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CHAPTER VIII. 
FOREIGN AND PIGMY POUTERS. 
FROM what was said in our last chapter as to the probable descent of the English Pouter from the 
old Dutch Cropper, it will not surprise the reader to learn that there are still to be found on the 
Continent many birds of the same ancestry. Some of these birds are very peculiar-looking, but 
pretty, the German and Dutch fanciers having bred them chiefly for curious colours and markings, 
as they do their many pretty “ Toy ” pigeons, and in the process letting all the Pouter 
properties go except development of crop. As the result of these aims in breeding we have 
pigeons with good globes, and sometimes, but not often, long feather ; while, on the other hand, 
the limbs have suffered greatly. Some of these Dutch birds, in fact, have been seen with well- 
developed crops, but totally bare legs ! On the other hand, some of the colours are really very 
pretty in their way, the wing-markings of the Turbit being not seldom found, also white bars 
instead of black, besides some of the more peculiar markings of the Toys. 
Not being common or popular in this country, we can only say of these foreign Pouters that 
they generally breed fairly true to colour, and are in most cases hardy, and fully able to rear their 
own young. They are not, in our opinion, ever likely to be much cultivated in a country where 
the true Pouter-fancier keeps up the standard of a much higher class of bird, but may have their 
place as curiosities. 
It is otherwise with those pretty birds variously known as Austrian Pouters, Pigmy Pouters, 
and Isabels. It has been attempted to affix these different names to slightly different varieties ; 
but considering all to be the same class of bird, and only differing in colour and marking as do the 
various colours in the standard Pouter, we think it highly desirable they should all be known under 
one name, and select that of Pigmy Pouters as the simplest, most English, and most appropriate. 
What is generally known as the “ Austrian ” variety is a slender bird, resembling all over an 
English Pouter, but with thin leg-feathering, or what is known as being “ wire-legged.” This fault, 
indeed, often makes them appear even smaller in girth than they really are, but decidedly detracts 
from their appearance. Some fanciers have partially remedied it by careful breeding. Those 
again which are now more commonly known simply as “ Pigmy Pouters,” are certainly our 
favourites. They have been probably bred from the Austrian, and their leg-feathering has been 
got to resemble that of their larger standard brethren. When this is correct, and the birds have 
good globes, good limbs, and slender girth, their boldness of outline shows to great advantage, and 
they appear real Pouters in miniature. Lastly, the birds called Isabels resemble the roughest- 
limbed Pouters, many of them being quite vulture-hocked, and, singularly enough, like the standard 
birds, these rough-limbed ones are generally the longest in flights and tail, and have better crops 
than the thin-legged ones. This is interesting, as showing that the diminutive birds are subject to 
the same laws of breeding as the standard Pouter, and that their variations are to be studied and 
matched in the same way. 
Of course, as regards any of these varieties, the more they resemble the standard Pouter in all 
