47 COLOURS. 



pigeon, of Modena, where many curious combinations of 

 colour are found. 



Albinos and Melanoids. 



"When colour fails altogether in animals, an albino, or 

 white specimen is the result, and such are found among dove- 

 cote pigeons. Albinos, when bred with coloured pigeons often 

 produce particoloured young, and this is the foundation of 

 all white markings in fancy pigeons. A rarer freak of 

 nature, however, than an albino, is when the normal colour 

 of an animal becomes black, which is known as a melanoid. 

 Melanoids occur in animals living in a state of nature, such as 

 leopards, jackals, hares, and rabbits. I have not known of this 

 natural change occurring in field dovecotes, but there can be 

 little doubt that the black colour in tame pigeons is owing to 

 this natural propensity, and that it is the foundation of all 

 whole colours, such as red, yellow, and dun. 



Whole Colours. 



These colours, to be in perfection, should be uniform all over 

 the bird, and not fall away to a lighter shade on the rump, 

 wings, tail, belly, thighs, or vent. They advance in value ac- 

 cording to the difficulty of producing them, blacks and duns 

 being easy of acquisition, compared with reds and yellows, which 

 latter are the choicest colours in fancy pigeons. To be seen in 

 perfection, they must be seen on a whole feathered bird, or 

 at least on a bird whose standard of marking does not 

 require a white flight and tail, for the colour of these in a 

 whole-feathered red or yellow is the crucial point in judging 

 of their quality of colour. Black, red, and yellow of the 

 choicest shades must be lustrous, with metallic sheen, the 

 black being green, and the red greenish purple, in certain 

 lights. Yellow has also an orange lustre, interspersed with 

 light green on the neck feathers, but there are few yellow 



