THE FANTAIL. 



155 



a graceful swan-like manner. A thickly-feathered neck — such as is found in 

 the tnfted Indian birds — is a great drawback to their elegance. The neck is 

 constantly moved in a peculiarly tremulous manner, which gave rise to the old 

 name of " Broad-tailed Shakers," formerly bestowed on the breed. 



In size, the Fantail should be small and petite. - 



The colour varies greatly ; whites are the most frequent, but very good blacks 

 and blues are not uncommon. Mr. H. Weir states, " There are blacks and blues 

 quite as good as any whites. One of the best Fantail hens I ever saw was a 

 black." By crossing, various colours may be produced. We have possessed some 

 good reds with white tails, and others with slatey tails. Mr. H. Weir states 



BACK VIEW OF FANTAIL. 



that he has heard of some in India that are white with blue heads. There is no 

 doubt but that some very pretty varieties would reward the fancier who would 

 devote a few years to raising new colours in this breed, as by crossing a very 

 heavily-tailed Fantail with a bird of the desired colour and markings, and care- 

 fully selecting the offspring for brood stock, there would be no difficulty in 

 breeding Fantails with any marking that might be desired. 



The Germans have self or whole coloured Fantails of the following varieties, 

 namely, black, blue, red, yellow, as well as white. They also possess parti- 

 coloured birds, as white with black shoulders and tails; but these birds fail to come 

 up to the English standard of excellence in shape and carriage. 



A statement is made in some of the works on pigeons that the Fantail is 

 generally incapable of breeding with the Barb, or that the offspring of such a 

 union, if produced, is perfectly sterile. Such a statement has not the slightest 

 foundation in fact. Mr. C. Darwin, in the passage we have quoted in our Third 

 chapter (page 29), describes such a cross ; and in the course of some physiological 



