ion serves for
comparison, appear to have been well characterized in Aldrovandi's
time,[352] before the year 1600. Length of body and length of leg are
at the present time the two chief points of excellence. In 1735 Moore
said (see Mr. J. M. Eaton's edition)--and Moore was a first-rate
fancier--that he once saw a bird with {208} a body 20 inches in length,
"though 17 or 18 inches is reckoned a very good length;" and he has
seen the legs very nearly 7 inches in length, yet a leg 61/2 or 63/4 long
"must be allowed to be a very good one." Mr. Bult, the most successful
breeder of Pouters in the world, informs me that at present (1858) the
standard length of the body is not less than 18 inches; but he has
measured one bird 19 inches in length, and has heard of 20 and 22
inches, but doubts the truth of these latter statements. The standard
length of the leg is now 7 inches, but Mr. Bult has recently measured
two of his own birds with legs 71/2 long. So that in the 123 years which
have elapsed since 1735 there has been hardly any increase in the
standard length of the body; 17 or 18 inches was formerly reckoned a
very good length, and now 18 inches is the minimum standard; but the
length of leg seems to have increased, as Moore never saw one quite 7
inches long; now the standard is 7, and two of Mr. Bult's birds
measured 71/2 inches in length. The extremely slight improvement in
Pouters, except in the length of the leg, during the last 123 years,
may be partly accounted for by the neglect which they suffered, as I am
informed by Mr. Bult, until within the last 20 or 30 years. About
1765[353] there was a change of fashion, stouter and more feathered
legs being preferred to thin and nearly naked legs.

_Fantails._--The first notice of the existence of this breed is in
India, before the year 1600, as given in the 'Ayeen Akbery;'[354] at
this date, judging from Aldrovandi, the breed was unknown in Europe. In
1677 Willughby speaks of a Fantail with 26 tail-feathers; in 1735 Moore
saw one with 36 feathers; and in 1824 MM. Boitard and Corbie assert
that in France birds can easily be found with 42 tail-feathers. In
England, the number of the tail-feathers is not at present so much
regarded as their upward direction and expansion. The general carriage
of the bird is likewise now much regarded. The old de