214 Fancy Pigeons. 



ference between the owl and turbit, according; to Moore, was in the beak, 

 the npper mandible of the former being "hookt over like an owl' a, from 

 whence it has its name." The upper mandible in all pigeons is inclined 

 to overlap the under more or less, and in the race under review it 

 sometimes does so very considerably, from the formation of the head 

 and beak ; but I have found that when it does, it is generally owing to 

 a weak under mandible, while I have also found that birds so formed 

 are much troubled with vermin, being unable to keep themselves free 

 from them, like short-faced tumblers, whose beaks have been distorted 

 in the process of head shaping. The upper mandible of a pigeon has no 

 independent motion, and is not jointed Uke that of a parrot, which can 

 move its upper beak at will, so that, though much hooked, it can lay 

 hold of anything small. The best under mandibled African owls I have 

 seen were not much hooked in the upper beak. The picture of an owl in 

 the Treatise of 1765 does not represent a bird with a hooked beak, nor 

 has Mr. Ludlow in Mr. Fulton's book represented any of this family of 

 pigeons so. The mandibles may never be completely boxed, but the 

 nearer they are so, the better in my opinion. The mouth should be 

 wide and deep in the head. 



Eye should be large, prominent or bolting, and placed in the centre of 

 the head. The irides are hazel or "bull" in whites, and orange or 

 yellow in coloured birds. 



Beak anS, eye wattles vary considerably in birds of the same family. 

 A moderate amount is natural, and therefore allowable. The beak wattle 

 thickens with age, and so long as it does not stand out much beyond the 

 curve of the skull, it cannot be objected to. Neither the beak nor eye 

 wattles should be rough and lumpy, otherwise they give coarseness to 

 owls and their varieties. 



Qullet is a thin transparent skin filling up the hollow of the throat, 

 commencing on the under mandible as far forward as the feathers grow, 

 and reaching, in a good bird, to the top of the frill. This property can 

 be seen whenever a bird is hatched, if the beak be gently raised. It is 

 about the last part of a bird to be covered with feathers, and I may say 

 here that pigeons of the owl tribe feather differently from all other 

 pigeons, the sides of the breast feathering before the frill makes its 

 appearance, and the centre of the breast remaining bare for about three 

 weeks from the date of birth. The longer and deeper the gullet is, the 



