THE ENGLISH POUTEK. 57 



deemed perfect ; but as absolute perfection is incompatible with anything in tbis 

 world, that pigeon which makes the nearest advances towards them is most 

 undoubtedly the best.' 



" Some of the crosses between Pouters and other pigeons are held in 

 esteem ; that most prized is the cross with the Carrier, as being a bird of powerful 

 flight. ' Light Horsemen. This is a bastard kind, of one parent a Cropper, the 

 other a Carrier, and so they partake of both, as appears by the wattles of their 

 bill, and their swollen throats. They are the best breeders of all, and will not 

 lightly forsake any house to which they have been accustomed.' (Willughby.) 

 The same mixture of breeds often goes by the name of Dragoon. " 



• It is hardly necessary to say that, to many of the statements in this pleasantly 

 written account, the acquiescence of the experienced amateur cannot be expected ; 

 that the Smiters of Willughby were identical with his Croppers is not correct. 

 The statement respecting the alternation of colours in the generations bred from 

 a pair consisting of a blue and a buff or chestnut bird, is only true accidentally, 

 and must not be taken as a general fact. 



Shortly after the publication of " The Dovecote and Aviary," Mr. John 

 Matthews Eaton published his very eccentric work, in which he reproduces the 

 text of Moore's " Columbarium," and adds the slight amount of additional matter 

 derived from " The Treatise " of 17G5, and the work ascribed to Girton ; to these 

 he appends some remarks of the late Mr. B. P. Brent, and a number of very 

 remarkable but perfectly characteristic and original notes of his own writing. 



These works comprise, it is believed, everything that has been written on the 

 Pouter, with the exception of a few paragraphs hardly worth transcribing in such 

 works as Mowbray's " Domestic Poultry," and other books of a similar class. 



Having discussed at considerable length the history of the origin of the English 

 Pouter, we have now to estimate its properties as an exhibition bird, and to take 

 into consideration those points of excellence that are valued by amateurs at the 

 present time, and that command success in a show-pen. The properties of the 

 Pouter that are now held in the highest estimation are the same as those recorded 

 by Moore nearly 140 years since. They are five in number, namely : — 



1. Length of leg or limb. 



2. Length of feather. 



3. Slenderness of body. 



4. Size and carriage of crop. 



5. Colour. 



In an article on the properties of the Pouter as an exhibition bird, published in 

 The Field some time since, Mr. Tegetmeier, after enumerating the properties as 

 above stated, says : — 



" I have arranged these properties in what I believe to be generally regarded as 

 the order of their importance, although I am aware that some fanciers of the 

 highest standing and greatest experience take a different view of their relative 

 value. 



i 



