93 PIGEONS OF COLOUR. 



It is true that Dixon, in the "Dovecote and Aviary," 

 quoting from Temminck, the ornithologist, mentions black- 

 bodied Nuns with white heads, under the name of Nonnains 

 Maurins ; but this is not the variety I am describing. The 

 Jacobin is called Nonnain, or Nun, in France, and the 

 Nonnain Maurin is a variety of the Jacobin, fully described 

 by Boitard and Corbie. 



The Bavette is an exceedingly pretty pigeon, and entitled 

 to rank high among the feather varieties. From the forma- 

 tion of its head and beak, it must be placed among what 

 the Germans call colour pigeons. I have not yet found 

 an account of it in any German work on pigeons, and I 

 am inclined to think it comes from Eastern Europe, or 

 perhaps from Asia. 



M. Y. la Perre de Boo has given a full description of 

 the Bavette (le Pigeon Moine a Bavette) in his lately pub- 

 lished Book on Pigeons. At his request, I made a drawing 

 of it for him on wood for that work, which differs from 

 that in this book in having the flight feathers white. He 

 informed me that he had some so marked, from which it 

 appears there must be some variation in the breed. He 

 says it is found in black, blue, red, and yellow, and that the 

 iris is sometimes black, sometimes orange red. A black 

 specimen I saw in London lately had orange eyes and a 

 black beak, but the flight feathers were black, like my illus- 

 tration. 



The Lark Pigeon. 



The Coburg Lerchentaube is a smooth-headed and legged bird, 

 considerably larger than the common pigeon, and has become 

 constant in the district from whence it is named. It derives 

 its name of Lark Pigeon from its colour, which appears, from 

 the plate in Herr Priitz's new book, to be that known here as 

 silver or dun chequer. The breast, however, runs into a rich 

 yellow. The beak and eye wattles are somewhat developed, 



