THE FANTAIL. 151 



and head ; there are two sorts of these Broad-tailed Shakers, the one having a 

 neck much longer and more slender than the other, but the longest neck is the 

 most beautiful and the most esteemed." 



The same author also describes an inferior variety under the name of the 

 Narrow-tailed Shaker. He states : — 



" This pigeon is reckoned by some a distinct species, though I am apt to believe 

 it is only a bastard breed between the foregoing and some other bird. Its neck is 

 shorter and thicker, its back longer, the feathers of its tail are not so much spread 

 out, but fall, as it were, double, lying over one another, and the tail generally lops 

 very much." 



The author of the Treatise copies Moore respecting these varieties, without 

 adding anything of importance, unless it be the statement that he had seen an 

 Almond Narrow-tailed Shaker — a colour which, we may remark, would very readily 

 be obtained by crossing a full-tailed bird with an Almond Tumbler. 



Temminck gives a longer description than usual of this breed — which he terms 

 the Peacock pigeon. He writes : — 



" The Pigeon Paon, or Peacock pigeon, is so named because it has the faculty 

 of erecting and displaying its tail nearly in the same way in which the peacock 

 raises and expands his dorsal feathers. This race might also be called Pigeons 

 Dindons, or Turkey pigeons, their caudal feathers being also placed on an erector 

 muscle, capable of contraction and extension at pleasure. When they raise their 

 tail they bring it forward, as they at the same time draw back the head, it touches 

 the tail ; and when the bird wishes to look behind itself, it passes its head between 

 the interval of the two planes which compose the tail. They usually tremble 

 during the whole time of this operation, and their body then seems to be agitated 

 by the violent contraction of the muscles. It is generally while making love that 

 they thus display their tail ; but they also set themselves off in this way at other 

 times. 



" These pigeons are not much sought by amateurs ; they seldom quit the pre- 

 cincts of their aviary; apparently the fear of being carried away by the wind 

 (which, acting forcibly upon their broad tail, would infallibly upset them) is the 

 reason why they do not venture far from their domicile, nor undertake long journeys. 

 Lastly, these pigeons, which cannot by their own powers travel far, have been trans- 

 ported to a great distance by man ; perhaps, even, they are not natives of our 

 climate, for many doubts arise against their specific identity with the wild Rock 

 dove. Striking characters, such as the number of tail-feathers, do not permit us 

 to consider the wild Eock dove as the type of the Fantail pigeons. 



" The Fantails are furnished with a considerable number of caudal plumes ; the 

 greater part of indigenous and exotic species of pigeons have generally only twelve 

 tail-feathers, more or less. The majority of the Fantails have thirty-two, and 

 even thirty- four, but such are rare. 



" The Shakers, and those which have the tail only partially elevated, are origin- 

 ally of this race." 



