235 POUTING PIGEONS. 



often seen in birds which look well enough when standing 

 still. Pouters ought, therefore, to be always judged in a large 

 show-pen, to allow their carriage to be seen, and this is now 

 generally done at important shows. 



Feather. — The standard colours of the Pouter are yellow, 

 red, black, and blue pied, valuable, both of old and at the pre- 

 sent time, in the order named, when the birds are equal in all 

 else. Pure white comes next, and then the other colours, pied 

 according to the standard. The way in which a Pouter must be 

 pied, or marked with white, is as follows : On his ground colour 

 he must have a crescent or half -moon mark of white on the 

 front of his crop, as shown in the illustration. This half -moon 

 mark looks best when about 2in. wide at its deepest part. It 

 must finish off with fine points a little below the ears, and 

 be set low enough on the crop to leave a large bib of colour 

 between it and the beak. When this bib is wanting the bird 

 is swallow-throated, and then, of course, there is no properly 

 defined crescent at all. The ends of the crescent often reach 

 to the eyes, finishing off too widely, and this is apt to result 

 in broken or bull eyes. All pied Pouters should have clear 

 yellow or orange irides, and beaks coloiired according to their 

 feather, though it may be mentioned that a flesh-coloured beak 

 is not only allowed, but admired by some, in reds and yellows. 

 Serious defects in marking are a blaze of white or snip on the 

 forehead ; and a ring neck, which is caused by the crop mark- 

 ing going right round the neck. On the shoulders, and well 

 away from the butts of the wings, there should be a mottling 

 of single white feathers, forming what is known as the rose- 

 pinion, which ought to be round, and cover a space liin. in 

 diameter. It is but seldom this beautiful mark is seen well- 

 defined; the white feathers forming it are generally more or 

 less in patches; and it is often represented by a single patch 

 of white, which, when it reaches the edge of the wing, makes 

 the bird bishop-winged, bishoped, or lawn-sleeved, which is 

 more faulty than being entirely solid winged. The primary 



