THE PIGEON BOOK 115 



fore my advice to those taking up Mottle breeding is to 

 pay close attention to general points as well as markings. 

 The mottling on the shoulders known as the rose or pinion 

 markings should consist of from twenty to thirty white 

 feathers, evenly distributed and arranged in circular 

 form, covering about half an inch down from the extreme 

 top of shoulder, thus leaving the butts perfectly clear. 

 This is a difficult point to obtain and very rarely seen, 

 the tendency being generally for an excess of white 

 feathers here. The ideal to be aimed at in markings is 

 to produce the rose feathers so small as to only just show 

 their tips, which is termed "pea markings," and each 

 small white feather should be quite separate and distinct 

 from the others; in other words, each white feather 

 should be separated by one or two coloured ones. Mottles 

 ought also to possess an evenly-distributed set of white 

 feathers on the back, commencing at base of neck, and 

 running down the back so as to form the letter "V," 

 usually known as the " handkerchief." Rosewings are 

 entirely without this latter marking, which denotes a 

 Mottle from a Rosewing. The rest of the body should 

 be perfectly free from white, including rump and under 

 the wings. This, however, is very rarely attained in the 

 Black Mottles, but is quite the ordinary run of things in 

 the reds or yellows. Great difficulty is also experienced 

 in blacks by white feathers springing up round the ears 

 and eyes and also just over the nose, which is often the 

 cause for stopping an otherwise good bird from appearing 

 in the show pen. When selecting Black Mottles for stock 

 purposes fight shy of birds possessing much white about 

 head, but don't be so particular about rump and under 

 wings, for if you entirely dispense with all white feathers 

 here you will find that you will lose the rose also. When 

 mating Mottles and Rosewings, select one with plenty of 



