52 PIGEONS. 



"4. The smaller the girt the better, because by this means a contrast of 

 beautiful shape is given to the whole bird. 



" 5. The last thing that is generally allowed as a property in a Pouter is the 

 feather, and indeed its plumage affords a very great variety. The Pieds are most 

 universally esteemed, and under these may be ranked the Blue-pied, the Black- 

 pied, the Bed-pied, and the Yellow-pied, each of which advance in their worth 

 according as they answer best the foregoing properties ; for instance, if the Blue- 

 pied and Black-pied are equal in the measure of the other properties, the Black- 

 pied will be reckoned the best pigeon, on the account of the feather, and the 

 Yellow-pied, if equal, better than any. 



"Before we leave this head of feathers, we must take notice how a Pouter 

 ought to be pied : and, in the first place, the chop ought to be white, girt round 

 with a shining green, intermixed with the colour with which he is pied. By the 

 chop is meant the front part of the crop, and this white ought by no means to go 

 behind the neck, for then it is said to be ring-headed. He ought to have a bib or 

 round patch, of the same colour with which he is pied, coming down from under 

 his chop, and falling upon the chap, which makes it the shape of a half-moon ; 

 but if this bib be wanting he is said to be swallow-throated. 



" His head, neck, and back ought to be of one uniform colour, and the tail the 

 same ; and if the pigeon be Blue-pied, he ought to have two bars or streaks 

 of black across the lower part of both wings ; but if these happen to be of a brown 

 colour, he is said to be kite-barred, which is not so valuable. 



" The shoulder or pinion of the wing ought to be mottled with white, lying 

 round in the shape of a rose ; this is called a rose-pinion, and is reckoned 

 the best, though but very few arise to be complete in this property ; but if the 

 pinion runs with a large patch of white to the outer edge of the wing, he is said to 

 be lawn-sleeved. 



" His thighs ought to be clean white, though sometimes the joints of the knees 

 will be edged round with another colour, but let it fall here, or any other part of 

 the thigh, he is foul-thighed. 



" The nine flight-feathers of the wing ought to be white, otherwise he is said to 

 be foul-flighted, and if only the external feather of the wing be of the colour of 

 the body, it is called sword-flighted, or sworded. 



"Besides the five properties before mentioned, there is another, which, though 

 not generally allowed, will be found to be one of the best — I mean the carriage ; 

 under which I comprise the following heads : — 



" The crop ought to be so far filled with wind as to show its full extent, 

 without bufling* or being slack- winded, which are both esteemed very great faults. 

 The Pigeon that bufles fills his crop so full of wind, that it is thereby strained in 

 such a manner that he is ready to fall backwards, because he can't readily 

 discharge the confined air, which renders him uneasy and unwieldy, and many a 



* Probably this obsolete verb, to bufle, is derived from the French verb bouffer, to blow out or 

 puff out. 



