KINDS OF EYE-WATTLES. 77 



incli is as mucli as there is roc/m, for to be truly circular, we 

 must consider this kind of eye to be the true Carrier type, and 

 the only one which preserves all the acknowledged charac- 

 teristics of the bird. It is usually of a sUght pinky or flesh 

 colour ; and we have heard a judge object to this, but never 

 when he had any pretension to a practical knowledge of the 

 pigeon he was judging, the thinner and harder eyes being pre- 

 ferred by all Carrier breeders of whom we have ever asked a 

 question on the subject. On the other hand, this kind are 

 far more liable to be " pinch-eyed " than those next to be 

 described. 



This is what is known as a thick or "fleshy" wattle — a 

 kind that has greatly increased of late years. There can be 

 no doubt that this formation has sprung up from the long- 

 continued breeding for immense development, which has pro- 

 duced a more soft or spongy kind of the peculiar formation of 

 which wattle consists. This kind of eye is usually whiter than 

 the other^ and has much less of lacing (or fine wrinkles) in it ; 

 it is also much less liable to grow "pinched." Por these 

 reasons such soft and fleshy wattles often appear exceedingly 

 attractive in young birds; indeed, prizes are generally given 

 to them the first season, since they alone usually have sufficient 

 development to contend in the show-pen. But as they get 

 older their beauty is almost always lost in various ways. 

 There is no "distance,"' or not enough; so that as the beak- 

 wattle makes up, both eye and beak-wattles are crowded to- 

 gether ; and they grow at last so thick that we have measured 

 many birds which were over an inch and a half from outside 

 to outside of each eye. Some of these birds had been great 

 prize-takers, and the best of them had enormous beak-wattles 

 of excellent shape (though some of this had been got by 

 cutting); but such a width is, in our opinion, contrary to the 

 whole character of the bird. No doubt the eye-wattle had 

 rolled over the skull, so as to make the width of " feather " 



