205 FRILL-BREASTED PIGEONS. 



and lias bred them successfully for years, as well as tlie 

 Egyptian (Tunis) Owl." 



From the above, it seems that the Whiskered Owl cannot 

 now be found in such perfection as when first imported. The 

 interesting account of the breed makes one wish to know more 

 about it, and especially from whence it came. I have seen 

 many varieties and types of fancy pigeons in India, but none 

 of the frilled race, except such as were imported from Europe. 

 There is nothing to connect the re-appearance of the "Whiskered 

 Owl in Paris with the Tilsit and Memel birds. The Paris 

 birds may have been a fresh importation, and the name given 

 them — Chinese Pigeons — may not be a mere fanciful one. 

 However good the first arrivals were — and, if better than such 

 as I have seen, they must have been very choice birds — there 

 doubtless exists, in the hands of fanciers somewhere, a race of 

 most extraordinai y pigeons, compared to which all other races 

 we know of are much inferior in jabot, or frill. 



The Turbit Pigeon. 



The origin of the name Turbit seems to have puzzled our 

 old writers on pigeons. It is evidently derived from the Latin, 

 as was first pointed out in the eleventh, and last edition, of 

 " Moubray's Book on Poultry," edited by Meall and Horner, 

 and published in 1854. That the Turbit alone, among all the 

 varieties of fancy pigeons known in England 200 years ago, 

 should have had a Latin name, has caused me to think that 

 a frill-breasted pigeon of some kind may have been introduced 

 into this country by the Romans as the Columba Turhata. 

 Willughby appears to have been the first writer to use the 

 word, and though Turhat would have been the more correct 

 form, any vowel would have rendered the sound of the name. 

 The name Turbit, therefore, signifies a frilled pigeon of any 

 colour, though we now use it only for those that are white, 

 with coloured shoulders. 



There are differences of opinion regarding the formation of 



