The Feather's Practical Pigeon Book 



mens, no matter how good the parents may have been. 

 As these birds combine in their make-up, all the bad 

 elements of the parent birds, and while chance might 

 show something of good quality, it is against all the 

 principles of breeding to mate bad with bad. 



In mating solid-colored birds together, like Barbs, 

 Owls, Carriers, Dragoons, etc., for exhibition purposes, 

 attention needs to be paid to color as well as head-prop- 

 erties. In Carriers the practice has always been tomate 

 Blacks and Duns together to get good Blacks, and the 

 results of so doing will be likely to prove more satisfac- 

 tory if the Dun is known to be descended from Blacks. 

 So to get good Duns, if the Black has descended from 

 Duns the result will be likely to be good Duns. This 

 will apply equally as well to Barbs and other varieties. 

 Reds and Yellows can be crossed together for these 

 colors, and if the parents are descended from either of 

 the colors, whichever is the strongest color in the par- 

 ents' veins will be likely to show in the progeny. A 

 Black descended from a Red, if mated to a Red, would 

 be likely to give rich deep Reds. Sometimes, however, 

 the union instead of producing a Red of clean color 

 throughout will produce a Red with a bluish tail and 

 rump, a very objectionable feature in a Barb, or it may 

 be one will be a Red and the other a Dun. 



Yellows and Duns mated together will occasionally 

 give a rich yellow, especially if the Dun has yellow 

 blood in its veins. Reds can be mated together with 

 expectations of good results if they are known to have 

 descended from Reds. Frequently, however, such a 

 union will show a Black in the nest, especially if there 

 is Black blood in the parents' veins. In mating Yel- 

 lows, if one of the pair is known to have Red blood in 

 its constitution the Yellow is likely to be more satisfac- 



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