TAMPERING WITH THE HEAD. 119 



of the bronze or " colour " through the feather. The object 

 always is to supply the missing element. As a rule the Kites 

 with plenty of bronze are much more useful than the nearly 

 black ones. On the whole, the matches of Almond to dark 

 Almond or Kite, and of Splashes to various shades of Agates 

 and Whole-feathers, are most common amongst old breeders. 

 We trust we have made the general principle plain ; and also 

 how much depends upon the pedigree or previous breeding. 



In relation to other points, and especially points of head 

 and carriage, we can only insist upon the importance of pairing 

 the best together, if it be only a few pairs. It is common for 

 beginners, if they have say ten really fine-headed birds, to try 

 and pair them with ten other moderate birds. This is lost 

 time and labour ; whereas if they paired them up as five first- 

 class pairs, they would probably produce something good. The 

 policy alluded to is bad in all pigeons ; but in Almonds, or 

 any Short-faced Tumblers, it is simply hopeless, so high is the 

 standard demanded. 



In regard to the heads, however, it is necessary to state 

 that very few birds are now shown whose heads have not been 

 tampered with, an implement of wood like Kg. 24 being pressed 

 into the bottom of 

 the forehead daily, 

 from the time the 

 bird is a few days 

 old, tiU the skull „ , „ 



Fig. 24.— Head-uodldeb. 



is "set." If it be 



done too severely the young one dies, and many do die : if not 

 thus overdone, and the head at starting be decently good, the 

 result is a "grand head and stop." The process is one of 

 very great cruelty, the skull being literally crushed into 

 shape, with immediately fatal results in scores of cases. In 

 many other cases where the bird survives, it suffers for life ; 

 the nostrils being crushed almost together, and the eyes 



