THE BEAK-WATTLE. 71 



good beaks to a strain •which wants them, however good 

 otherwise. 



It may be noted here that a straight beak is not to be 

 confounded with a straight " face,'' to be noticed presently. It 

 is also noteworthy, that while old fanciers preferred it black, 

 moderns prefer pale or flesh-colour. 



The beak-wattle is perhaps, by many people, the most valued 

 point in a Carrier. The day has, however, passed when mere 

 size of wattle is worth everything, for birds can now be readily 

 found with any amount, owing to the long efforts of man^ 

 fanciers. Mere size is valueless without shape ; and here, 

 perhaps, is the greatest change since Moore's time. Taking his 

 first property, a wattle may be wide from side to side, but 

 if flat or hollow on top would be worth little, unless for 

 some particular cross (and very few crosses could do much 

 good with it). His second point, that the wattle should be 

 rather short from front to back, still remains true. This 

 enables the bird to show a good beak in front of the wattle, 

 which adds to the apparent length of face and general " style " 

 of the bird, and is less likely to spoil the beak. A shortish 

 wattle is also less liable to crowd the eye-wattle behind. The 

 third point is to be " tilted," by which Moore means that the 

 posterior end be arched well away from the eye, the two wattles 

 going off in two opposite, nearly similar, circular curves. This 

 remains one of the chief points in a good wattle. There are 

 various shapes admired by different fanciers, but they chiefly 

 resolve themselves into two types. One resembles an ordinary 

 peg-top, the steel peg standing for the point of the beak ; 

 the other more resembles a walnut, or even a sphere. But 

 the essential points in all are that the wattle be symmetrical, 

 with no great inequalities anywhere or any preponderance on 

 one side, and that it be rather convex in every direction, with 

 no flat, much less hollow, places. Our engraving of a Blue 

 Carrier will illustrate one type of wattle, and Fig. 21 approaches 



