The Feather's Practical Pigeon Book 



frill and color, for the natural inference would be that 

 their progeny, while they might be splendid in head and 

 beak, would be almost void of frill and so poor in 

 shoulder*coloring as to be disqualified for an exhibition 

 bird. The proper mating would be to take a young cock 

 bred from well-mated parents, with say good quality 

 in head-properties, and cross him with a hen lacking in 

 such properties, but possessed of good shape, good frill, 

 and good color. This would be equalizing the proper- 

 ties possessed by the pair, and the results would proba- 

 bly show that a step nearer the desired point of com- 

 bined excellence had been made. While the young 

 might not show the perfection of the male in beak-qual- 

 ities, for instance, they would still be likely to be good 

 in this particular, and combined with this have good 

 frills, shape, and color. I know with Turbit breeders 

 at the time I am writing everything is sacrificed for 

 head-qualities, but I can not acknowledge these alone 

 to constitute a perfect Turbit, and believe if judges do 

 their duty they will insist on perfection in frill, shape, 

 color of shoulders, and cleanness of thighs, as wjell as 

 shortness of beak, shape of head, and perfection of shell 

 or crest, in the make-up of an exhibition specimen. 



In mating any birds together, I would avoid, as far as 

 possible, mating extremes, unless it were known that 

 the deficient bird had been bred from birds of fairly 

 good quality. This is where a perfect knowledge of ante- 

 cedents is necessary. Having this knowledge, you can 

 calculate how to select proper mates for certain indi- 

 viduals. All pigeons will throw some poor specimens 

 occasionally, and these poor specimens, where the par- 

 ents are known to be gOod, can be safely mated with a 

 bird of superior excellence with an expectation of good 

 results. But I would not advise mating two poor speci- 



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