121 EAST INDIAN VARIETIES. 



coloured beak ; and the marking, commencing at the beak 

 wattle, runs over the head and down the back of the 

 neck, till it meets the back and wings. Looked at in 

 profile, the marking should show a clean division down the 

 side of the neck ; from behind, the neck appears all coloured, 

 and from before, all white. The back, wings, and flight 

 feathers are also coloured, the rest of the plumage being 

 pure white. 



A rarer variety of the Sherajee is that known as the 

 Mottled. The breast of this variety must be well-mottled with 

 single feathers, no two of which ought to touch each other. 

 This is a kind of mottling peculiar to Indian fancy pigeons, 

 being the reverse of what is required in this country, where 

 standard mottling is always composed of single white feathers 

 on a coloured ground. The Mottled Sherajee, when anything 

 like perfect, becomes a very valuable pigeon, and is often sold 

 at so much the mottle; I was told, on good and satisfactory 

 authority, that as much as 1000 rupees had been paid for a 

 fine bird of this breed. While a few coloured feathers on 

 the breast of the Sherajee only spoil what might otherwise be 

 a good plain-breasted bird, when the number reaches to about 

 thirty single, well-separated mottles, the value is reckoned 

 something in the same way as that of the diamond, by 

 squaring the number of feathers, and multiplying by a 

 price. After all, 1000 rupees, formerly equal to about 100 

 sterling, is no more than has been paid in this country for 

 a Carrier, and Indian potentates are known to be as keen in 

 acquiring the objects of their fancy as people of any other 

 country. 



The Sherajee can only be seen good in the collections of 

 experienced pigeon fanciers, though no bird is more common 

 in the places in Calcutta where pigeon shops abound. I have 

 seen them in black, red, yellow, and dun, also in blue and 

 silver, both barred and barless, and in many oif colours. 

 Those found for sale in the bazaars are generally of black 



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