The Scotch Fantail. 
525 
with, as a very short-legged bird has not the freedom of action that they ought to have ; their 
wings get in the way and often trip them, or they get so dirty and broken as to detract very 
much from their appearance. For my own part I prefer moderately long legs, but not stilly, 
which would be even worse than the very short legs. I am quite sure that this style of bird is 
making its way to the front, and ere long will be the favourite with all who love to see breeding in 
a pigeon.” 
A little more detailed description of the Scotch style of bird is, however, desirable. The 
principal property as distinct from the English fancy is the trembling or shaking motion, which 
extends to the whole body, at nearly all times, except when sitting, and is often developed 
to such an extent, as described by Mr. Ure, as to cause the birds to fall back upon their tails. 
They are then said to have “ too much motion.” The movement is chiefly seen in the neck and 
breast. The neck is carried so far backward while in movement that the head rests nearly 
on the root of the tail, so that the breast is much higher than the head itself, while, at the same 
time, the pigeon struts upon tiptoe. The combination of these points is called “ good carriage.” 
The breast must also be broad compared with the body ; the broader, in fact, the better, 
especially at the upper part ; and when this is right, and the bi>rd is of good carriage, the upper 
part of the breast will be about perpendicular over the sole of the foot when seen in profile. 
Hens, as a rule, have more carriage and motion than cocks. Next comes the tail, which most 
Scotch fanciers think of less importance. Here we consider them wrong, and reckon it 
certainly the first property. A perfect tail should present nearly an entire circle when viewed 
from the back, only a small gap being seen at the very bottom, which should not exceed two and 
a half inches across. Each feather should nicely overlap the next one at the edges, just like a 
lady’s fan when opened to its full extent. Such a tail will not be that which contains the greatest 
number of feathers. Such resemble more a fan when half-closed ; and here we think the old 
fanciers made a great mistake in seeking, as they seem to have done, for the highest number of 
feathers as a chief property. We have heard of forty and forty-two feathers in the tail, and we 
have ourselves had birds with as many as thirty-eight ; but all we ever saw as yet with more than 
thirty entirely lacked the proper form and spread ; too many causing the bird to show a heavy, 
hanging tail, not flat and upright, as shown in our plate. The best tails we have seen never 
exceeded twenty-eight feathers in the cock or twenty-six in the hen. Even laying aside the 
Scotch Fan, and speaking of the coarser English bird, we do not consider any pigeon can carry 
properly more than thirty-two feathers, and for the smaller Scotch bird twenty-six is about 
the limit, allowing the bottom feathers to come nearly together, and the top ones to appear 
nearly upright, light, and as if at the command of the bird. The root of the tail in a Scotch bird 
should appear as small as if a small ring had been kept round it ; and then, when the head is 
thrown back to this spot, there is no back to be seen, and the tail stands up so far above the head 
as to seem much larger by comparison than it really is. There is a tendency in some birds to 
get the head through, and thus split the tail. We have known this stopped by tying the three 
centre ones together, so as to prevent this, by which, in time, the habit was cured. The last 
property in the Scotch Fantail is size, or rather want of it. The bird should be small, and this is 
where English breeders often misjudge the Scotch fancy ; for the tail being relatively so large, the 
Scotch looks very much smaller than the English tail ; whereas, if the size of the body also be 
taken into account, the Scotch tail is often relatively quite as large as the others, though in some 
strains there is a little deficiency in the length of the feathers, which, of course, governs the size 
of tail. Another fault in some birds (generally cocks) is a sort of notch in the tail, arising from 
