8-2*3 C O L U M B A. 
the hinder part of the head and neck, and conftantly 
itroaking the chain and hood towards the head. Befides, 
when they find it neceflary, they cut out a fmall piece-of 
{kin front between the cheft and the throat, and immedi¬ 
ately few it up again, by which means the chain becomes 
cloier; and fome of the dealers in this art make an indif¬ 
ferent bird fetch a good price. 
The Ruff. —There is fo great a fntiilarity, both in 
fliape and make, between the jacpbine and this bird, that 
the latter has been frequently fold for the former; but 
the ruff has a longer beak and larger head ; it is alio a 
larger pigeon ; the iridqs are in fome of a gravel, in others 
of a pearl colour j the chain does not flow fo near to the 
fhoulders of its wings, though both the hood and chain 
are longer, but are not fo dole and compaft as the others, 
and are eafily difturbed with every puff of wind ; they 
likewife fail more backward off the head, in a rumpled 
difcompofed form, and from this the pigeon receives its 
name. The plumage is fo fimilar to that of the jacobine, 
tint it is not at all furprifing, that thofe who are not 
■well acquainted with the properties of the true jacobine, 
fbould be put off with a ruff in its place. 
TheTuRBiT.—This fancy pigeon is fuppofed to de¬ 
rive its name from a corruption of the word cortbeck, or 
curtbeke, as it is called by the Dutch ; which feerns to be 
derived from the French court-bee, and fignifies a fhort 
bill, for which this pigeon is remarkable. It is a fmall 
bird, a little bigger than the jacobine ; has a round but¬ 
ton head, and the fh.brter the beak the better: it has a 
tuft of feathers growing from the bread:, which opens and 
fpreads contrary ways, fprouting out like the chitterlin 
of a fhirt Vthis is calicd the purle ; it has alfo a gullet, 
which reaches from the beak to the purle j this pigeon is 
admired according to the largenefs of its purle. As to 
the plumage, there'are yellows, duns, reds, blues, blacks, 
and fome that are chequered ; the back of its wings and 
the tail flibuld be of one uniform colour, the yellows and 
reds excepted, whofe tails mull be white ; and there ought 
to be bars of black acrofs the wings of the blue coloured 
ones; but the reft of the body and the flight feathers 
ought to be white. The fanciers term them yellow- 
fhouldered, red-ihouldered, or blue-fhouldered, turbits, 
agreeable to the colour they are of. They are very ele¬ 
gant birds, and make good flyers, if properly trained 
when young. 
The Owl. —This fancy pigeon has a mild, pleafant, 
infinuating, afpect, and is rather lefs than a jacobine, 
with a gravel eye, and a very fhort hooked bill, much re- 
fembling that" of an owl; from which circumftance the 
Tird derives its name. The purle in this fpecies is rather 
larger, and opens and expands irfelf more.likea rofe, than 
that of the turbit; bur in every other refpeft, both in fhape, 
make, and plumage, this is fo very like the turbit, the 
bill excepted, as to render any further defcription fuper- 
fluous. Particular care ought to be taken, that the breed¬ 
ing places where thefe birds fit, are made dark and pri¬ 
vate, for they are naturally fo wild and timid, that the 
lead: noife affrights them, and when difturbed they will 
fly off their eggs. This leems to diipute the palm, in point 
of beauty, with the jacobine. 
The Capuchin.—T his, like the jacobine, receives its 
name from another order of bare-headed monaftics: it 
has a longer bill than the jacobine, and is fomewhat larger 
in,its body ; it has no chain, but a very pretty hood ; and 
is in plumage and other propei ties the fame as the jaco- 
bine. Some fanciers aflert it to be a diftinft fpecies, others 
as confidently affirm it to be bredbetw'een a jacobine and 
ibme other pigeon. It is beyond a doubt that a jacobine 
and another pigeon will produce a bird fo exafily fimi¬ 
lar, as greatly to emburrafs the fancier in diftinguifhing 
between it and what they term their feparate fpecies. 
Though all the pigeons of the toy kind have their refpec- 
tive admirers, yet the capuchin is but lightly efteemed in 
genera 1 . , 
The Finikin.—T his pigeon in nuke, fhape, and fiz3, 
differs but little from the common runt; the crown of itr 
head is formed like the head of a fnake; it has a gravel- 
eye, with a tuft of feathers growing on the back part of 
its crown, which falls down its neck, hinging like a 
horfe’s mane ; it has a clean leg ancl foot, and its plumage 
is always blue or black pied. This pigeon, when fallaci¬ 
ous, is addifted to very lingular antics; it firft riles over its 
hen, fpreading and flapping its wings, and turns round 
three or four times; it then reveries, and turns as many 
times the contrary way. Some fanciers are prejudiced 
again ft this fort, for their whimfical geftures, as being apt 
to teach the others ill habits. 
The Turner. —This fancy-pigeon is, in many re- 
fpe£ls, like the finikin; but it is not fnake-headed, and 
the tuft on the back part of the crown is wanting; and' 
when the fpoitive fit is on it, and it plays to the female, 
it turns only one way, whereas the finikin turns both. 
The Broad-tailed Shaker. —This pigeon, efpeci- 
ally when falacious, has a Angular tremulous motion, or 
fhaking in the neck, which, joined to the breadth of its 
tail when fpread, gives it the name of broad-tailedfiaker, 
T his bird is pofieffed of a long, taper, handfoine, neck, 
which it erefts in a l'erpentine form, rather leaning to¬ 
wards its back, fomewhat like the neck of a fwan : it has. 
a very fhort beak, and is exceedingly full-breafted, with 
a taii compofed of a number of feathers, feldom lefs than 
twenty four, and never exceeding thirty-fix, which it 
fpreads like the tail of a turkey-cock, and raifes it up to 
fuch a. degree, that the tail appears joined to the head, in 
the nature of a. fquirrel’s, and from hence fome fanciers 
give it the name of fan-tail-, but when it is fo crowded with 
feathers, it occafions it frequently to drop its tail, and hin¬ 
ders it from throwing it up to meet its head, which is an 
imperfetftion never to be overlooked, be all its other pro¬ 
perties ever fo perfect; though a very large tailed bird 
of this fpecies, which carries its tail according to the rules 
of the breeders, is deemed a rarity, and of great value. 
Though the general colour of its plumage is entirely 
white, yet there are yellow, red, blue, and black-pieds, 
and fome ail blue ; but the whites are the favourite birds, 
as they have by far the nobleft carriage, both in their tail 
and head. There is another kind of broad-tailed fhaker, 
which differs in nothing from the above, except in the 
neck, which is fhorter and thicker; but the fhaker with 
the longeft neck is by far the handfomeft and moll valua¬ 
ble bird. 
The Narrow-tailed Shaker. —Fanciers are divided 
in opinion concerning this pigeon ; fome fay it is a dif- 
tinft fpecies, others that it is only a hybrid ftrain between, 
the broad-tailed fhaker and fome other pigeon ; its back; 
is longer, and its neck ihorter and thicker, than that or 
the lalt deferibed bird ; it has alio a lefs number of fea¬ 
thers in its tail, which it does not fpread out fo much as 
the other does, but lets them fall, as it were, double, the 
one fide folding over the other in the nature of a fan when 
three parts opened, and is apt to fall into the fault of Jet¬ 
ting its tail droop. The colour of its plumage is ufually 
white, though, like the broad-tailed (baker, there are fome 
of various colours ; there are alfo fome almonds of this- 
fort, but they are a great rarity. 
The Barb. —This pigeon is originally a native of Bar¬ 
bary in Africa, and receives its name from that coun¬ 
try ; but the fanciers call it by no other name than the 
barb. It is rather larger than a jacobine, has a fhort 
thick bill, like a bull-finch, incrufted with a fmall wattle, 
and a naked circle of a thick fpongy red fkin round its 
eyes, like that of the carrier; when the feathers of the 
pinion are inclinable to a dark colour, the hides are of a 
pearl colour; but when the pinion feathers are white, 
the irides are red, as is obfervable in fome other birds; 
the redder in colour, and the wider the circle of tuberous 
flefti round the eye, the greater is the value fet upon the 
bird, though this circle is very narrow at firft, and ’d'oes 
not arrive at its full fize till the fourth year. Some of 
this fpecies are ornamented with a pretty tuft of feathers, 
fprouting 
