122 THE PIGEON BOOK 



markings as the clear-legs, with exception of Baldheads. 

 They also have two additional varieties, i.e., saddles and 

 Badges. The general characteristics, such as head, eye, 

 beak, body, and all-round cobbiness, should be precisely 

 as laid down for the clean-legged varieties, although such 

 is very rarely the case. The general run of Muffed 

 Tumblers are much too long and thin in face, and many 

 are too big and clumsy in body. The only real difference 

 which should exist is that the legs and feet should be 

 profusely feathered, the hock feather points being just 

 clear of the ground, whilst the foot feathering should be 

 long, thick, and compact, turned well backward, the ex- 

 tremities being pcrinted slightly upward, and the toes to 

 be free from long, straggling, spiky feathers protruding 

 in front of the bird. 



As before said, the muffed species have two additional 

 varieties, which I will proceed to describe. Badges and 

 saddles should have a moderately broad white streak, 

 known as the " blaze," running up the front of the skull, 

 a small white tip or dot over each eye, a white crescent 

 known as the " chuck " running under the beak and ex- 

 tending just beyond each eye; running partly through this 

 from each side of the mouth there should be a patch of 

 pear-shaped coloured feathers, called the whiskers. In 

 badges the rest of the body must be self-coloured except 

 the ten primary flights, and the muffs below the hock 

 joint, which should be white. According to standard, the 

 tail in reds and yellows should also be white, but why 

 the difference in these two particular colours I fail to 

 understand. It may be that the coloured tail is more 

 difficult to produce in the softer colours, but suiely this 

 does not justify a hard and fast standard being laid down 

 saying that the tail shall be white. Far better were it 

 to read that either colour was permissible. In saddles 



