no THE PIGEON BOOK 



of a sharp pair of small scissors, or, better still, with a 

 small file. The whole performance will not take more 

 than two or three minutes, and the bird can then be placed 

 into the box or basket and sent oft to the show. The 

 standard colours in Selfs are black, red, yellow, and 

 white; also blues, silvers, and Chequers, correctly termed 

 the barred variety, may be included under this heading, 

 although of course, strictly speaking, they are not Self 

 colours because of the black bars running across the wings 

 of the former, and the black ticked markings on wings 

 of the Chequers. In all, the first point to consider is 

 " skull," as a Self with a bad head is not worth its salt. 

 The skull should be more oval than round, showing no 

 break or flatness whatsoever, with wide frontage rising 

 sharply from off the beak wattle, extending to a good 

 height on top and directly over the eyes, then more 

 gradually falling away at the back, thus forming what is 

 termed a nice back -skull. The cheeks should be very full, 

 thus giving a chubby fat-faced appearance. Most im- 

 portant is it in the completion of a good head to get the 

 portion of the face between the eyes and opening of beak 

 well filled in, the fuller the better. A bird failing in this 

 point is termed " pinched-in face," and is much to be 

 despised. Many fanciers seem to quite overlook this all- 

 important point; in fact, some do not appear to under- 

 stand what is meant by " pinched-in face." They seem 

 to think that so long as a large round sweep of skull is 

 shown when looking at a bird from a side view every- 

 thing is all right ; but not so. When judging the skull of 

 a bird always take a look at it from a front elevation as 

 well as a side view, and note that there is no meanness 

 just over the wattles giving a narrow-nosed appearance, 

 nor any hollowness of cheek like an old woman without 

 any teeth. This front view in my mind is the far more 



