Each month, the Arizona Pigeon Club would like to focus on one particular breed of pigeon. It is our hope, by providing this feature, that we can improve the quality of our birds and also that we can generate new interest in our hobby. This focus will act as a periodic measuring stick for our birds. Pigeon Show competition is a big part of our hobby. Those of us who want our birds to be the very "best of the best" will continually refer to the standards of our breeds, and will breed our birds to improve their quality. Let's raise the bar of excellence!

This month we spotlight the Maltese. Check out the Maltese Standard.

The following article was provided by Paun George of Phoenix, Arizona.

It is generally conceded that the Maltese was developed in the Austro-Hungarian empire in the early to mid 1800’s from the leghorn Runt and some crossing with the French Bagdette to increase leg and neck length. The "Tronfo" and the "Burmese" are also mentioned but no one has ever seen either breed outside of Italy.

Stefan Baron von Washington, who bred Maltese extensively at his estate in Syria, speculated that a heavy bodied, leggy, necky with a strong relationship to the Fantail, the "Burmese" was involved. By 1886, when von Washington wrote, the Maltese was already well established with a breed club and all. The drawings of the birds of that period resemble either the Dodo or my Kings. The one is extinct and the other about to become so.

Enough ancient history! You can read Moore and Prutz yourself. Let us go on to the medieval. By the turn of the century the Maltese was established in this country, especially popular in California as a squabbing breed as well as a show breed. During the 1950’s and 1960’s the late Bob Moore and the late Jack Pun would corner me at the Pleasanton shows put on by the now defunct California Pigeon Club and tell me about the big 500 bird Maltese show in Porterville in "nineteen-odd-six." In Porterville!!?? (I think that in those days the Santa Fe tracks and the best roads followed the old stage route along the foothills of the Sierra). These Maltese shown then were, it is true, leggy, necky, and high tailed, but they also had large, broad, double breasted bodies, which is why they were used along with Homers, Duchess, Runts and sundry other Mondain types to develop the King. The modern King gets its general shape from the Maltese and many of these early Kings even looked like the Maltese of the midi-1800’s.

I acquired my first pair of Maltese in the late 40’s. I do not remember the hen, but the cock was the largest pigeon I have ever seen. When I finally butchered and dressed him out, I gave his carcass to an aged relative who shared it with her equally aged neighbor. These two old widows ate on this bird for several days and refused to believe it was a pigeon. They "knew" it was some sort of small goose.

Now for the renaissance. Before and after WWII breeders began to require more refinement in their birds. More attention was paid to balance, longer and thinner necks, shorter body, better leg setting, and a straighter underline. The old white cock on page 239 of Levi’s Encyclopedia of Pigeon Breeds, though not at his best pose, shows a good bird of the sixties. I remember him well. I won three classes at the January 1963 St. Louis National. This bird won the fourth class-old-cocks-and took champion.

The other Maltese shown on pages 240 and 241 of Levi are fairly representative of birds of that era, both here and in Germany, though I like to remember my birds as having a cleaner underline, shorter bodies, and better wing and tail setting, but not, regrettably, better nor longer necks and legs. They looked rather like Florentines.

By this time, of course, Maltese were no longer bred for squabs as they tended to be egg breakers and squab crushers. Nor did they still have the broad, meaty breasts of earlier forms.

In the late 60’s and early 70’s we began to hear about Maltese in Hungary and the Yugoslav Banat. Then we began to see them. Tica Svetazar sent me photos of his birds in the early 70’s. I could not judge the size of the birds from the photos and worried that they might be miniatures with those long legs and necks but they turned out to be normal sized.

The winner in Fresno, Nov. 1993, shown by Olive Hopkins and bred by Paun George of Arizona, is typical of the newer style of birds. This is the type of bird with which Paun George won the January 1991 National in Pomona. The best birds in the United States are probably Bill Hetzel’s of Ohio with Paun George of Arizona a close second. I have this observation on two factors: 1) Bill Hetzel wins regularly in the east and midwest, and 2) I think Paun George’s birds, though superior in leg and neck, are too long in body. The ideal Maltese, to me, is pictured in Finkemagel and Trommler’s book.

For those who do not have the picture of Tica Svetazar’s bird available, I will describe what I think a good Maltese should look like. And the new NPA standard just published does not challenge my views on too many points.

The body should be cubical, not round. Modenas are round. Florentines are round. Kings are round. Maltese are cubical. The neck is long and slender. The tail is vertical and square. The legs are long, long, long, and centered under the body. The wings have short flights which rest their tips against the erect tail. The underline should be smooth and clean. The feathers are tight and close fitting. Color is immaterial, but should be rich and intense. Shoulders and back are to be level. The head is rather fine, not too rounded. The eyes are to be yellow except in whites and browns. The eye cere should be flesh, according to the standard but I rather like red eye ceres, but this is minor. Shape, type, carriage are the determining factors, along with leg and neck length.

I try to give the Maltese their own day old youngster or some other one or two day old squab to feed.