Mr. Montgomery on Pouters. 
i 19 
the fancy — not only from their size, but from the elegance of their form, their graceful carriage, 
and their 'showing’ qualities. They arc more social in their disposition than any other. When 
well trained they take delight in being talked to, and seem anxious to answer you. The hen, 
when in high condition, will show herself off to her admiring friends, and strut about, seeming to 
say, ‘Just look at me ; am not I the lady all over?’ I had a Red hen once that would ‘show’ to 
me the moment I went into the loft, clap her wings, and fly up on my shoulder. 
“ Form is the grandest characteristic in the Pouter, and is the first thing to be studied by the 
young fancier. Although there are at present five standard classes, yet the form in all is alike, 
and is consequently the most important to understand completely. The legs should be set 
close, and well back in the body. The bird should stand erect on them, showing the full length, 
stripping them well. The girth or waist should be very slender, with crop springing sharply out 
from it, showing about two inches and a half of waist. The crop should be large and round, not 
over crammed with air, but filled so that the bird can move with ease and use it freely; as some 
Scotch fanciers would say, ‘ Like a bladder on the point of a stick.’ When on a block, in a pen, 
the tail should drop below the wing, in the fashion of a Belgian canary. When ‘ playing,’ the cock 
should be able to pluck up his legs sharply, like a high-stepping horse, and move about with ease. 
Keeping this in view, I think nineteen inches as long as any cock should be. I have never seen 
any longer that had the action I like. Seven inches in limb and nineteen inches in feather I 
consider the proper proportions of a good bird. When we can breed them seven inches and a half 
or eight inches in limb, it will be time enough to try for twenty or twenty-one inches in feather. 
“ I fear much injury has been done to the Pouter fancy by the too frequent use of the tape- 
line by judges. The bird should look the thing ; better to have a 6^-inch limb, well set and 
shown, than seven inches with the bird as it were curtseying on its legs, and the wing drooping 
so as to cover half of them. 
“ I shall not go into a minute description in detail of each of the five or six properties as they 
are termed, as I know they will be ably dealt with by Mr. Fulton, but confine myself to the subject 
of breeding, giving the result of my experience. Pedigree I put as an essential to good breeding — 
that is, birds bred from ancestors of the proper form , and true to colour. If you do not know the 
breeding or strain of the birds you breed from, you cannot calculate with any certainty on the 
produce you may get. I would here advise all breeders to avoid the idea of breeding chance birds. 
No breeder of horses, cows, pigs, dogs, or poultry acts on the chance system ; why not the same in 
pigeons ? No true fancier, or scientific breeder, wishes to travel over the ground laboured through 
by his predecessors ; his business being to avail himself of what has been accomplished, and try to 
climb the ladder of perfection one rung higher. There is a great opening for some fancier to 
establish a pure strain , good in form, and true to colour — birds with pedigree. Any one who can 
accomplish this has his fortune made, so far as the Pouter fancy is concerned. 
“As to details in breeding. Get the eye made up as to form, then mate up your birds of best 
form in each colour, seeing at the same time that they possess the necessary qualifications for 
mating ; as regards feather, rose, moon, bib, &c., with limbs suited to throw the right thing. As 
your birds may not be all you could wish in each of these points, you must act on the principle of 
counteraction, say, mating a rough-limbed bird with a stocking or grouse-limbed one, a large moon 
with a small, and so on. Match Blues with Blues, and in no case introduce blue into any other 
colour. It destroys the brilliancy of Blacks when crossed with them, and is destructive to perfect 
colour in Reds and Yellows when crossed with them. Introduce blue into your Reds, and I will 
give you twenty years to breed it clean out. 
“ Blacks as a rule should be bred together, but if a cross is really wanted, then cross with Red, 
