8 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. LII 



small. The carriage of the bird is very different from that of other 

 pigeons; in good birds the head touches the tail feathers, which conse- 

 quently often become crumpled. They habitually tremble much; and 

 their necks have an extraordinarily, apparently convulsive, backward 

 and forward movement. Good birds walk in a singular manner, as if 

 their small feet were stiff. Owing to their large tails, they fly badly on 

 a windy day. The dark-colored varieties are generally larger than 

 white fantails » 



" Mr. Swinhoe sent me from Amoy, in China, the skin of a fantail 

 belonging to a breed known to have been imported from Java. It was 

 colored in a peculiar manner, unlike any European fantail; and, for 

 a fantail, had a remarkably short beak. Although a good bird of the 

 kind, it had only 14 tail feathers; but Mr. Swinhoe has counted in 

 others of this breed from 18 to 24 tail feathers. From a rough sketch 

 sent to me, it is evident that the tail is not so much expanded or so 

 much upraised as in even second-rate European fantails. The bird 

 shakes its neck like our fantails. It had a well-developed oil gland. 

 Fantails were known in India, as we shall hereafter see, before the year 

 1600 ; and we may suspect that in the Java fantail we see the breed in 

 its earlier and less improved condition." Vol. I, Chap. V, p. 153. 



" The first notice of the existence of this breed is in India, before the 

 year 1600, as given in the " Ayeen Akabery"; at this date, judging 

 from Aldrovandi, the breed was unknown in Europe. In 1677, Wil- 

 lighby speaks of a fantail with 26 tail feathers; in 1735, Moore saw one 

 with 36 tail feathers; and in 1824, MM. Boitard and Corbie assert that 

 in France birds can easily be found with 42 tail feathers. In England, 

 the number of the tail feathers is not at present so much regarded as 

 their upward direction and expansion. The general carriage of the 

 bird is likewise now much valued. The old descriptions do not suffice 

 to show whether in these latter respects there has been much improve- 

 ment; but if fantails with their heads and tails touching had formerly 

 existed, as at the present time, the fact would almost certainly have 

 been noticed. The fantails which are now found in India probably 

 show the state of the race, as far as carriage is concerned, at the date of 

 their introduction into Europe; and some, said to have been brought 

 from Calcutta, which I kept alive, were in a marked manner inferior to 

 our exhibition birds. The Java fantail shows the same difference in 

 carriage; and although Mr. Swinhoe has counted 18 and 24 tail feathers 

 in his birds, a first-rate specimen sent to me had only 14 tail feathers. 3 



A later statement in regard to fantails from Fulton's 

 Book of Pigeons gives some additional details. 4 



^*"The Illustrated Book of Pigeons with Standards for Judging," by 



