CHAP, iv.] BALD-PATES. HELMETS. 119 



short and spindle beak, and a round button head, and 

 the iris of the eye a bright pearl colour ; and when in 

 perfection is perhaps as great, if not the greatest curio- 

 sity in the whole fancy of Pigeons ; and would take up 

 a small volume to expatiate on and enter such a descrip- 

 tion as it would admit of, and really deserves." 



Tumblers with feathered feet and legs are not at all 

 uncommon. 



BALD-PATES are pleasing birds, with a very genuine 

 look about them. The character of the head much re- 

 sembles that of the Turbit and the Jacobine. Their 

 name is derived from their having usually the head, 

 tail, and flight feathers white, and the rest of the body 

 of some uniform colour : those with slate-coloured bodies 

 are as pretty as any. Sometimes the arrangement of 

 this colouring is reversed ; the body is white, and the 

 head, tail, and quills coloured. They then answer to 

 the description of a breed given in the Treatise. 



The Helmet is about the size of a Nun, or somewhat 

 bigger : the head, tail, and flight feathers of the wings, 

 are always of one colour, as black, red, yellow ; and I 

 believe there are some blue, and all the rest of the body 

 white ; so that the chief difference between them and a 

 Nun is, that they have no hood on the under part of the 

 head, and are commonly gravel- eyed. 



" They are called Helmets from their heads being 

 covered with a plumage which is distinct in colour from 

 the body, and appears somewhat like an helmet to cover 

 the head."* 



Bald-pates are robust birds, strong flyers, good 

 breeders, and sufficiently prolific to be kept for table 



* Treatise, p. 135. 



