118 PIGEONS. 



or inner circle of the eye. Before these birds were brought to the perfection 

 they now are, it was necessary to limit the length of the beak, which frequently 

 exceeded seven-eighths of an inch, but they are now so much within that length 

 that the rule is scarcely necessary. And in addition to this, the eye of a good 

 fancier is now so correct, and so much accustomed to see birds whose beaks are 

 scarce six-eighths, that he could tell with half an eye if it was more than the 

 rule allowed, without having recourse to a gauge or measure. The wart or wattle 

 on the beak should be fine, and as little of it as possible. 



" N.B. — The hen is by no means inferior to the cock in any of the above pro- 

 perties, except feather ; and it is with these birds, as with most others, that the 

 male is generally more beautiful in this respect. Great allowances should there- 

 fore be made for the Almond hen in that particular property." 



Mr. J. M. Eaton, in his valuable work, adds the characters as insisted on at the 

 present day. Feather he regards as inferior in value to shape or carriage, and he 

 notices the fact that in many high-bred birds the primary or flight-feathers of the 

 wing are only nine instead of the normal number of ten. He is also enthusiastic 

 in praise of a good head, which he defines as being as broad, lofty, and round as 

 possible, with the front part overhanging, as it were, the beak, and constituting a 

 good stop, and not slanting into the beak. The beak itself, he states, should not 

 exceed five-eighths of an inch in length, measured from the iris to the end. It 

 will be gathered from these remarks that Mr. Eaton is what he himself would term 

 a "head and beak fancier," as distinguished from those whom, like Mr. Esquilant 

 and the author of the " New and Compleat Treatise on the Almond Tumbler," he 

 would term " feather fanciers." 



Having given the opinions of all the most celebrated authorities who have 

 written on this breed, we have now to speak of the variations which occur in the 

 plumage of Almond-bred birds. One of the most common varieties of plumage 

 is that termed " kite-feathered." In the language of the Almond breeders, a 

 "Kite " is a black bird, having the inner webs of the quill-feathers passing into 

 red or yellow. Many of these birds have a very brilliant metallic lustre on their 

 plumage, and in the form of the head and beak are equal, or even superior, to the 

 best Almonds; a fact which was noticed even so long ago as 1765, the author 

 of the " Treatise " stating, " I have observed that a black one bred from Almonds 

 generally runs better in the head and beak than the Almonds themselves, and 

 the flight and tail are oftentimes strongly tinged with yellow. Such a one matched 

 to an Almond is most likely to breed a good bird." 



Kites, though seldom regarded as exhibition birds, are exceedingly valuable as 

 breeding stock. If two Kites are matched together, they rarely produce any other 

 young except those of their own colour ; but an Almond and a Kite will often 

 produce an Almond and a Kite in each nest. 



Almond birds often throw young of other colours, as duns, reds, yellows, some- 

 times whole or self-colour, and at other times mottled or splashed irregularly, as in 

 What are termed Agates and Splashed birds. These, though not show birds, are 



