THE TURBIT. 143 



thus alluded to : " A veteran fancier of some note has informed us that he trained 

 a flight of these birds, which for their lofty soaring seemed to dispute the palm 

 with his Tumblers." 



Eaton adds nothing of his own on the birds of this breed. The late Mr. Brent, 

 in his communication to the defunct "Poultry Chronicle," gives a good account of 

 this variety, which he had ample opportunities of seeing during his residence in 

 Germany, where they are favourites. His account is as follows : — 



" The Germans call them ' Moven-Tauben,' under which name both the Turbit 

 and Owl pigeons are included. The Turbit is separately known as ' Schildchen,' 

 or ' Lutticher-Schildchen,' or ' Brief- trager,' which means the little shield of Liege, 

 or Liege Letter-carrier, which latter designation is equally applicable to the Owl 

 pigeon. As I did not meet with any of this variety in France, I do not know 

 their French name. 



" The Turbits are a very pretty variety of fancy pigeons ; they are small plump 

 compact-made birds, of rounded form and engaging appearance ; their beaks are 

 short and thick, their eyes large and prominent, of a very dark brown or black 

 colour ; then - heads broad and rather angular : they are usually smooth-crowned, 

 though some are point-headed, and others have tolerable hoods ; beneath the beak 

 the skin is slightly extended, and a little resembling the dewlap of the bull, 

 taking off the abrupt or angular junction between the beak and the neck, this is 

 called the gullet ; on the lower part of the neck and crop a seam of feathers stands 

 up and turns various ways — -this is called the purle, and the more the bird has of 

 it the better; then- feet are clean, and the tail is carried rather elevated. Their 

 plumage is a beautiful white, relieved by dark wing shoulders, of various colours, 

 from which they are called blue- shouldered or black-shouldered Turbits, as the 

 colour indicates. To be perfect in colour, the whole of that part of the wing 

 should be coloured, without any white feathers, including the epaulet or scapular 

 feathers ; the flight-feathers of the wings and the whole of the other parts being 

 an unspotted white. 



" The old fanciers admired the black, blue, and dun-shouldered Turbits most, 

 when they had tails of the same colour as their shoulders ; but such birds are now 

 rarely seen, though some fanciers prize them highly, on account of their great 

 scarcity, the other colours being invariably found to have white tails, which are 

 now more general with all. Canterbury was, a few years back, noted for its 

 Turbit pigeons ; they were bred there in the highest perfection ; the colours of 

 their shoulders are various, as yellow, red, copper, black, chequered, blue, silver, 

 mealy, and dun. They are good flyers, light and active, as may be supposed from 

 their German name of Liege postmen. I have flown a few with my Tumblers, 

 with which they would soar : they are very good breeders and nurses, if not bred 

 too high, which, however, is often the case, as smallness is considered a great 

 beauty. Some eminent writers on natural history consider this variety as one of 

 our purest races of pigeons." 



The occurrence of dark-tailed birds amongst the Owls has already been 



