114 THE PRACTICAL PIGEON KEEPER. 



quill less on each side ; and hence by common consent nine on 

 each wing are admitted as sufficient. It must be clearly under- 

 stood that no pattern whatever is insisted upon ; and this is 

 where novices often cannot understand the matter at all. The 

 point is that each of the " standard J> feathers, as they are 

 called, should show, in some shape and position, a patch of the 

 ground-colour, of black, and of white; and these colours as clear 

 and unmixed as possible, a mixture (such as the yellow being 

 grizzled with white, or peppered with black) being considered a 

 fault. While these standard feathers are the essential point, 

 it is further desired that the " rump " of the bird should be 

 sound in colour, and not light (or " mealy," as fanciers term it), 

 and that the body generally be as evenly sprinkled with black 

 ticks as can be attained ; this is called being well " broken " in 

 feather, and the development of the black marks, the "breaking 

 of the feather." The neck and breast run to richer colour, very 

 beautifully glossed with green. 



An Almond cock only acquires perfection in colour proper- 

 ties at the age of two or three years, the exact period varying 

 according to its original colour, owing to a progressive change 

 which all birds go through, the ground deepening, and the 

 quantity of black increasing. At first, therefore, one or more 

 of the standard feathers probably want the black component 

 necessary, while the ground is too light. A year later these 

 feathers may be standard, but there will be little or no "break" 

 on the body. A year later, again, the body will be well broken, 

 but the white may have disappeared from a standard feather or 

 two; and later still the bird will be too dark altogether. Hence 

 a rather lightish bird will remain a standard one a year longer 

 than one rather dark ; or again, all standard nights are seldom 

 seen the same year with the best stage of body feathering. It 

 is also to be observed that hens are lighter than cocks, and 

 that in their case, while they are expected to show a standard 

 tail, it is useless to look for more than three or four standard 



