CHAPTES XXII. 



THE FINNIKIN, S1IITEB, AND TURNER. 



THEEE are several breeds described by Moore and the older writers which are 

 no longer recognized as distinct varieties ; some of these have been already 

 alluded to in the course of this work, such as the Uploper, the Mahomet, and 

 those that appear to be closely related to existing breeds. Others, such as the 

 Finnikin, the Smiter, and the Turner, remain to be mentioned. We will quote 

 the older authors on the subject, as it is desirable to put on record the existence 

 of these lost breeds. Of the Finnikin, Moore states : — 



" This pigeon is in make and shape very like a common P»,unt, and much about 

 the same size. The crown of its head is turned much after the manner of a 

 snake's head ; it is gravel-eyed and has a tuft of feathers on the hinder part of 

 the crown, which runs down its back not unlike a horse's main. It is clean-footed 

 and legged and always black, and blue pied. When it is salacious, it rises over 

 its hen and turns round three or four times, flapping its wings, then reverses and 

 turns as many the other way. Were a gentleman in the country to stock a dove- 

 house with this sort of pigeons, their whimsical gestures might engage the country 

 people to imagine he kept an enchanted castle. Some people disapprove of this 

 sort of pigeons as apt to vitiate their other strains by making a hen squat by these 

 antic gestures ; but in fact they are no more dangerous that way than any other 

 breed when salacious." 



Respecting the Turner, Moore writes : — 



" This pigeon is in many respects like the Finnikin, except that when it is 

 salacious and plays to the female it turns only one way, whereas the other turns 

 both; it has no tuft on the hinder part of the head, neither is it snake-headed." 



In the work ascribed to Girton, the variety termed the Smiter is described. 

 The writer says : — 



" This pigeon, in shape, make, and diversity of plumage, nearly resembles the 

 Tumbler, the size excepted, it being a much larger bird. The Smiter is supposed 

 to be the same species that the Dutch call the Drager ; when it flies it has a pecu- 

 liar tremulous motion with its wings, and commonly rises in a circular manner; 

 the male, for the generality, flying much higher than the female, and though it 

 does not tumble it has a particular manner of falling and flabbing its wings, with 

 which it makes so loud a noise as to be heard at a great distance, which is fre- 

 quently the cause of its shattering or breaking its quill-feathers." 



