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"Pigeons
Of Galati"
By
K.D. Spurling (1999) The
breed commonly known as the Galati Tumbler (German: Galatzer Tummler),
while an obscurity in North America, is the most traditional of flying
breeds in Romania and takes its name from the city
of Galati in East Romania on the Black Sea, also known as "Galatz"
by the German speaking Austro-Hungarian Imperialists who once occuppied
much of Romania until thwarted by Autocratic Imperial Russia in the first
few weeks of World War One. Altho
this breed first became known to the American Fancy with Levi's "Encyclopedia
Of Pigeon Breeds" in 1967 (who errornously treated the Moriscari
Galati as a seperate breed), this breed did not reach the North American
continent until it was exported to Canada in 1982 by Ulrich Reber of
Germany. Ever since this time, the breed has been subject to relative
obscurity, as well as to great misunderstandings, largely due to a great
lack of correct information and for a decade and a half, the breed has
errornously been reffered to as the "Galatzer Roller" and touted
as an exceptionally deep rolling performer. From
the native standpoint, especially with the old Romanian masters of this
breed, this pigeon does not exist in any true singular form in Romania.
Altho the Romanian name "Jucator de Galati" (Tumbler of Galati)is
used very widely in certain parts of Romania, this name is not viewed as
correct by the older breeders who have spent decades cultivating them.
This point is very well illustrated simply by the title of that great
Galati master, Ovidiu Leonte's 200 plus page treatise "Porumbeii
Galateni" which was published at Bucharest in 1994. A literal
translation of the title is "Galati Pigeons", a term used
extensively in this work by one of the last of the masters of these
particular pigeons. We
use the term "Galati Pigeon" simply because there really is no
such pigeon as a "Galatzer Roller" or a "Galati
Tumbler" in any singular form. In reality, there are over 100
sub-breeds within the Galati sub-genre and we often then use the
terminology "Breeds Of Galati". These "breeds" are
generally named after their developers and while all share common bonds in
relation, they differ in type, colors, markings, ornaments, eye colors,
size, tail and wing structure, as well as in their flight and performance.
These differences are not due to a lack of accepted standard or lack of
unity on the part of the breeders. To the contrary, the club which caters
to these pigeons in Romania is one of the oldest pigeon clubs world-wide
and due to having been overseen by the required Socialist Securiate
representitives for over 70 years, like so many other clubs in East Europe,
a very "tight ship" is run and American clubs pale in comparison. (Note:
Under Socialist governments, ALL clubs in the former Eastern Bloc were
overseen by either the KGB or National Securiate). The reason for the
extensiveness of the Galati breeds is due simply to taste on the part of
each group of breeders and
this taste is perfectly acceptable by all and under full standarization.
The fact that the National club over Romania issued a standard exceeeding
150 pages to properly define and seperate each sub-variation illustrates
just how acceptable the situation is. Of
these sub-breeds, the two most highly regarded in Romania are the
Mironescu Galati and the Moriscari Galati. Worldwide,
the Moriscari are the best known of all the Galati breeds. Levi (1967)
quotes Peterfi to note that "Moriscar" means "hand-mill"
in Romanian and that this term refers to actual rolling. However, altho
the translation to hand-mill is correct, the Moriscari name actually
derives from the breeder Gioni Moriscar who lived at Galati in the 19th
Century. Moriscar is known to have crossed together what are known today
as the Kaluga Black Turmani (Czernopegije Turmani) from Western Russia to
local tumbling pigeons. This yielded a medium sized tumbler with a semi
cubical head, a flesh colored, thick beak, long cast type and with the
standardized Moriscari markings which consist of a colored stripe
beginning at the forehead and sweeping over the crown, down the back of
the neck and to the wings. The remainder is white. The colored portions
are typically Black or Dun from the Kalujski ancestory, but like their
Turmani ancestors, the Moriscari are also bred in red, yellow, "Russian
Gray" (spread ash red) and blue.
The Moriscari are reknown for their performing abilities in that they are
modified horizontal performing rollers who perform into the rear of the
kit and descend great distances in a crescent shaped arc. The Moriscari
are ancestors to a large number of other Galati variants, the best known
being what are known to the West as Constanta Medium Faced Tumblers. The
Mironescu Galati are by far the most prized in Romania and are named for
the late Nikola Mironescu of Bucharest, who before his death in the early
1980's was the oldest and most respected flying pigeon fancier in Romania.
Mironescu's pigeons originated by crossing together the Vargat Tumblers
with the pigeons his father developed. This variety is, in the hearts and
minds of most, the most beautiful of the Galati collective. They are
typically Blue pigeons, either with black or white barring, white flights,
white tail retrices and with either a white ring around the neck (Gulerati),
a white crescent on the breast (Leftati) or with a row of white dots
around the neck, looking like a string of pearls (Margaleti). As well,
from the Vargat ancestry, the Mironescu typically feature dragging wings
and a slightly erect tail of 14 to 18 retrices. The Mironescu Galati are
reknown for their highflying ability and are not to perform in any manner. At
this writing (Oct. 1999), there have been at least five importations of
Galati to the North American continent. The
first two were those of Reber in the early 1980's. These two imports were
composed of not only Moriscari, but also the pigeons of a fancier named
Gheorgescu of Bucharest, which Reber had aqquired second hand from the
Hungarians in the late 1970's. The Gheorgescu Galati are typically Barred
Ash Red Selfs with the occassional Cream, very long of type, medium in
size, the wings typically below the tail and with a semi cubical head.
This is completely contrary to the Moriscari in many ways. In the air, the
Gheorgescu (contrary to the claims put up by many early advertisers of the
Reber import lines) are short rolling tumblers with a duration of 4 to 8
hours on an average day. Over the last decade and a half, due to incorrect
breeding, the Moriscari exported by Reber have been lost through
homogenization with the Gheorgescu
Galati. As a consequence of crossing the two types, the descendents of the
Reber imports have undergone a complete ruination at the hands of American
breeders, but as many of those who had involvement in the Reber
importation regarded the Galati which were imported as
"a dissappointment", it is quite likely that this
ruination actually began in Germany and was simply carried to North
America with the birds. In reviewing the original records of the imports
by Reber, it becomes clear that there was a great deal to be desired of
the information about the birds sent over. With this in mind, the fact
that none of the blood of the
Reber imports in all but the Kelebeks has gone on to enhance the flying
culture of the American Rare
Breeds fancy illustrates that more and better information was needed.
Subsequently, the Reber importation has largely become nothing but
"show waste", which is a greater punishment than extinction for
what are intended to be flying pigeons. With
lack lustre stock, opposed to giving up, those interested simply arranged
for the genuine article from the top Romanian lofts. In
late 1997, myself and the late Gary Blain imported two pairs from the city
of Sighisoara of the pure Gheorgescu Galati. That same year, a 20 bird
shipment reached Toronto's Slavic Quarter, representing 6 sub-varieties of
Galati from top studs in East Romania. Then,
earlier this year I received an invite from a friend in the city of
Sighisoara that I could not refuse. For nearly two weeks I toured lofts in
Romania, especially those of the old time masters of this breed and put
every conceivable question a journalist can muster to these remaining
masters of the breed in its homeland, especially to a new friend by the
name of Gica, who is the son of the great Nikola Mironescu. Gica was also
kind enough to present me with a gift of a hand picked top pair from his
old bird kit to take back to the United States.
Over those 13 days I took in no sites, no bus tours of the
Carpathians, no musuems, no trendy restaraunts, no bad Romanian films and
none of the other tourist bunk, because for this fancier, there is no
greater sight than a kit of pigeons, especially those cleaving through
their native sky above the loft of their grandmasters. Totally, I saw 73
kits over that trip and the days seemed to run into each other for each
day lasted well into the night and by 6 AM we were out seeing pigeons
again. The
Galati on this continent today, of which over 300 are already registered
with the SouthEast European and Russian Breeds Club (as of Oct.99) trace
primarily back to the Sighisoara import of '97 and the East Romanian '97
import opposed to the descendents of the Reber import, altho even this
early on, there are a great number of demands for pairs off the Mironescu
pair, as can be easily understood. Hopefully, this is a sign that that a
new life has come into the breed on this continent as a flying pigeon.
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