228 Fancy Pigeons. 



called clean thighed and vented when so hopelessly foul on these parts 

 that, had their colour been even fair, they would have been unfit to put 

 into a pen. Black, red, and yellow turbita, especially black, when of 

 rich colour, have their eye wattles of a reddish tint. 



The blue turbit has not been crossed with foreif^ blood, at least, to 

 any great extent. The best birds of this colour generally show a sexual 

 difference in colouring, the hens being of a duller and more smoky tint 

 than the cocks. The colour in cocks is sometimes very clear and delicate, 

 so much so that white will hardly show on them, and this light blue is even 

 preferred by some. It is a matter of taste, but I prefer a darker and 

 more vivid blue, like the colour of the wild rook pigeon. The delicate 

 blue is too near an approach to silver, and I think the more pronounced 

 the colours, the better they look from an artistic point of view. Such a 

 beautiful rich blue as I have had in Triganica pigeons would only 

 require to be seen to have its superiority allowed. The wing bars of 

 the blue should be of a deep black, broad and distinct. 



The silver turbit should be of a creamy dun, with bars of the darkest 

 glossy dun, merging into black. To have really black bars on tho real 

 silver ground is perhaps not an impossibility, but I have never seen 

 them. When I consider that bright red and yellow bars can be seen on 

 rich blue Triganica pigeons, black bars on a silver ground may not be 

 incompatible with nature. So very light in colour are foul thigh and 

 vent feathers on silvers and the light blues, that it is scarcely possible to 

 distinguish them, and so they often pass undetected. I consider that 

 the real silver colour, in a wholly coloured pigeon, ought to have bright 

 golden dun wing bars, with neck and tail to match. In a turbit, this 

 colour, confined to the shoulders, is ineffective, being so light. Darker 

 wing coverts and bars merging into black are, therefore, more effective 

 for a turbit, though this is really half-way between blue and silver. 



Red and yellow bar winged turbits, as well as duns, strawberries, and 

 the various chequers, are usually called off-colours, and are not cultivated. 

 The barred colours are, however, very pretty, and if bred for, could be 

 improved by selection. To each of the solid colours, black, red, yellow, 

 and dun, there is a corresponding barred and chequered colour, as 

 referred to on page 4S. It is doubtless by the judicious blending of all 

 of them that so many variations are found in the colours of foreign 

 pigeons. But however intricate and effective are chequering, spangling, 



