ino Pigeons and All About Them. 



Xeck. — ^Medium length, slightly arched, and 

 widening gradually from the head to the shoulders. 



Body. — Short and compact, wedge-shaped, chest 

 very full and prominent, with plenty of width. 

 Narrowness is a great fault. 



Flights and Tail.— The flights should be short, 

 closelj' set, possess nice strength of feather, and be 

 carried over the tail. The tail should be fine, neat, 

 and closelj' folded. Slovenly carriage of flights and 

 spreading of tail are faults of some magnitude. 



Legs. — These should be stout and w.ell set, and 

 of medium length, the feet being clean and neat. 



Plumage. — The feathering throughout should be 

 clean, short, and tight fitting, except, of course, in 

 muffed varieties, where .greater length of feather is 

 found. 



Mottles and Rosewings. — In dealing with the 

 sub-varieties, I take the Mottles and Rosewings first, 

 because to me they are the highest form in which 

 the Ivong-faced Tumbler is bred. There is no Pigeon 

 on the bench more beautiful than a hi.ghh' finished, 

 rich coloured, stylish, well marked Black Mottle 

 Long-faced Tumbler. 



The difficulties to be met with in breeding Mottles 

 and Rosewings are many and great, and they cannot 

 be surmounted unless the breeder has the most in- 

 timate knowledge of the stud of birds with which he 

 is operating, and that knowledge can only be acquired 

 and kept by a careful and systematic use of a stud 

 register. The great failing -which Mottle breeders 

 have to fight against is the tendency which birds have 

 to come too gay or light in marking. 



To .go thoroughly into the mysteries of ^Mottle 

 and Rosewing 1)reeding would require a special 

 treatise. I can do no more than direct the breeder's 

 attention to the fact that two gaily marked birds 

 must not on any account be paired together ; under 

 marked birds nmst be bred to those that are well 

 marked, and gay ones to ]Mottlc-bred Selfs, and so 

 on. These are only general rules. Each individual 

 stud possesses characteristics of its own, and these 

 must be mastered ere success can be acbie\ed. 



