons/ 

 &c, p. 177, pi. 6. 



