104 



button head, and the feathers on the breast open and reflect both ways, 

 standing out almost like fringe or the frill of a modern shirt ; this is called 

 the purle, and the more of it the bird has, the more it is admired. 



244. — As for the feather, their tail and the back of the wings ought to 

 be of one entire colour, as blue, black, red, yellow, dun and chequered ;(*) 

 the flight feathers and all the rest of the body should be white, (f) They 

 are a very pretty light pigeon, and if used to fly when young, some of 

 them make very good flyers. I have seen a flight of them kept by one 

 GiRTON that would mount almost high as Tumblers. (J) 



245. — There are of this sort all white, black, and blue, which by a 

 mistake are often called and taken for owls. 



COLUMBA BUBO NOMINATA. The Owl, 



246. — This Pigeon is in make and shape like the former, except that 

 the upper chap of its beak is hooked over like an owl's, from whence it 

 has its name. 



ways — this is called the purle, and the more the bird has of it the better ; their feet are 

 clean, and the tail is carried rather elevated. Their plumage is a beautiful white, re- 

 lieved by dark wiag shoulders, of various colours, from which they are called blue- 

 shouldered or black shouldered Turbits, as the colour indicates. To be perfect in 

 colour, the whole of that part of the wing should be coloured, without any wliite fea- 

 thers, including the epaulet or scapular feathers ; the flight-feathers of the wings, and 

 the whole of the other parts, being an unspotted white. 



243. (Brent.) — The old Fanciers admired the black, blue, and dun-shouldered Tur- 

 bits most, when they had tails of the same colour as their shoulders ; but such birds 

 are now rarely seen, though some Fanciers prize them highly, on account of their 

 great scarcity, the other colours being invariably found to have white tails, which are 

 now more general with all. Canterbury was, a few years back, noted for its Turbit 

 Pigeons ; they were bred there in the highest perfection ; the colours of iheir shoulders 

 are various, as yellow, red, copper, black, chequered, blue, silver, mealy, and dun. 

 They are good flyers, light and active, as may be supposed from their German name of 

 Libge postmen. I have flown a few with my Tumblers, with which they would soar : 

 they are veiy good breeders and nurses, if not bred too high, which, however, is often 

 the case, as smallness is considered a great beauty. Some eminent writers on natural 

 history consider this variety as one of our purest races of Pigeons. 



* 244. (Mayoe, p. 127.) — The red and yellow ones excepted, whose tails should be 

 white, and those that are blue should have black bars across the wings. 



+ 244. (Mayor, p. 128.) — ^And are called by the Fanciers (according to the colour 

 they are of) as black-shouldered, yellow-shouldered, blue-shouldered Turbits, &c. 



% 244. (GiRTiN, p. 96.) — A veteran Fancier of some note has informed us that he 

 trained a flight of these birds, which, for their lofty soaring, seemed to dispute the palm 

 with his Tumblers. 



246. (Mayor, p, 125.) — This bird, from its pleasing, meek, and innocent aspect, I 

 should have described immediately after the Jacobine, it being, in my opinion, the 

 next in point of beauty ; but, as Mr. Moore observes, *' Tis pity to separate those 

 venerable sons of the clergy and the female saints ;" therefore we have suffered them 

 to follow each other for that reason only. It has a very round button head and 

 grravel eye. 



246. (Eaton.) — I think the owl should rank the third as a toy. A first-rate Owl is 

 a truly beautiful Pigeon ; I never saw a dirty-feathered Owl in my experience. Their 

 plumage is so truly beautiful and soft, it is with the utmost difficulty I know where to 



