206 FANCY PIGEONS. 



the head of the Turbit. I have shown what the old writers 

 say about it, and that Moore particularly says it should be 

 round; while the earliest picture of a Turbit I know of that 

 in the Treatise of 1765 shows a pigeon rather rounder in head 

 than the Owl in the same book. It is a fault too often found 

 in frilled pigeons the choice African Owl included to be flat 

 on the crown; but, although there is no difference specified 

 in any old book between the Owl and Turbit head, some 

 modern writers have held that the latter should be frog-headed. 

 When or how this idea originated I cannot trace, unless it 

 was derived from what was published in Paris, by Boitard and 

 Corbie, in 1824. They say, in their introductory notice of the 

 Frilled Pigeons : " Their beak is short, and head toad-shaped 

 that is, in the prettiest varieties; the eyes are extremely pro- 

 jecting in the upper part of the skull, where they form two 

 well-marked protuberances, as also the bone behind the head, 

 which forms a third, which gives their head a sort of resem- 

 blance to that of a toad." 



I have seen the frog or toad head even more marked in 

 some birds than this description, the head having a decided 

 hollow between the two rising eyebrows, and this was in the 

 case of some birds bred from a Turbit and African Owl. I 

 dislike this style of head, and hold, with many fanciers, such 

 as Fulton and Caridia, that, the nearer the head of a Turbit 

 approaches that of the ideal Owl, the better it is. The Owl 

 type is that most difficult to obtain, for it can seldom be got 

 very good ; it is the result of careful breeding, and never 

 comes by chance. 



The ideal standard of a Turbit in my opinion, and in that 

 of many more who are devoted to this beautiful pigeon is, 

 therefore, exactly the same as that of the African Owl, except 

 as to colour and crest. 



SIZE. The Turbit, as it exists, is, even in small specimens, 

 very much larger than the African Owl. I prefer it small, but 

 would not have it so at the sacrifice of any of its properties. 



