PROPERTIES OF THE ANTWERP. 



183 



Fig. 27. 



Fig. 28. 



eye-wattle should harmonise with this. At one time, when 

 breeders went for shortness of face, a Barb cross was resorted 

 to, and the consequence was a kind of eye-wattle like Fig. 27, 

 which quite destroys the character of 

 the head by its projection at the outer 

 edges. If, on the contrary, the eye- 

 wattle lie close at the edges to the skull, 

 and the eye stands out boldly in the 

 centre, as in Fig. 28, a well-developed 

 eye-wattle adds to the apparent size and 

 roundness of head, and is an advantage 

 to the bird. We have seen eye-wattles 

 of the Barb type on very good birds, 

 but it is a fault decidedly, and so far spoils the head. 



Fig. 29 shows the head of a young bird likely with age 

 to develop into Fig. 25, to show how age and development 



apparently shorten the 

 face. At E B there 

 may be a slight flat- 

 ness, to be by-and-by 

 filled up by growth of 

 wattle, and the beak 

 from A to F is longer, 

 the beak - wattle at 

 present following at 

 its lower edge the 

 nearly horizontal line 

 of the nostril, whereas 

 with age the wattle 

 drops at the back below the nostril, and so shortens the 

 beak and makes it look thicker. In many cases it really 

 does thicken a little with age. The space D also appears 

 much greater for the same reasons. It is, therefore, particu- 

 larly necessary to guard against condemning young birds for 



Fig. 29. 



