210 Pigeons and Ai,l Aeuut Tiieji. 



The beak should be long and tine, of a rich flesh 

 colour, and free from stains or marks ; although very 

 few blacks are so found, most of them ha^ ing a dark 

 mark on the upper mandible. At one time this was 

 considered a great fault, but nowadays it is little 

 thought about owing to the extreme importance 

 attached to head and neck. The beak wattle should 

 be very small, and of fine texture. The eye should 

 be milk or silvery white in colour, \ery prominent and 

 ner\ ous in expression, and be surrounded by a small, 

 \er\ close-fitting cere, of a beautiful, rich, red coral 

 tint, the deeper and brighter the better. 



The head should be \ ery long and fine, straight 

 in tace, rising gradually and imperceptibly from the 

 wattle to the top of the skull without stop or decided 

 curve : the top must not be flat, but show just suffi- 

 cient imperceptible rise without curxe to enable the 

 back skull to fall gracefulh' a\\'ay into the neck with- 

 out an\' bumpiness or angularity. 



The neck, which in recent days has been elevated 

 into a point of considerable importance, must be very 

 long, slender, and tapering, very finely feathered, and 

 gradually merging into the shoulders. Snakiness is 

 a term often applied to the head and neck of a Mag- 

 pie, and it well defines what is rer|uired. Without 

 this fineness and slenderness of neck all the other 

 structural properties of the iMagpie are of little value, 

 because thev require such a neck to sho\\' them off 

 efTecti\ eh . 



The chest should be narrow, but full, the 

 shoulders prominent, vet not heavy, the flights nar- 

 row and fine, tightly braced, and well carried. The 

 legs long and slender, with well-set thighs, so as to 

 give the bird an erect and stylish appearance. The 

 feet small and well spread. 



The markings, which used to carry great weight, 

 ha\ e fallen into ver\ secondary -^alue ; still, they 

 ha\e to be considered, and must be \erv sharp and 

 clearly c\it. The body, shoulder coverts, and flights 

 should be white, the head, neck, front of the chest, 

 the back, rump and tail being coloured. The name 

 Magpie is derived from the wild Magpie, owing to 

 the markings. 



