136 PIGEONS. 



altogether plump and fleshy. Barbs are hardy birds, and good breeders when at 

 liberty, though apt to neglect their young at an early age when in confinement. 

 They do not care to fly much when at large; rarely leaving the roofs of houses or 

 making more than very short flights. 



" The following weights and measurements of good birds of this breed are 

 taken from specimens in the writer's possession : — 



Cock. — Weight, 11^ oz. ; length, 12J inches ; length of beak, ^ inch ; width of 



skull, 1 inch ; eye wattle, f ths. 

 Hen. — Weight, 11 oz. ; length, 12 inches ; length of beak, ^g-ths ; width of 



skull, fths ; eye-wattle, full f inch. 



" The properties of the Barbs may be thus summarized : — 



Head — The skull should be very broad and square, the face as short as possible. 



Beak— The beak should be very short and thick, and pale in colour. 



Eye — The iris of the eye should be of a pearl white. 



Eye wattle — The wattle around the eye should be as large and round as possible 

 — of an even and regular shape and fine texture, free from projections 

 and spouts, and of a bright red or coral colour. 



Beak-wattle and Jewing — The wattle should be large and white, and very fine 

 in texture. 



Size — The weight of a Barb should not exceed one pound. 



Shape and Carriage — Barbs should be broad and full-chested, round and plump 

 in hand, with the neck moderate in length, and tapering rather suddenly 

 to the head. The carriage should be graceful and easy, with the head 

 well back, but not borne like that of an Almond Tumbler. 



" White Barbs at present have only been seen with the dark or bull eye. But 

 there is a probability of the pearl eye being worked into them, which I think will 

 be a great improvement. 



" With regard to breeding Barbs for colour, I have seldom found that, when 



birds of one colour have been matched together, foul-feathered birds have resulted, 



excepting occasionally in the case of reds, which, when matched together, have 



sometimes produced young birds with one or two white feathers in the tail or on 



top of the rump, and now and then a pure yellow. A black and a dun mated 



together will most frequently produce blacks, though sometimes a young dun 



will appear. Black and red do well together; I have bred some capital reds 



from this cross. Two yellows mated together will, unless one or other of the 



birds is very strong in colour, often throw birds which are pale or washy in the 



flight-feathers. A red cock and yellow hen is a good cross for breeding yellows, 



and a soft-coloured dun hen to a yellow cock is also likely to prove successful 



in producing good yellows. I have a very excellent pair of good sound-coloured 



young yellows, bred this season from an old white cock and yellow hen. I do 



not, however, recommend this union of colours ; indeed, on several occasions 



