94 Fancy Pigeons. 



principal beauty of this pigeon. It lias a broad breast and a low posture. 

 The head and tail, with its coverts, are white. These marks are not, 

 howcTer, of any great fixity, tho head being often marked unequally, 

 sometimes only the upper part of it being white. The feathers on tho 

 feet are sometimes foul, and a part of the back is often white. In this 

 variety, therefore, sometliing always remains to be wished for. With 

 black, red, or yellow ones, a belly changing somewhat into blue is a 

 frequent fault in iieauty which ought to be watched, and, by a suitable 

 selection in breeding, avoided. But the white-head with perfect marks 

 is a very fine pigeon. The black and red ones are often excellent, and 

 particularly valued. The latter displays in fine specimens a peculiarly 

 burning red, even on the belly, under the wings, and as far as the points 

 of tho flight featliers, which is only very rarely found in other species. 

 Sometimes this somewhat tender pigeon produces white spotted young 

 ones, which in moulting become quite white, but again breed correctly 

 coloured and marked ones. The moulting pigeons prefer to remain by 

 themselves, and rarely fly farther than the neighbouring roofs." I 

 believe that the gorgeously coloured red priests shown of late in this 

 country were of this variety, though they had coloured tails. They 

 carried a metallic lustre to the very extremity of the tail — a rare thing 

 in pigeons of a red colour. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



THE WHITE SPOT PIGEON. 



The white spot pigeon {Die Wci^'-l'l'dssijc Tituhe of Germany) is the reverse 

 in marking of tho common spot pigeon. The head is unhooded, the upper 

 mandible white, the lower coloured in accordance with the plumage. 

 Tlie legs and feet are smooth in some, in others feathered. The heavier 

 the leg feathering in tliis breed the better they look, but it is not easy to 

 procure them well hocked and booted, the majority being only sparsely 

 covered. 



The white spot pigeon is of the common field type in formation of head 



