MOULTING AND COLOR BREEDING 115 



That is to say, all colors are made from the three primary colors. 

 Red, blue and yellow, with the negative white and the positive 

 black, which gives various combinations of five so-called colors. 

 The bluish gray pigeon color is more of a lead color than a blue 

 and lead color is made by a mixture of bl^ck and white. A 

 number of blue barred or gray pigeons with black bars put 

 to themselves will sooner or later produce some all white and all 

 black birds. The white birds are those that are void of pigment, 

 hence negative in color or white. The black birds are the 

 opposite with an oversupply of pigment which gives their 

 feather coloring an extreme opaque appearance, hence look 

 black, generally a muddy, bluish-black. By careful examination 

 of the gray of the supposed original pigeoil color it will be found 

 to contain slight variations. Some birds will show slight reddish 

 or purple cast, others have a tendency towards yellow or green. 

 The various slight differences in shades are not noticeable unless 

 one makes a special study of color and understands the prin- 

 ciples of color and color combinations. You no doubt under- 

 stand that blue and red make purple, red and yellow make 

 orange and blue and yellow make green. Now the reason we 

 have no green or purple pigeons is because the bluish color of 

 pigeons is a combination of black and white and is, in fact, lead 

 color or gray and not really blue, hence without blue there is 

 no green as it takes blue and yellow to make green and without 

 blue there is no purple as it takes blue and red to make purple. 

 With lead color or gray substituted for blue we can get a slight 

 purple or green cast, but no green or purple. Now, going back 

 to explain the possibilities of the various colors of pigeons other 

 than the supposed original color, the feather coloring of all 

 pigeons shows the presence of more or less red and yellow, by 

 selecting those that show the most red and breeding from them 

 and again selecting the reddest of their offspring, pigeons of 

 different shades of reddish feathers have been produced, but 

 as yet it has not been possible to produce bright red or bright 

 yellow birds and probably never will on account of the predom- 

 inating colors of a pigeon being gray (if you will permit me to 

 call gray a color) and as a combination of black and white 

 makes a lead color and the presence of this lead color which 

 cannot be entirely eliminated, gives the red or yellow a muddy 

 look and prevents bright red or bright yellow. The various 



