HEAD OF THE OWL. 



CHAPTEE XIV. 



THE OWL. 



UNDEE the title of the Owl — or, as old Moore Latinized the name, Columba 

 Bubo Nominate — a breed of fancy pigeons has been long known to English 

 fanciers. Moore's description is very brief. He only states : " This is in make 

 and shape like the former (the Turbit), except that the upper chap of its beak is 

 hooked oyer, like an owl's, from whence it has its name ; its plumage is always 

 entirely white, blue, or black." The author of the Treatise of 1765 adds very 

 little to this. He states that, " The Owl is, according to Mr. Moore, a small 

 pigeon, very little larger than a Jacobine, which might be their size in his time, 

 but at present they are brought to such perfection, that they are hardly, if any- 

 thing, larger than a very small Tumbler." 



This statement of the writer is erroneous, for Mr. Moore says nothing whatever 

 of the size of the Owl, but makes the assertion quoted concerning the Turbit. 



"Its beak," continues the writer in the Treatise, "is very short, and hooked 

 over at the end, like an owl's, from whence it takes its name ; the shorter it is the 

 better ; it has a very round button head and a gravel eye. The feathers on the 

 breast open, and reflect both ways, expanding itself something like a rose, which 

 is called the purle by some, and by others the frill, and the more the bird has of 

 that the better, with a gullet reaching down from the beak to the frill. Its 

 plumage is always of one entire colour, as white, a fine sky-blue, black, and yellow, 

 &c, except some that are chequered. The blue ones should have black bars 

 across the wings ; and the lighter they are in colour, particularly in the hackle, 

 the more they are valued. 



" These birds should have their breeding places made so that they may sit in 

 private, for they are very wild, like the Carrier, and apt to fly off their eggs if in 

 the least disturbed." 



