Eye- Wattle , Skull, and Gullet. 
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especially those of the fleshy-eyed sort, or which do not show that evenly-wrinkled appearance, or 
lacing, which looks so well. An eye-wattle, well laced, is in fact not only much better-looking in 
itself, but much more likely to keep the true shape, and less liable to inflammation. 
The diameter of eye-wattle should not be less in a fully-matured bird than we have stated, and 
we have had birds with a great deal more, even as much as an inch and a half in diameter. But 
none of these immensely- wattled birds, according to our experience, have ever had enough beak- 
wattle or length of face to carry off the enormous quantity on the eye, or have had the fine thin 
texture that is so much valued. A bird, in fact, which at twelve months old measures three- 
quarters of an inch across the eye-wattle, an inch at eighteen months, and an inch and an eighth 
at two years, has as much eye as most birds have yet been seen with, combined with the other 
requisite head properties to set it off ; and we have never yet seen one case in which these dimen- 
sions were exceeded but what the eye and beak-wattle were what is called crowded together. To 
remedy this, some cut off a portion of the eye-wattle, and even of the beak-wattle ; while others 
cut the beak-wattle at the root, and then by continually working it towards the beak, as the 
wound heals, cause it to tilt more forward and retain the desired position if properly done ; but, 
besides the pain, such doctoring gives more trouble than it is worth, or than most fanciers care to 
take. A little simple cutting off, however, though it will never make a bad bird appear good, will 
often so improve a really good one, and make it appear so nearly perfect, that very few can resist 
the temptation. 
I he skull of the Carrier should be as narrow as possible, and of the same width throughout 
from front to back. The upper edges of the eye-wattle, looked at from above, will then appear 
as two parallel lines, and the measurement across the skull, taken at the points D and E, will be 
alike. Should a bird be to any considerable degree broader at E than at D, and another bird 
shown against it be alike in width at those points, though not so narrow at D as the first bird, 
the latter bird is the best-skulled. There are lots of birds the top of whose skulls almost resemble 
the letter V, the width of the back part, at E, being nearly double that of the front, at D, especially 
at mature age ; and this form of skull is the worst of all, being most difficult to breed out of 
a strain. It is also the distinguishing point between the skull of a Carrier and of a Dragoon. 
This narrow skull, however, though a most important property, is sometimes made too much 
of. Some judges are so exceedingly fond of this one point, that we have seen birds with bad beak, 
bad wattle, short face, thick gullet, short neck, Dragoon-shaped body, short flights and tail, and 
so low on leg as to appear quite deformed, because they had this one point of narrow skull, beat 
birds that possessed good box-beaks, well-formed wattles, long face, good gullet, fair eye-wattle, 
long thin neck, good shoulders, and symmetrical in body all over, and which were very fair in 
width of skull, though not so exceedingly narrow as the winning bird. Such judges know nothing 
of a Carrier, and in nine cases out of ten the very narrowness for which they have rejected birds 
good all round has been fraudulently produced in the manner already described. 
Another important point is the gullet, the extent of which is shown by the bracket 1. It 
reaches from the back of the under beak-wattle to the commencement of the neck proper, and the 
thing desired about it is that it be well curved inwards, so that the depth of the head, measured 
from the top of the skull, at E, to the gullet, be as little as possible. This is one of the most 
beautiful points in a good Carrier, and without it a bird can never look first-class, however fine in 
other points. When possessed, it makes a bird appear longer in the neck than it really is ; and in 
fact, however long the neck may be, if the gullet is full it can never look well ; indeed, a long neck 
appears to make a bad gullet look still more conspicuous. Some birds are so full in the gullet as 
to almost appear to have a dew-lap. Such a strain is almost hopeless, the fault being so persistent 
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