GEKMAX TOTS. 171 



origin of all those pretty spangled Toys occasionally seen in England and known 

 by various names, as Porcelains, Hyacinths, Ermines, &c. 



" The Suabian pigeons are about the size of Nuns in shape and make, and 

 much resemble the Dovekouse pigeon in their manners, have generally a turned 

 crown, gravel eye, and clean feet. They are rather shy, sharp flyers, and easily 

 learn to find then food in the fields, as indeed is the case with nearly all the 

 varieties of Toys, unless incapacitated for walking on the ploughed land by the long 

 feathers on the feet ; and consequently they are well adapted for country amateurs, 

 while the fancy pigeons generally require to be house-fed, and therefore belong 

 more particularly to the town fanciers. 



" The chief, if not the only property of the Suabian pigeon, consists in its 

 beautiful spangled plumage, the ground colour of which resembles that of a dark 

 chequered Dovecot pigeon ; the feathers on the head and neck are tipped with 

 cream-colour, or a soft whitish stone-colour ; the tail is a dark slaty-colour, barred 

 with black near the extremity ; the flight feathers are of the same hue, but they 

 have a small whitish spot at the extremity of each, like the white spots on the 

 pinion of a Goldfinch ; the secondary wing feathers, as also the primary covert 

 feathers of the same, have a large whitish spot on their outer web, which causes 

 the wings to have two white bars, a feature much prized on the Continent by 

 amateurs, when introduced into the colouring of any of the darker Toys, and one 

 of very rare occurrence in any English pigeons. The whole of the lesser covert 

 feathers of the wing shoulders, and the black or scapular feathers, have the white 

 spots on both of the webs, which, when large, cause the feathers to appear almost 

 all whitish with grey down, a black shaft, and a small triangular bluish or slaty 

 spot at the extremity, resembling ermine marks in heraldry. Thus at a little 

 distance the general plumage of the bird seems of a soft creamy white, slightly 

 speckled with dark, but on closer inspection it is very beautifully and regularly 

 marked — the whitish over-colour on the lower part of the neck across the crop 

 gives place to a crescent-shaped band of an orange-brown shade : the rump and 

 hinder parts are slaty-grey. In the young birds these white markings are of 

 brownish or brindled colour, known to the fancy as ' kite ' or 'hawked,' but this 

 colour only remains so long as they maintain their nest-feathers, and they lose it 

 with them and attain the creamy white shade at their first moult. 



" If these pigeons are bred to a darker shade, either by crossing with a black 

 pigeon or selecting the darkest for two or more generations, they present a 

 very pretty appearance, becoming almost black, with two white bars across the 

 wings, and the shoulders spangled (not ' mottled ') with white pearl-like spots. 



" The Germans have also what they call a Red Suab, or Roth Sclnvaben, the 

 ground-colour of which is a brown-red ; but the whitish spangling is not so clear 

 on their- shoulders, having a very faint pinkish tint, and being slightly marbled 

 with red. The few I have seen of this variety had white upper mandibles, and also 

 the crown of the head white, and a black iris. 



" The French have several sub-varieties, more or less spangled, some on a black 



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