T 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, June 30, 1857. 209 ' 
Crass 6.’— PIGEONS WITH LARGELY 
DEVELOPED TAILS. 
worth breeding, as similar birds may be produced from a ; 
cross between the Broad-tailed Shaker and any other 
variety,—B. P. Brent, 
Variety 1.—THE FANTAIL (Colwnba tremnla 
laticanda ). 
French. German. 
Pigeon Trembleur Paon. Pfauenschwanzige Taube. 
f 
The Fantail or Broad-tailed Shaker is one of the most 
elegant of the varieties of fancy Pigeons. They derive 
their name from the size of their tails and the trembling 
or shaking of their necks. 
Some naturalists assert that there is a kind of Pigeon 
found in the Philippines which erect tlieir tails like a 
peacock, and they suppose the Fantail to be descended 
from them. Some German writers affirm that the cross 
between the Fantail and Barb are unproductive inter se, from 
which they argue that they must be distinct species, and 
not mere varieties. A friend, however, who has tried the 
cross in this country, informs me that his proved fertile 
inter se ; but which is to be regarded as the rule and which 
the exception I am not able to determine. 
The prevailing plumage is pure white, eyes dark hazel, 
feet unfeathered, the beak long and slender, and the head 
smooth. The fancy points may be noticed as follows:— 
First, the tail, which should be carried well up over the 
back, and evenly spread—the more feathers the better ; but 
a bird that carried its tail well up would take precedence 
of one with a greater number of feathers whose carriage 
was not so good. Twenty-four may be considered a very 
fair number. The highest I remember having was thirty- 
one, and I have heard of their reaching thirty-nine and 
forty-two feathers in the tail, but such large tails are not 
often carried well; still such birds would be very valuable. 
Second, the neck must be long and slender, curved back, 
the head touching the tail, the neck trembling in a quick 
vibratory motion, the chest elevated and thrown well out. 
Third, the back short. Fourth, the pinions of the wings 
falling beneath the tail. Altogether the Fantail is the 
most striking of our domestic Pigeons, and one generally 
admired. The English and French birds seem identical, 
but the German “ Pfauen oder Hvhnerschwanz ” must be 
regarded as a sub-variety. They are shorter in beak and 
neck, thicker made, and often have small turned crowns. 
Among them are frequently found various coloured birds, 
as black or blue; also party-coloured, as white with dark 
shoulders or black tails, and black with white tails. I have 
had several ash-coloured, and one red, but never saw any 
yellow. 
The Fantail requires its nest box or hole to be sufficiently j 
large to prevent the tails being rubbed, and they should be 
kept very clean. I have usually found them good breeders 
and attentive nurses; but well-bred birds require some 
care, as, owing to their large tails and peculiar carriage, 
they are not adapted to rough it among other poultry, nor 
to cater for themselves in the fields. Some of the older 
writers mention the Narrow-tailed Shaker; but such is not j 
POLAND AND HAMBURGH FOWLS. 
I am very sorry I am obliged to cling to my incognito, but, 
as Mr. illiams says, I know the value of it. Besides, I am ' 
not sure my name would add much to the value of my com¬ 
munication. Let me, however, assure Mr. R. P. Williams I 
am not “C. E. C.” If Mr. R. P. Williams is correct in his j 
surmise as to the owner of those initials there are some 
points in which I should not mind changing with that gen¬ 
tleman. My knowledge of fowls is not of yesterday, but 
goes back some thirty years. I frequently saw them when I 
the trade first began between this country and Holland, and 
often bought some of them. The Hamburghs were always 
invoiced as Hamburghs, and the Polands as Polanders. 
They are universally classed in this country as Hamburghs 
and Polands. Why disturb them ? If Mr. Williams suc¬ 
ceeded in persuading all interested that what they call 
Polands are Hamburghs, he would achieve just as great a j 
feat as the good philosopher in “ Gulliver’s Travels ” would ! 
have accomplished if he had attained the object of his ' 
j desires, and that on which he had spent a lifetime, viz., to 
| discover a preparation by which marble might be so softened 
| as to supersede feathers for stuffing pillows. 
But now for the comb question. I would have called the ; 
topknot a peruke, but they are so diverse in their styles. 
There is the Brutus ; then there is the permque a la Russe 
and the clerical, and the middle-aged and the juvenile, the j 
straight and the curled, and then the disguise which has 
been so much in request lately. To which of these should 
I have likened it ? Mr. Williams would not have under¬ 
stood me, nor do I his description of the cock’s crest— 
“ floating and globular.” The crest of the hen should be glo¬ 
bular, as nearly round as possible. Each feather grows out, 
and then curls in at the end—the whole should form a 
round and compact crest; but that of the cock is made of 
: long feathers like those of the hackle and saddle, and all j 
! droop outwards, as unlike a globe as anything can be. 
Mr. Williams asks, “ What is a Polish cock ? When did it 
arise? How begot? How nourished? Reply with the 
pedigree of a Polish cock.” 
I am completely dumbfounded. The triumphant tone i 
of this string of questions baffles me; but it nevertheless 
just occurs to me that perhaps in seventy years time, long 
j before which all must have admitted that the once-called 
j Poland fowl is a Hamburgh, some amateur may stumble on 
The Cottage Gardener for 1857, and, reading the letters 
of “ Perruquier ” and “ C. E. C.,” assert that the Ham¬ 
burgh fowl should not have a comb or spikes. Then there j 
will be a long discussion, and the comb champions will treat 
The Cottage Gardener as no authority at all, even as I 
do “ The Complete Universal Display of Animated Nature.” | 
Will Mr. Williams undertake to say he never bred 1 
chickens without combs and wattles ? No, for he says he ! 
has killed such for the last twenty years. Every one who 
breeds extensively knows that such variations are common I 
in all breeds. Five-clawed fowls throw chickens deficient in 
that point; feathered-legged parents, clean-legged chickens, j 
and so on. 
Polands without comb or gills do not invariably produce , 
chickens precisely like themselves, nor do any other birds. 
Many believe that these are the choicest of their tribe, 1 
and experience bears them out in their belief. In all 
animals the most perfect are the most difficult to obtain. If 
any one is content with inferior specimens, probably quite 
as useful, let it be so; but that is no reason for trying to 
persuade the world they are the most perfect. It will, I 
think, be long before Mr. Williams can overcome a decision j 
arrived at and acquiesced in by all, or nearly all, the best \ 
breeders and exhibitors in England. 
Mr. Williams will see I am one of the no-comb (/entry, 
although a— Perruquier. 
