Baldlicad and Beard Titvtblers. ' 157 



for a coming wonder. Many flying tumblera which are self-coloured as 

 nestlings become more than half white during their first moult. The 

 mottled flying tumbler is not nearly so difiicult to breed good as the 

 ahort-faced mottle ; but yet it is difiicult enough to breed, and if the 

 majority of birds seen at shows were penned unweeded they would be 

 found Yery mismarked. Foul feathers in the neck and breast are very 

 prevalent, but it is easy to remove many such without the possibility of 

 detection, and, therefore, many fanciers who admire the mottle, prefer 

 rather to spend their time over pigeons not so easily manufactured for 

 the show pen. 



Baldhead and Bbaed Tumblers. 



When Moore, in his description of the tumbler, said, " This Pigeon 

 affords a very great Variety of Colours in its Plumage, as blacks, blues, 

 whites, reds, yellows. Duns, Silvers, and, in short, a pleasant mixture of 

 all these Colours with the white," it is probable that he included bald- 

 heads and beards as " pleasant mixtures." To the author of the treatise 

 (1765), however, is due the first account of these favourite varieties of the 

 tumbler, and his report of them, which is one of the original pieces in his 

 book, is as follows : "The bald-pated tumblers, which are of various 

 colours in their body, as blacks, blues, &c., with a clean white head, a 

 pearl eye, white flight and white tail, are esteemed good flyers, and are 

 very pretty, even when flying in the air, for the contrast of the feather 

 appears at that distance wlien the weather is clear and fine ; but the blue 

 ones are reputed to rise higher than any other colour. There are also 

 some called blue or black-bearded, that is, either of those colours having 

 a long white spot from the under jaw and cheek, a little way down the 

 throat, and regularly shaped, which has a pretty effect as an ornament ; 

 and if they run clean in the flight and tail, as before mentioned in the 

 bald-pated ones, they are accounted handsome." 



Baldheads are found in black, blue, silver, red, and yellow, and in off 

 colours, as chequers and mealies. The correct marking is as follows : 

 Both mandibles should be white ; and the whole head above a line running 

 about Jin. under the eyes, should also be white. The Une should be cut 

 straight and sharp. This marking is called "high cut," in opposition to 

 the white extending any further down the neck, which is called "low 

 cut;" and if the line of demarcation is uneven, or if the white in any 



