Hood of tiie Jacobin. 
24.S 
body. This we remedied by crossing with the best small specimens, getting the best young ones 
towards the end of the season, those bred early being generally too coarse for show purposes. 
This was the foundation of our best Jacobins, which were equal, if not superior, to any then known. 
The very second season we produced birds which certainly far exceeded even our own expectation, 
one pair of which we had the honour of supplying to Her Most Gracious Majesty after winning 
with them at Birmingham. Such, in fact, was the quality of the strain thus originated, that from a 
cock bred by this identical royal pair we bred Blacks with a black hen, Reds with a red hen, and 
Yellows with a yellow hen of such merit, that this one bird’s produce alone, with the final sale of 
himself, realised the sum of £\Jo\ and several of his progeny won first honours at most of the 
principal shows. We mention this principally to show the great value of a really well-bred bird, 
and the usefulness of birds even much too large for crossing with small ones to make up the 
latter’s deficiencies ; and by this means judiciously employed, with the fanciers now at work on 
this beautiful pigeon, we quite expect yet to see even small birds with all the qualities desired, 
when we need not say we should prefer them. 
The first point in a Jacobin, then, is hood ; and this is to some extent connected with the form 
of skull, for which reason it will be convenient to take them together. The head should be large 
compared with the size of the bird, and somewhat resemble in shape that of the Short-faced 
Tumbler, from which probably its character was derived, being broad and round, and rising well up 
in the front, and nicely arched from eye to eye. Many birds will be found to have a wide and flat 
skull somewhat like that of a Dragoon, which is called “ mousey-faced,” and makes the bird look 
much longer in face than it really is. Age adds much to the size of the head, as in all pigeons, 
but still if the form be not what we have described at the age of say ten months, it will never 
become so afterwards. When the skull is of the right shape, it is generally accompanied with the 
further good point of a short, thick, and nicely-shaped beak, inclined to be decidedly “ down- 
faced,” which increases the effect of the hood, whereas the flat-skulled bird, generally long also in 
beak, and straight in the face, never shows off the hood well, even if good, which it seldom is ; 
whereas, when the skull is of the proper shape, it is almost always accompanied by a nice close- 
fitting hood. This should lie close to the skull, and come as far forward as the front of the eyes 
on each side, so that the hand can be placed over the hood without the bird seeing it ; and lastly, 
should appear even, well-fitted, and unbroken at the edges. It generally is found so in a good- 
headed bird, the only thing to be dreaded being a few feathers which will sometimes grow rather 
twisted just at the root of the hood feathers, and appear to come through them, or at least to 
prevent their lying close down on the head. To avoid these, many fanciers pluck such feathers 
out before exhibiting, and others cut them off close to the root, so as to allow the hood to lie 
down. The latter can always be detected by passing the finger over the suspected places, when 
the stumps of the feathers will be felt unless cleanly shaved off ; but the best manner of detecting 
such trickery is to take the beak between the finger and thumb, and then making the finger and 
thumb of the other hand into a sort of loop, draw it over the head and neck, so as to “ scrape ” the 
plumage backwards. By this means the roots of the hood feathers are exposed, and it will be 
seen at once if the bird has been robbed of any, which we have seen done to such an extent that 
the whole back of the head was bare under the hood, so as to allow this to lie close. Very little 
if any such treatment is ever required for birds which have the right shape of skull. The long- 
faced birds, again, are mostly deficient in closeness and neatness of feather ; so that even when, as 
often happens, they have good length and quality of feather in hood, mane, and chain, they seldom 
or never look nicely finished when let out of the hand, the edges then appearing loose, unfinished, 
and ragged. 
