The English Pouter. 285 



and blue-pied, valuable, both of old and at the present time, in the order 

 named, when equal in all elae. Pure white comes next, and then the other 

 colours, pied according to the standard. The way in which a pouter must 

 be pied, or marked with white, is as follows : On his ground colour he 

 must have a crescent or half -moon mark of white on the front of his 

 crop, as shown in the illustration. This haK-moon mark looks best when 

 about 2in. wide at its deepest part. It must finish off with fine points 

 a little below the ears, and be set low enough on the crop to leave 

 a large bib of colour between it and the beak. When this bib is wanting 

 the bird is swallow-throated, and then, of course, there is no properly 

 defined crescent at all. The ends of the orescent often reach to the eyes, 

 finishing off too widely, and this is apt to result in broken or bull eyes. 

 All pied pouters should have clear yellow or orange iridea, and beaks 

 coloured according to their feather, though it may be mentioned that a 

 flesh-coloured beak is not only allowed, but admired by some in reds and 

 yellows . Serious defects in marking are a blaze of white or snip on the 

 forehead, and a ring neck, which is caused by the crop marking going 

 right round the neck. On the shoulders, and well away from the butta 

 of the wings, there ought to be a mottling of single white feathers, 

 forming what is known as the rose-pinion, which ought to be round, and 

 cover a space of l|in. diameter. It is but seldom this beautiful mark 

 is seen well defined ; the white feathers forming it are generally more 

 or leas in patches, and it is often represented by a single patch of 

 white, which, when it reaches the edge of the wing makes the bird 

 bishop-winged, bishoped, or lawn-sleeved, which is more faulty than 

 being entirely solid winged. The primary flight feathers must be white 

 to the turn of the wing, or a bird ia foul-flighted, and, if the outer 

 flight feather alone is foul — a common enough fault — he is aword-flighted. 

 Next, if a pouter be lifted up by the wings, he ought to be entirely white 

 on the lower back, aides, belly, thigha, and lega. The tail with ita coverts, 

 upper and under, must be coloured, being cut sharply off the same as in 

 the nun, and the line of demarcation between the belly and breast must 

 be aharply cut, or, aa it ia called, evenly-belted, aa shown in the drawing. 

 In treating of the various coloura found in pouters, the yellow comea 

 first as being the most valuable when all else is equal. Coeka of this 

 colour, really good in properties, are, and always have been scarce, but 

 good yellow hens are common enough. In reds, on the other hand, good 



