CHAPTER VI. 



FOREIGN POUTERS; ISABELS, BRUNNEN OR PIGMY POUTERS, 



SEVERAL varieties of Pouters are to be found on the continent of Europe 

 which are not much known in our own country. The common Pouters of 

 Germany, Holland, and France are very similar to the old Dutch Croppers, as 

 described by Moore, whose account of the breed is quoted in the last chapter. They 

 are large pigeons, with well-distended globular crops. They often possess great 

 length of feather ; but their legs are short, and, consequently, their carriage is not 

 erect, and they cannot compare in elegance with the English birds. In colour 

 they vary greatly, the continental amateurs devoting great care to the production 

 of variations in the colour and markings of the plumage. Some idea of the 

 numerous varieties thus produced may be gained from the fact that M.M. Boitard 

 and Corbie, in their volume entitled " Les Pigeons de Voliere et de Colombier," 

 Paris, 1824, describe nearly twenty varieties in the colour and markings of the 

 Continental Pouters, or " Pigeons Grosse Gorge.'' 



Many of these birds are very prettily marked ; a pair, a short time since, came 

 into our possession, of a very bright yellow, with pure white wings and flight- 

 feathers, and well-defined white rings round the necks. Some of these breeds 

 are well feathered on the legs and feet ; others are not so ornamented. 



In addition to these large breeds, there are some smaller Pouters to be found in 

 various parts of the continent. Among the best known of these at the present 

 time, at least in England, are the birds known at the pigeon-shows as Isabels, and 

 so named, we may presume, in consequence of their colour. They may be described 

 as small Pouters, with very good-sized crops, and having the feet generally rather 

 heavily feathered. In colour they vary from a light and delicate fawn tint to a pale 

 yellow, and as in many other of the German breeds, the black bars so characteristic 

 of the wild Blue Rock, and the majority of the blue birds descended from it, have been 

 supplanted by two white bars. These Isabels have been common at our pigeon 

 exhibitions for some years, and really good specimens are very successful competitors 

 in the classes in which the new or distinct varieties are shown. Isabels are very 

 delicate and elegant birds ; on a closely mown lawn they always appear to great 

 advantage, their colour contrasting well with the green background formed by the 



