I20 THE PIGEON BOOK 



differences between the Beard and the Bald, which consist 

 only of markings and in some colours, beak. The first 

 item to consider is the beard or chuck, from which the 

 bird derives its name. This is composed of a crescent 

 shaped set of white feathers under the beak, which should 

 be small, and not extending beyond the centre of the eyes 

 on either side in semi-circular shape, while the sectional 

 line at the top should run straight from centre of the beak 

 and meeting with the crescent at the point at centre of 

 eyes. The chief difficulty experienced amongst breeders 

 of Beards is in getting the crescent to finish off at a centre 

 of eyes according to standard. The tendency is for it to 

 continue to the back of the eyes, and a good deal of 

 trimming may generally be discerned just at this point. 



The primary flights (lo by lo for preference), tail, and 

 stockings should also be white; the rest of the body 

 should be of sound even colour throughout. Failings in 

 the coloured parts, particularly under breast, are generally 

 to be found just the same as in the Balds, and it is there- 

 fore advisable to pay an extra amount of attention to this 

 point when selecting and mating up your stock. With 

 regard to beak, the top mandibles in blacks, blues, silvers, 

 and chequers should be dark and the lower flesh-coloured, 

 whilst in other colours both mandibles should be flesh- 

 coloured and perfectly free from any stains. In breeding 

 Beards never mate two very small, or, as sometimes 

 termed pea-chucked, birds together, or the result will 

 probably be deficiency both of chuck markings and also the 

 white primary flights. On the other hand, two full-chucked 

 birds are unsuitable to be bred together, as here the result 

 would be too much chuck and over-flighting. The best 

 results are usually attained from a small-chucked bird 

 matched to a slightly over -marked bird ; the cock for pre- 

 ference should possess the small chuck, although many a 



