211 FRILL-BREASTED PIGEONS. 



pass undetected. I consider that the silver colour ouglit to 

 have bright golden dun wing bars, with neck and tail to 

 match. In a Turbit, this colour, confined to the shoulders, 

 is ineffective, being so light. Darker wing coverts, and bars 

 merging into black, are, therefore, more effective for a Turbit. 



Red and yellow barred-winged Turbits, as well as duns, 

 strawberries, and the various chequers, are usually called 

 off-colours, and are not cultivated. The barred colours are, 

 however, very pretty, and if bred for, could be improved by 

 selection. To each of the solid colours, black, red, yellow, 

 and dun, there is a corresponding barred and chequered colour, 

 a,s referred to in the Chapter on " Colours." It is, doubtless, 

 by the judicious blending of all of them, that so many varia- 

 tions are found in the colours of foreign pigeons. But how- 

 ever intricate and effective are chequering, spangling, and 

 breaking up of colour, as in the Smyrna Satinettes and Tri- 

 ganica Pigeons, they do not fill the eye like black, red, and 

 yellow, when these are in perfection. 



There are also pure white Turbits, inasmuch as such are 

 occasionally produced, by way of albinism, from coloured- 

 shouldered birds. They might as well be called Crested Owls, 

 unless they are of the decided frog-headed formation, which 

 no Owl ought to be. It is a manifest mistake, however, to 

 allow them to compete with coloured-shouldered birds, 

 whether frog or Owl-headed. The best so - called white 

 Turbits I have ever seen were very thick-headed, down-faced 

 ones, of the Owl type, with broad shell crests. 



The Peaked Turbit. — This variety should have a long 

 mane running up the back of its neck, quite unbroken, and 

 ending in a finely-pointed peak crest. There is much to 

 contend with in getting the right peak and mane. The peak 

 ought to reach higher than the crown of the head, but it is 

 rarely more than level with it, and often set so low down in 

 the neck, that the bird would look better if altogether smooth- 

 headed. As the peak crest is formed by the feathers on the 



