203 FRILL-BREASTED PIGEONS. 



bred his from the Damascene cross; but lie still refused to 

 say bow tbey were bred. Those who take any interest in the 

 question, should procure a copy of the new German illustrated 

 pigeon work, " Mustertaubenbuch," and study the coloured illus- 

 tration of Italian Owls therein, which are veiy well drawn. 



The Italian Owl Pigeon. 



Herr Prlltz, in his "Mustertaubenbuch," now publishing, de- 

 scribes this variety, and gives both woodcut and coloured 

 illustrations of it. The former represents plain-headed, frill- 

 breasted, white birds, with coloured shoulders, flights, and 

 tails, the latter carried high, and suggesting some connection 

 with the Modenese Triganica Pigeons. The coloured plate 

 represents two beautiful pigeons, one of which is blue, with 

 blackish shoulders, the feathers of which are laced with white ; 

 the other is of the colour of a Mahomet. Both are plain- 

 headed, with good gullets and frills. From Italy, then, the 

 English powdered Owls of thirty years ago may have come; 

 certainly, Herr Priitz's illustration has a remarkable likeness 

 to those that used to be seen here. 



The Whiskered Owl Pigeon. 



This beautiful variety is of a medium size between the 

 African and English Owls. Those I have seen were either white 

 or blue in colour, with the usual black wing and tail bars. 

 In head, beak, gullet, and general Owl properties, they could 

 only be called passable, and could not be compared with the 

 African variety. In frill, however, they were extraordinary, 

 their breasts being covered with it from butt to butt of wings. 

 The frill also reached up to the throat, and, dividing to 

 right and left, was continued almost round the neck. I un- 

 derstand that in some of them it actually goes quite round 

 the neck. These pigeons are called Chinese Gulls in Ger- 

 many {Chhiesiche Movchen), and the only account of them I 

 have found is by iN'eumeister and Priitz, as follows : 



