io6 THE PIGEON BOOK 



sound yellow ground, for the reason that a bird with a 

 good sound yellow ground in his opinion retained the 

 standard colour in the flights and tail for a much longer 

 time. The hen Almond is hardly so dark in the sheen 

 of the neck, and never as broken and deep in the black 

 splashes as is the cock. Moreover, the ground colour is 

 of a paler tint, the head hardly so strong, and the stop 

 not so pronounced. 



In all Short-Faced Tumblers I think one of the chief 

 attractions to the outside fancier who is not an expert of 

 the variety is the carriage of the bird. 



There is nothing so ungainly as a Tumbler with bad 

 carriage that stands and sits all of a heap in the pen; no 

 matter how good the stop and head or shape may be, 

 unless it possesses in some degree good carriage properties, 

 it is far from attractive. The eye of a true Tumbler is 

 a white fish eye, and this is characteristic of all Tumbler 

 varieties. One of the chief properties of a good Tumbler 

 is also the legs and feet; in fact, the thighs, legs, and 

 feet of a Tumbler are characteristic of the breed. They 

 are particularly short, small, and well set back, so that 

 the body is thrown forward in a E>erky marmer. This is 

 really one of the chief features of the variety, and adds 

 charm to the breed. 



In addition to the Almonds there are Almond Splashes, 

 Red Agates, Yellow Agates, and Kites. These are really 

 sub-varieties, or, I should say, " sports " that have been 

 thrown from time to time by the Almond itself and bred 

 from, but are not nearly so attractive as the true Almond. 



More than a century ago a treatise on the Almond 

 Tumbler was published, and Eaton, who published his 

 work later, copied much from this work; in fact, the 

 Almond can be traced back as one of the oldest varieties 

 of the Tumbler known. 



