226 
Tiie Illustrated Book of Plgeons. 
there is less difference of opinion respecting this pigeon than any others we have yet treated upon, 
and we do not anticipate any serious exception being taken to what we shall lay down in this 
chapter. We might, indeed, almost count the past and present Barb fanciers on our fingers, and 
had it not been for such fanciers as Messrs. Hedley, Jones, Gell, Firth, Heaton, Montgomery, 
Frame, Whirland, Perrott, Dowling, Hawley, Horner, and at most one or two more, the “best” 
style of Barb obtainable would have been but a sorry one. We must not forget also to give due 
credit to the foreign fanciers, from whom we received this pigeon, upon whose birds the gentlemen 
named have worked ; for although their skill has greatly improved the foreign bird, yet, even 
originally, the best of the foreign stocks were grand specimens ; and when we consider that our 
foreign friends have not the stimulus of competitive shows, and heavy prizes and medals, which act 
so powerfully as a stimulus upon the British fancier, but that what they have done has been from 
pure love of their bird, and without the advantages of public comparison and inspection of other 
specimens which we enjoy, it is difficult to resist the conclusion that their enthusiasm and per- 
severance must be even greater than our own. Some of their choicest productions in the Toy 
varieties are really marvellous ; and should the system of public exhibition ever really extend itself 
on the Continent, as we sincerely trust it may, we know not what we may not expect from 
these enthusiastic cultivators of the pigeon race. The Carrier, the Pouter, and the Tumbler, were, 
no doubt, brought to perfection in this country, and by British fanciers ; but the Barb, though 
undoubtedly improved, came to us in the main as we now have it, and it is but fair to give due 
credit to those from whose hands we received so attractive a pigeon. 
A great deal of the present stock, curiously enough, comes from one importation, which we 
have been at the pains to trace to many quarters. They were the best foreign Barbs we ever saw, 
and were the property of Mr. W. Smith of Halifax. By judicious matching he bred even better 
birds from them ; and, indeed, though we have seen many better single specimens, the best 
collection of Barbs exhibited by one fancier we have ever seen in one pen was that shown by him 
at a meeting of the Philo-Peristeronic Society ; and still further, we have no ^hesitation in stating 
that there is scarcely a single first-rate specimen we know of at the present day which does not 
trace its descent to some of that pen of birds. In fact, at that time fresh blood was sorely needed. 
Some of the best of the collection we speak of fell into the hands of the well-known fancier, Mr. 
Peter Eden, and going from him to various Irish and Scotch fanciers, were the means of these pro- 
ducing, especially in cocks, some of the finest specimens ever seen. A further large portion — 
perhaps the largest portion — of the same collection were acquired by Mr. Stevens of Barnstaple, 
and through him, when he gave up the fancy, by Mr. Hedley, who is and has been the most enthu- 
siastic fancier of the Barb pigeon we ever met with ; so much so that we believe he must have had 
through his hands more specimens than any one, not even excepting ourselves, and this is the only 
case in which we think our range of experience as regards number of birds can have been surpassed. 
But such was the quality of this strain of Barbs, that others again of them, coming into the posses- 
sion of various Yorkshire and Lancashire fanciers, also produced similar results, with this curious 
difference, that while the Irish breeders who got possession of them bred the finest cocks, the 
Lancashire and Yorkshire breeders produced the best hens we have ever yet seen ; and although 
the original collection was uncommonly good in quality, the progeny, as produced by various of 
the breeders we have mentioned, became still better, showing what can be done by judicious 
matching. 
We are quite sure none of those who have done so much in improving and perfecting the 
Barb will question either our assertion that it is as difficult to breed to perfection in points as the 
Carrier, or Pouter, or Tumbler, or its title to rank as one of the high-class pigeons; while it has 
