72 
The Illustrated Boor of Plgeons. 
back of the lower mandible to the top of the neck. This adds as much to the appearance of 
length of face as the well-formed beak, and without it really great length of face can never 
appear. Such a curve shows a small distance from the gullet to the back of the head, or, as it may 
also be reckoned, to the nearest edge of the eye-wattle. Without this point, however good 
otherwise the head may be, it will never appear a very long-faced bird. 
In the companion head, D (Fig. 33), we represent, at the age of twelve or fifteen months, a 
young cock which we may call the brother of the head C, and such as we have seen bred 
— or something very near it — from two such heads as shown in Fig. 32. We say “very near’’ it, 
because we do not pretend that we have been able to obtain for portraiture a bird quite so 
accurate in every point, but have improved upon the actual model a little, in order to show what 
we could consider an all but perfect young cock at that age, so that the young breeder may know, 
when he gets a bird approaching such a model, the value of his specimen. But we have seen very 
near it, indeed ; and, with such slight improvements, this head too is a portrait. It will be seen to 
resemble the preceding head, C, in the shape of the beak, being, however, as a cock, rather longer, 
and showing rather more substance in both mandibles, and the same general remarks will apply to 
it. We have purposely shown this head at a rather more advanced age, in order to convey an idea 
of the manner in which a first-class wattle first “breaks out” at the change from the smooth 
appearance presented at first, and shown in the preceding head, but which in a cock would of 
course represent a bird rather younger, say at six to eight months. There are lots of young 
Carriers which show the desired shape of wattle in the early stage, but when this stage arrives, in 
which the three different portions of wattle clearly seen in this head, D, begin to break out or 
appear, it is always an anxious time. The first portion, nearest the beak, will often not show 
enough fulness, and sometimes (though not so often) too much ; but the middle portion, b", is the 
greatest difficulty of all, as we have belore said. If a bird at fifteen months old does not show this 
middle portion ol wattle properly it will never do so later, this part being the slowest to grow in 
later life ; but, on the other hand, if the front and back parts, b' and b'' 1 , be scanty, they often will 
become lullcr, and cause all to appear proportionate. Hence it is no disadvantage in a young 
Carrier for this middle portion, b'', to be too much developed, but rather the reverse, as the bird is 
then almost sure to come right in the end. 
If the fancier has a young bird with this class of beak-wattle and a good beak, he has attained 
the most difficult points ; and we may add that we never have met with such a wattle but the under 
wattle was good also. As a rule, indeed, the lower wattle very seldom is badly formed in com- 
parison with the upper. We may go further, and add that when the first portion of under wattle, 
c', is much too large — say three times the size of c" or c'" — and even if, besides this, the upper 
wattle be faulty, if the beak be good, such a bird is often of the greatest value for breeding with a 
thin or spindle-beaked hen ; for such a bird, thus “ heavily jewed,” as it is called, is rarely seen 
without a heavy under mandible, which is of the greatest value with such a hen as supposed. We 
never yet knew one case where two spindle-beaked birds produced good beaks ; but we have known 
many in which such over-jewed cocks have been bred with some of the worst spindle-beaked liens 
we ever saw, and have produced very extra beaks indeed. On the whole, in fact, we would prefer 
to mate a hen faulty in this point with a bird thus heavily-jewed, than with a perfect beak-wattle, 
even though accompanied with a perfect beak ; our experience being that such a bird will often 
produce in one cross what a perfect bird would take two years to accomplish, so far as regards 
quality of beak. Other points of course must be considered on their own merits. 
Looking again at this head, the length of face will appear wonderful, almost as if no Carrier 
was ever seen so long. This is, however, not so ; it is only a fair length of face for a bird of good 
