by William H. Pensom (1958)
I have been asked this
question a lot of times and still fanciers ask the same question. It is
generally assumed that the deep solid spinner is the ultimate in perfection,
but that is not so. The height of perfection in spinning is the highest
velocity in which the bird rotates downwards in a straight line, and in
the smallest compass. Perfect spinning is recognized when a small hole,
from a side view is easily seen when the bird is rotating. The word deep
is also misleading when applied to the depth a pigeon will roll. Some birds
will roll over and over for many yards, even a hundred or more. Not the
ideal spinner however, as velocity and distance go hand and hand. The deeper
a bird rolls the slower will be the rotation at some point, even if it
does roll perfectly at the beginning. In my opinion the most satisfactory
depth is around 8 or 9 yards. In this distance an ideal spinner will maintain
its speed all the way down. Regularity in the number of times the pigeon
rolls in a certain time is also a deciding factor. Forty rolls in 20 minutes
would not be anything out of the ordinary for a Champion. The Champion
is extremely versatile since it can vary the distance it rolls at will.
In addition to these variations the pigeon can tumble in an orthodox manner
of tumbling over and over for several times downwards. It can also twizzle,
which is a mode of performing at very high speed in a manner illustrated
by twirling of a dinner plate with the finger. This type of performance
should not be confused with what is call plate rolling. Plate rolling takes
on a twirling pattern like twizzling but it is much slower and it is a
very low form of performance. The Champion is also capable of what is called
mad tumbling, a performance that is expressed in a series of extremely
rapid backward somersaults in an apparent horizontal order. The Champion
does not perform all these attributes in succession but does so according
to the mood it is in, or according to the circumstances in which it finds
itself in the kit. Every well-informed fancier I have known has endeavored
to produce a bird, which could accomplish these feats. While the pigeon,
which spins in perfect order and with increasing regularity, is a most
desirable character, it is far from being the ultimate in performance.
The solid roller is not too infrequently produced but the real Champion
is rare indeed and we see few of them in our lifetime.