292 FANCY PIGEONS. 



all blacks being full of dun blood, the silver colour, which, 

 is the original of the dun, is bred from the black-crossed 

 blue as a natural consequence. 



As the blue and black, and the silver and dun colours, 

 exist in the breed, their intermediate, or connecting colours, 

 the blue and silver chequers (dun chequers in fanciers' language) 

 are sometimes produced. These colours are not cultivated, 

 however, though birds having them might, if otherwise good, 

 be valuable enough as stock birds. Such blue and dun chequers 

 as are produced in crossing the solid with the barred colours 

 do not illustrate what might be accomplished were they to be 

 bred for as varieties. A correctly-marked chequer must not 

 only be properly dappled on the wing coverts, but show the 

 marking down the rump and on its under body. To get such 

 marking distinct is a very difficult matter indeed. Bed and 

 yellow, the choicest colours in domestic pigeons, do not exist 

 in Carriers. I have been told that Mr. Corker, the well- 

 known fancier, made considerable progress at one time in 

 breeding yellow Carriers, but that he did not persevere in 

 his attempt. There is no doubt that reds and yellows could 

 be produced, but the time and expense requisite for the work 

 would necessarily be very great. Were several breeders to 

 attempt it simultaneously, it is not unlikely that in time 

 both reds and yellows might be bred. 



White Carriers existed from Moore's time down to about 

 1860, when the best collection of them belonged to Mr. 

 Potter, a London breeder. His stock was stolen, and it is 

 believed they were destroyed, as none of them were ever 

 recovered. Since then attempts have been made to resusci- 

 tate this variety, and some very good specimens have been 

 bred lately, by General Hassard and others who have been 

 working with them for years. Although there is no sure way 

 of breeding albinos from coloured pigeons, we know that they 

 are occasionally so produced, and I know of several instances. 

 It is not unlikely, therefore, that some one of the many 



