ORIENTAL FRILL PIGEONS. 



appearance with erect and jaunty carriage. Blue- 

 laced Satinettes, Bluettes, Sulphurettes, Bru- 

 nettes, Blue-laced, Sulphur-laced and Brown- 

 laced Blondinettes should possess spot tails, 

 the spot being likened in shape to those lovely 

 coloured spots or eyes in a peacock's tail. 



This feature in the varieties I have named 

 is one of great value, and one we must do our 

 best to preserve. Our American cousins look 

 upon it as a great asset in an Oriental Frill, and 

 rightly so. Undoubtedly the perfect tail spot 

 is one of the greatest charms of the breed. 

 Unfortunately in the attempt to breed lightly 

 laced birds, the spot tail has suffered, and we 

 get a good percentage of what are called gay- 

 tailed birds. This means the light colour of 

 the spot has gradually crept up the tail feathers 

 until the well-defined spot has disappeared, 

 and thus we pay the penalty in our desire for 

 breeding lightly laced birds. 



There are, of course, lightly laced birds with 

 good spot tails in some of our lofts to-day, but I 

 can assure my young friends that they are not 

 plentiful by any means, and to retrieve it we 

 shall have to hark back a little. 



Another undesirable feature in the craze for 

 light laced birds is the lacing on back. This be- 

 comes very washy and undefinable. Fortunate- 

 ly, the breed lends itself and is very amenable to 

 the exercise of a bit of common sense on the part 

 of the breeder. And the lightly laced hen with 

 her gay tail, says to the old " Pigeon Dorum," 



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