HEAD 01' JACOB1NK. 



CHAPTEE XVI. 



THE JACOBINE. 



'I^HE Jacobine pigeon is one of the oldest breeds of which we have any special 

 -*- record. The striking character of its plumage attracted the notice of the 

 old artists and naturalists, and consequently it is frequently to be seen figured in 

 the engravings of some two hundred years since. Willughby, in his " Orni- 

 thology," published in 1678, gives a drawing of a short-beaked Jacobine with a 

 fair-sized hood and long narrow chain, the feet being rather heavily feathered, and 

 he furnishes us with the following account of the breed : — 



" Jacobines are called by the Low Dutch, Cappers, because in the hinder part of 

 the head, or nape of the neck, certain feathers reflected upward encompass the 

 head behind, almost after the fashion of a monk's hood, when he puts it back to 

 uncover his head. These are called Cyprus pigeons by Aldrovand, and some of 

 them are rough-footed. Aldrovandus hath set forth three or four either species 

 or accidental varieties of this kind. Their bill is short ; the irides of their eyes 

 of a pearl colour, and the head (as Mr. Cope told us) in all white." 



The next author who describes them is Moore, who, in. his " Columbarium," 

 gives separate paragraphs descriptive of the "accidental varieties" alluded to 

 by Aldrovandus and Willughby. Eespecting the Jacobine, Moore writes as 

 follows : — 



o 



