206 FANCY PIGEONS. 



the head of the Turbit. I have shown what the old writers 

 say about it, and that Moore particularly says it should be 

 round; while the earliest picture of a Turbit I know of — that 

 in the Treatise of 1765 — shows a pigeon rather rounder in head 

 than the Owl in the same book. It is a fault too often found 

 in frilled pigeons — the choice African Owl included — to be flat 

 on the crown; but, although there is no difference specified 

 in any old book between the Owl and Turbit head, some 

 modern writers have held that the latter should be frog-headed. 

 "When or how this idea originated I cannot trace, unless it 

 was derived from what was published in Paris, by Boitard and 

 Corbie, in 1824. They say, in their introductory notice of the 

 Frilled Pigeons : " Their beak is short, and head toad-shaped — 

 that is, in the prettiest varieties; the eyes are extremely pro- 

 jecting in the upper part of the skull, where they form two 

 well-marked protuberances, as also the bone behind the head, 

 which forms a third, which gives their head a sort of resem- 

 blance to that of a toad." 



I have seen the frog or toad head even more marked in 

 some birds than this description, the head having a decided 

 hollow between the two rising eyebrows, and this was in the 

 case of some birds bred from a Turbit and African Owl. I 

 dislike this style of head, and hold, with many fanciers, such 

 as Fulton and Caridia, that, the nearer the head of a Turbit 

 approaches that of the ideal Owl, the better it is. The Owl 

 type is that most difficult to obtain, for it can seldom be got 

 very good ; it is the result of careful breeding, and never 

 comes by chance. 



The ideal standard of a Turbit — in my opinion, and in that 

 of many more who are devoted to this beautiful pigeon — is, 

 therefore, exactly the same as that of the African Owl, except 

 as to colour and crest. 



Size. — The Turbit, as it exists, is, even in small specimens, 

 very much larger than the African Owl. I prefer it small, but 

 would not have it so at the sacrifice of any of its properties. 



