DOMESTIC PIGEONS 253 



are endeavoring to increase the slim, upstanding character 

 and at the same time reduce the extreme wattling. This 

 seems to be the only hope of what is really a noble breed. 

 Carriers are found chiefly in black, dun, blue, lavender, 

 white and pied. The iris is red, except in whites, where it 

 is dark. 



The Barb 



This bird appears to have been brought to England in 

 much the same form as it exists today, from Mediterranean 

 ports of North Africa. Almost throughout, except for eye- 

 cere, it is the perfect antithesis of the Carrier, its body 

 being cobby and its neck and legs short. The skull is usu- 

 ally described as " square," being short and broad. The beak 

 is short and stout, conforming to the blunt lines of the head. 

 What there is of it is heavily wattled. The cere is the only 

 point in which this breed agrees with the Carrier. It is 

 broad, flat and circular, and bright red in color. Barbs 

 occur in black, dun, red and yellow, the eye being pearl in 

 each case. The Barb is another once fashionable breed, 

 which has fallen on such evil days that a good bird is now a 

 rarity. 



The Owls 



Of all the round-headed, short-billed breeds, the Owl is 

 the least specialized, and has been thought to represent the 

 ancestral strain of the Turbits and the Oriental Frills. The 

 records are lost in antiquity, but at any rate it is certain 

 that all are closely related, and had a common origin in 

 northern Africa and Asia Minor. 



All of the Owls are short-bodied, cobby birds, full- 

 breasted and sturdy. The beak is very short and decurved, 

 forming, with the skull and wattle, a perfect circle. The 

 gullet,, or fold of skin under the lower mandible, is well 



