208 THE PRACTICAL PIGEON KEEPEE. 



the beak, but the eyes of some are orange. They are found of 

 various coloiirs and patterns, the original appearing to be a 

 lavender, self-coloured bird. This is also found with white bars 

 edged with black. There are also blues, with white bars edged 

 with black, blue-black flights, and barred tails. And, finally, 

 there are various kinds of spangling on the sides, somewhat 

 resembling the patterns found in the Satinette tribe, with black 

 zig-zag markings on various coloured grounds. These kinds are 

 called Ural or Siberian Ice pigeons. The matching of these 

 birds must be conducted on the same general principles as have 

 been described for the Satinettes. Ice pigeons are very beautiful 

 when clean and of good quality, and such a specimen rarely 

 fails to score in the Any Variety class. 



Hyacinths are plain-headed and clean-legged, rather large, 

 and very hardy. Their points lie in the plumage. This is a 

 kind of purplish-blue over the body and tail, but the sides or 

 shoulders are tri-coloured, the ground-colour being a kind of 

 light brown, marked with black arrow-tips, enclosing a kind of 

 greyish or blue triangle. The marking in good specimens 

 extends over the back. Eyes orange, beak dark. 



Victorias are simply Hyacinths of a lighter shade. 



Porcelains are of the same class, but the black markings 

 are heavier, making a kind of link between this pigeon and the 

 Suabian. 



The Suabian is generally heavily spangled with black on 

 the sides in a crescentic form, the black often having a peculiar 

 copper or bronzy lustre. This is either upon a white or varie- 

 gated ground, and the bird is more valued if the lower webs of 

 the flight-feathers also show a white spot. The tail is black, 

 and in some cases shows a white band, like the Satinette. The 

 head is generally black, ticked with white. 



The last four birds appear more or less related, and the 

 Germans cross the various colours and markings together, 

 which makes the definition of varieties very difficult. There 



