The English Oivl Pigeon. 219 



owls can be so produced. That the same kind of owl existed in the last 

 oenttuy seems likely, and in the year 1824, Boitard and Corbie published 

 the following in Paris, " Pigeon Oravate Anglais ; columha turbita 

 anglica; Bn anglais, Turlit pigeon. . . . plumage entirely amethyst 

 blue with black bars on the wings. This pretty variety is Tery pure, for 

 it cannot be crossed with another variety without entirely losing its 

 colour." Like the German writers, Boitard and Corbie do not distinguish 

 between owls and turbits — all are Pigeons d Cravate. The above, though 

 called the turbit, cannot read as referring to a tnrbit marked pigeon ; 

 such marking, with blue and other coloured Manteaux, they also describe. 

 I understand it to mean a self coloured very light blue pigeon, that 

 could not bear crossing without losing its peculiar colour, which is the 

 characteristic of the English powdered owl. It may be that the French 

 had, in 1824, such pigeons as are described in our Treatise of 1765, 

 which they called Craniate Anglais, and that from them were descended 

 the London powdered owls of late years. 



So long as the powdered owl was considered of an original colour 

 it was worth while preserving ; but, as it is, at its best, only half 

 powdered in comparison with the Mahomet, I see no reason why any 

 special value should be put on it, more especially as it is inferior in owl 

 properties to the best blues and silvers. The colour in perfection should 

 be the same as that of the Mahomet in the blue, and the silver should 

 bear the relation to it that the common silver does to the common blue, 

 the same as in the ice pigeons. As for red and yellow English owls, they 

 are inferior to the blues and silvers, probably on account of no African 

 owls of these colours ever having reached us with which to improve them. 

 I have seen and had red and yellow owls of good colour, however, and 

 they probably represented the breed as it existed in England when the 

 Treatise of 1765 was written. Twenty years ago I had one pair of yellow 

 mottled owls, marked nearly as exactly as the show mottled tumbler 

 ought to be. I received them from Glasgow, but they were imported 

 from the continent, I believe. Whole coloured owls, excepting the wing 

 bars, which are white, are mentioned by the German writers ; also white 

 ones with coloured tails, and coloured ones with white tails. 



The standard of the owl requires a smooth head, as a crest, and 

 especially a peak crest, from its formation, takes much from the round- 

 ness of the head. Still, peak crested owls are not uncommon, and I 



