THE VARIOUS BREEDS 59 



Russian. The former was the toy of the Ger- 

 man fancier who bred him in all colors, and in 

 splashes, checkers, and solids; he put bars on 

 the wings, changed the color of the chest, the 

 rose, and boots, giving as many names as he 

 could produce varieties. 



The Russian, on the contrary, is only to be 

 found in straight black, or white. It is v^ry 

 " high-class " in the difficulties of breeding its 

 points of rose, crest, and foot-feathers. The 

 rose is the tuft of feathers covering the head 

 from the base of the beak to the crest of the 

 back, overhanging the eyes so that the bird can 

 only see what is beneath it. The feathers must 

 diverge from the center regularly and lie 

 smoothly. The crest is at the back and extends 

 from eye to eye. 



The half-blinded condition of the bird and 

 its excessive footfeathering combine to give it 

 a groping character and a heavy appearance. 

 The intense black plumage shows beautiful 

 glints in the sunlight. They were first taken 

 into England fifty years ago. The bird re- 

 ceives its name from the peculiar and long-con- 

 tinued sound of its cooing. 



THE OWL AND TURBIT 



The owls stand foremost among the toy 



