44 
The Illustrated Bools of Plgeons. 
for an amateur to widen his range later on ; but we do say, and wish our opinion to be so 
expressed that it may not possibly be mistaken, that after long observation we consider it 
impossible for a young fancier to become in any moderate time a good judge of a lot of different 
varieties ; and we have also seen again and again, that when a man keeps what he knows little 
about, his interest is likely soon to become as little as his knowledge. What we wish is to add to 
the real pleasures of those who read these pages, and to give a wholesome change of thought 
and interest ; and this can only be thoroughly enjoyed by such of them as shall be capable of 
appreciating the beauties of a perfect or nearly perfect specimen. We will go further, and say that 
we never knew one case of an amateur fancier who kept a large number of varieties, and was at the 
same time a competent judge of them all. The nearest approach to an exception was in the case 
of a late much-respected fancier, who kept many toy pigeons, and whose stock certainly never was 
surpassed ; but it should be added that he had the services of an equally well-known and respected 
dealer, Mr. Ovens, who had a standing commission to look out for him, and thus kept his stock up 
to the mark. An extensive dealer, in fact, is the only man who can, in our opinion, attain a 
thorough knowledge of nearly all the varieties ; and for this the reasons are very obvious. Every 
bird he purchases is bought with the design of selling at a profit, and thus he adds a little to his 
knowledge with every bird that passes through his hands ; while every mistake, whenever he makes 
one, is brought home to him at once in the most practical and convincing way by the pecuniary 
loss. For this reason nearly all large dealers are good judges — that is, they kiiow perfectly well 
which are the best birds at a show, even when self-interest may hinder their acknowledging it ; but 
as this work is not intended to make successful dealers, we have given what we know to be sound 
advice ; to which we may add that we have known scores of cases where a young fancier began by 
sticking to one variety, wisely chosen, and, by giving proper space to a few birds of good stock, has 
in a very short time made his mark, and attained such a position that the older fanciers, and even 
men with unlimited money at command, learnt to dread competing against him. Such a course is 
easier now than formerly ; as in old times amateurs had scarcely any opportunity of comparing 
their birds together, whereas the numerous shows now offer every facility in this respect, and give a 
great advantage to the fancier of the present day over his predecessors. Indeed, we have often 
wondered at the progress made by our ancestors, seeing that all writers upon pigeons hitherto have 
carefully abstained from giving any hints on the most important points concerning the judicious 
matching of birds. It must have been uphill work indeed in those days ; and it will give us 
pleasure if we are able in any degree to smooth the path for others, which we shall endeavour to 
do by explaining every point of breeding and management as far as we can, but especially those 
points which bear upon the first producing, and then maintaining, a first-class strain of birds. 
Perhaps here we may be allowed a few brief words concerning our qualifications for such a 
task ; partly because some may question it, and partly because it will further elucidate the various 
means by which competent knowledge is to be attained. We say some may question it ; because 
it is generally supposed that dealers are not breeders, and know little about breeding, and our 
own occupation is well known. But we have bred Carriers, Pouters, Barbs, Tumblers, Jacobins, 
Turbits, &c., which have gained against all comers the first position at the most celebrated shows; 
and few <( breeders” can perhaps boast of more success even in the way of breeding prize birds. 
But we have obtained still greater knowledge of this part of our subject by taking particular notice 
of the quality of the progeny whenever we have supplied good birds to amateurs, and especially 
when, as frequently happened, we supplied breeding pairs and the matching was left in our own 
hands. In cases too numerous to mention we have also been applied to for birds expressly to 
match with other birds already possessed ; and in all such cases, when the bird on one side or 
