I IO 
The I llustrated Book of Pigeons. 
similar in colour to the other, have only one-fourth black blood, they are of little use, and only 
trouble the breeder who desires to obtain Blacks. As a general rule in crossing colours, in fact, it 
may be laid down that it is always best to breed only with crosses that possess half-and-half the 
desired blood, which can almost always be depended upon to produce one or the other colour good. 
There are other methods employed for breeding Blacks, but so far as our experience has 
extended, they have not produced birds free from foul marks. For instance, the cross perhaps 
most usually employed is that of the Blue and Black together ; but we have never yet seen one 
good-coloured bird from this cross, nor free from foul thighs. Still, this method produces fine 
large birds, and answers well for the improvement of size and general properties only. When 
Blacks produced in this way are kept till their third season, their colour greatly improves, 
and sometimes becomes at length really lustrous and good. When bred from at this age, the 
produce is better than before the colour had become good ; so that we do not altogether 
condemn this method of breeding, more especially when no other seems open. It will not be 
too much to say that far the great majority of the Black-pieds at present exhibited are birds 
thus bred, and whose thighs have “moulted ” a little before being shown. 
Another method of breeding for Blacks is to match a Black cock with a Mealy hen well barred. 
We much prefer this to the Blue and Black cross ; as, owing to the colour being so soft, it seems to 
give way to the Black more readily, especially if (as we also recommend with the Blue) a young 
Black cock be put to a Mealy hen two or three years old. As the object of all these crosses is to 
produce clean thighs, it is obvious that either Mealy or Blue must not be faulty in this respect, 
and in all cases the Black cock must be of a deep raven-black colour. If he is not, it cannot but 
be expected that such Blacks as are produced will be of a nasty sooty or bluish black ; or, as is 
often the case, will show two bars of better black than the body-colour across the wing. Sometimes 
a chequer is produced, however ; and when this is the case such birds are valuable for re-crossing 
with black, especially if they be clean-thighed. In that case it matters little whether they be 
cocks or hens ; if mated to good-coloured Blacks the produce will nearly always be a good colour, 
and if clean-thighed there is of course a chance of a good bird. 
Occasionally there are found amongst Blues birds with a slight chequer through the blue ; and 
as these are generally clean -thighed, we would rccopimend such a bird, if procurable, to cross with 
Blacks. Even should the slightly-chequered bird be a cock we would not hesitate to try the 
experiment, choosing for him a hen younger and more vigorous than himself, which we have 
already seen causes the progeny to resemble her rather than the male parent ; though, as a rule, it 
cannot be doubted that colour follows the cock, and we would in general prefer in crossing for the 
male bird to be of the colour desired. But this cannot always be done, and it is well to know what 
may be done in case of need for want of better materials. 
In all the crosses we have named, the one great object is, by some clean-thighed cross, to get 
rid of the foul thighs which naturally disfigure the present Blacks. The Red is the best cross, on 
account of that colour being universally found to cross best with Blacks, and even, to add a deep 
lustre to the colour, while blue has a natural tendency to impoverish it. The Red in Pouters 
is also more free from foul marks on the thighs. Still, even by the latter crosses mentioned 
we have known many birds produced which, though not clean-thighed, came so very near it that 
the few foul feathers were scarcely seen, especially when they came to be exhibited ! We hardly 
ever knew a fancier who — in this variety at least — when only a very few feathers stood in the way 
of a fine black bird, hesitated to rcpiove them ; and, singularly enough, one or two who were a little 
“ backward ” in this sort of thing would have the offending feathers removed by others , in order 
that they might be able “honestly" to say "they had never touched the bird (to improve it) at all.” 
