208 



DOMESTIC PIGEONS. 



Chap. VI. 



a body 20 inches in length, " though 17 or 18 inches is reckoned a very- 

 good length ; " and he has seen the legs very nearly 7 inches in length 

 yet a leg 6h or 6J long "must be allowed to be a very good one." Mr.. 

 Bult, the most successful breeder of Pouters in the world, informs me 

 that at present (1858) the standard length of the body is not less than 

 18 inches ; but he has measured one bird 19 inches in length, and has. 

 heard of 20 and 22 inches, but doubts the truth of these latter statements. 

 The standard length of the leg is now 7 inches, but Mr. Bult has recently 

 measured two of his own birds with legs 7i long. So that in the 123 

 years which have elapsed since 1735 there has been hardly any increase 

 in the standard length of the body ; 17 or 18 inches was formerly reckoned 

 a very good length, and now 18 inches is the minimum standard ; but the 

 length of leg seems to have increased, as Moore never saw one quite 7 inches 

 long ; now the standard is 7, and two of Mr. Bult's birds measured 7h inches 

 in length. The extremely slight improvement in Pouters, except in the 

 length of the leg, during the last 123 years, may be partly accounted for 

 by the neglect which they suffered, as I am informed by Mr. Bult, until 

 within the last 20 or 30 years. About 1765 38 there was a change of 

 fashion, stouter and more feathered legs being preferred to thin and nearly 

 naked legs. 



Fantails.— The first notice of the existence of this breed is in India, 

 before the year 1600, as given in the ' Ayeen Akbery; ' 39 at this date, judging 

 from Aldrovandi, the breed was unknown in Europe. In 1677 Willughby 

 speaks of a Fantail with 26 tail-feathers ; in 1735 Moore saw one with 

 36 feathers ; and in 1824 MM. Boitard and Corbie assert that in France 

 birds can easily be found with 42 tail-feathers. In England, the number 

 of the tail-feathers is not at present so much regarded as their upward 

 direction and expansion. The general carriage of the bird is likewise now 

 much regarded. The old descriptions do not suffice to show whether in 

 these latter respects there has been much improvement : but if fantails 

 had formerly existed with their heads and tails touching each other, as at 

 the present time, the fact would almost certainly have been noticed. The 

 Fantails which are now found in India probably show the state of the race, 

 as far as carriage is concerned, at the date of their introduction into 

 Europe ; and some, said to have been brought from Calcutta, which I kept 

 alive, were in a marked manner inferior to our exhibition birds. The Java 

 Fantail shows the same difference in carriage ; and although Mr. Swinhoe 

 has counted 18 and 24 tail-feathers in his birds, a first-rate specimen sent 

 to me had only 14 tail-feathers. 



Jacobins,-— This breed existed before 1600, but the hood, judging from 

 the figure given by Aldrovandi, did not enclose the head nearly so per- 

 fectly as at present : nor was the head then white ; nor were the wings and 

 tail so long, but this last character might have been overlooked by the 

 rude artist. In Moore's time, in 1735, the Jacobin was considered the 



38 < j^ Treatise on Domestic Pigeons,' 

 dedicated to Mr. Mayor, 1765. Preface, 

 p. xiv. 



39 Mr. Blyth has given a translation 



of part of the 'Ayeen Akbery' in 

 ' Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' vol. 

 xix. 1847, p. 104. 



