THE PIGEON BOOK 121 



good specimen has been bred from a fully-marked cock 

 and a pea-chucked hen. In all matings don't lose sight 

 of head, eye, shortness of feather, and general body 

 formation, without which, however well a bird may be 

 marked, it will never be a Tumbler. 



The last of the clean-legged family to be dealt with is 

 the Almond. It is not my intention, however, to go fully 

 into the details of the many sub-varieties, such as Agates, 

 Kites, Splashes, &c., which play a most important part 

 in the breeding of a standard-coloured Almond. Such 

 particulars may be found under the heading of Short- 

 Faced Tumblers. Sufficient is it to here say that the 

 ground colour should be of a rich yellow, the same tint 

 as found in the inside of the shell of an almond nut, 

 intermixed with a spangling of rich black. The tail and 

 flight feathers should also be of a rich yellow, slashed up 

 with black and white colouring. The beak should be 

 horn-coloured and the remaining points the same as in 

 Selfs. Great improvements have been made by breeders 

 of this variety, which chiefly reside in the North of England 

 and in Scotland during latter years, but still some signs 

 are apparent in many of the birds I have seen of the 

 short-faced cross. The majority are also too reddish in 

 eye. Now that there is a specialist club looking entirely 

 after the interests of this beautiful breed, we may expect 

 soon to see the Long-Faced Almond up to the standard of 

 the rest of the clean legs. 



We now come to the mufifed-legged family, which for 

 some reason or other have nowhere near so many admirers 

 except in and around Birmingham and also parts of 

 America. The chief reason for their lack of popularity 

 is, I think, owing to the fact that they are more difficult 

 to keep in show trim than the clean-legs. The Muffed 

 Tumbler is found in exactly the same colourings and 



