152 FANCY PIGEONS. 



powers. There are two, apparently distinct, varieties of these 

 birds, the Buff and the Lavender Altenburgers. 



In colour, the Buff Altenburger is what is known in this 

 country as yellow-mealy, being buff-coloured on the wing 

 coverts, with yellow neck and wing bars. The legs and feet 

 are covered with feathers of a medium length ; the beak is 

 rather long and slender; the iris yellow, or pearl-coloured; 

 the head is smooth at the nape, but has a frontal tuft on 

 the brow, which ought to be twisted up in the form of a 

 peak; and this, when well formed, gives the bird an original 

 appearance. The voice of the Buff Altenburger resembles 

 that of the Common Trumpeter. 



The Lavender Altenburger breed, which I kept for some 

 time, appears to me to be quite distinct from the Buff. 

 It is rather smaller, and more slenderly made, being about 

 the size of a conunon flying Tumbler, which bird it re- 

 sembles in form, except that its beak is somewhat longer. 

 The eye is pearl- coloured ; the legs and feet are sometimes 

 smooth, and sometimes slightly feathered. A peculiarity with 

 most of those I have had, though not altogether unknown 

 in other pigeons, was an inclination to webbed feet, the 

 middle and inner front toes of nearly all the young ones 

 I bred being joined together throughout their whole length ; 

 but I am not aware if this is general in the variety. The 

 head is unhooded at the nape, and the nasal tuft, instead 

 of being single, and peaked, as in the Buff variety, assumes 

 a double form. On each side of the brow, between beak 

 and eye, there is a small tuft of feathers growing from 

 a centre. In some specimens the tufts are quite distinctly 

 separated from each other by the smooth upward-growing 

 feathers of the forehead. The colour in this kind is a 

 light lavender tinted blue, somewhat uniform throughout, 

 except on the breast, when it merges into a bright yellow; 

 and the wing bars are nearly white. There is also a Silver 

 variety, which bears exactly the same relation to the 



