238 Fancy Pigeons. 



the feathei-3 on the outside of the tliighs coloured, and still white vented 

 and white between the thighs. Tiiis approached to a specific marking, 

 and may be what is wished for in Smyrna ; but I have stated my ideas 

 on this point already. I have seen a few black turbiteens with black 

 tails in addition to the usual marking. 



The colour found in some of these birds is superb, and though I 

 have seen it equalled in other pigeons, I have never seen it surpassed. 

 The black, red, and yellow, leave nothing to be desired. There are also 

 duns of various shades, some of them being of a lovely lavender dun, but 

 this colour is apt to fade, and becomes dappled at the moulting season, 

 till all the feathers are renewed. There are blues, silvers, chequers, 

 strawberries, and bar-winged reds and yellows as well, according to Mr 

 Caridia. Most of these I have seen and bred, but they are of little 

 beauty alongside the glossy artificial colours. The latter are full of the 

 fatty quills about the root of the tail and vent referred to in the Nurnberg 

 Swallows. These feathers only shed, at most, the tips of their fibres, and 

 many of them never break at all. 



The standard of a turbiteon, therefore, comprises all that is requisite 

 in a turbit, with the addition of feathered legs and face markings. The 

 feathered legs give little difiiculty, but they occasionally come with too 

 little or too much leg and foot covering. The face markings cause much 

 trouble, as they are comparatively new. Out of several scores of these 

 pigeons which I have bred during the past five years, only four were about 

 right in face markings. They may be bred with small cheek marks, 

 about equal on each side ; but nothing less than the size of a shilling 

 to that of a florin looks well. The black, red, and yellow may be inter, 

 bred ; but the first, with either of the last two, often produces a sandy 

 or strawberry, which, however, frequently throws back to good colour 

 when matched with either a black, red, or yellow. It must not be 

 supposed, however, that it requires no care to keep up colour in this 

 breed. Many of them are bad in that respect when compared with the 

 beat ; but even the second and third degrees of colour in turbiteens 

 woxild be highly valued in many varieties of pigeons, which shows how 

 good they are in this feature. I never possessed an imported bird of 

 this breed with a crest ; but I bred a peak-headed one from a pair 

 of smooth heads. I consider the peak crest a fine property and difiicult 

 to breed right, therefore valuable. 



