MOTTLED SHOKT-FACED TUMBLERS. 121 



reds and yellows have been produced, and can be produced 

 again. The colour requires keeping up, by breeding the soundest 

 reds together, and following the same plan with the yellows, 

 adding an occasional cross from the red. 



It is, however, to be noticed, that fixed whole-feathered 

 colours, or whole-coloured Agates, bred in this way, cannot be 

 used in Almond breeding in the same way as those which occur 

 spontaneously. Their colour being fixed by selection, they tend 

 too strongly to perpetuate themselves, instead of merely con- 

 tributing the required element to the Almond mixture. The 

 same remark applies to Kites. These are often so good in head, 

 and the colour is so much liked by a few fanciers, that they 

 too are bred as a Kite strain ; and in this case the Kite pro- 

 portionately loses its value for Almond breeding. 



Mottles, when at all approaching perfection, are very 

 beautiful birds, especially the black Mottle. They should be 

 a sound " whole " colour all over, with the exception of the 

 mottling, which may be either confined to a " rose " of small 

 white feathers on each shoulder, or there may be added a few 

 on the back, which are most admired if ranged in symmetrical 

 lines. The white on the back is termed a "handkerchief" mark. 

 Some fanciers object to it, and in Mr. Tegetmeier's book the 

 black Mottles are shown without it ; but Eaton's work, in the 

 coloured plate of the same variety, shows the handkerchief 

 back clearly, and the majority prefer it. 



It seems probable, but is not certain, that the mottled 

 marking may have originally occurred with the other sub- 

 varieties in breeding Almond Tumblers, and been afterwards 

 perpetuated by selection. Occasionally Agate Mottles (the 

 difierence between Agates and true sound colours has been 

 already explained) are produced even now ; and the best means 

 of breeding red or yellow Mottles is to match such birds to 

 real Whole-feathers, mottled or not, and select the best of the 



