152 
The Illustrated Book of Plgeons. 
We come next to the Splashed Almond cock, which is a most useful bird when bred with hens 
of any of the following colours : — First, a really sound-coloured Almond hen will in most cases 
breed something good. The next to suit him will be a Red Whole-feather hen, or, still better, a 
Yellow Whole-feathered Agate; but, if it can be got, a real Whole-feathered Yellow will be best of 
all. If none of these hens can be obtained, we would put him with a good-coloured Kite hen ; but 
should the Kite be nearly black, we would not use this cross, only attempting it if the bird showed 
plenty of bronze. 
Next comes the Whole-feathered Yellow Agate cock. The proper hens to breed with this 
colour would be, first, an Almond-splash, or an Almond if well broken or spangled in feather, or a 
good-coloured Kite. 
Next again is the Whole-feathered Red Agate cock. The henm ost suitable for this bird 
would be an Almond; whether young or old, good or bad in colour, does not much matter, since no 
cross is more apt to improve the colour of the progeny of a faulty-coloured Almond hen than the 
Red Agate. So also will the real Whole-feathered Red, if bred from Almonds, and it is very 
seldom the real Red does come from other parentage. 
There is again the real Whole-feathered Yellow cock. This is very seldom to be met with, and 
is a most valuable bird ; in fact, were there more such, there would be far less trouble in breeding 
birds with the proper yellow ground, and we have often wondered that breeders have not 
tried to breed a strain of Yellows and Reds, having in the Red and Yellow Agates so 
nearly what is wanted. When a breeder, then, is lucky enough to get a really fine Yellow 
cock, he will have little trouble, if he mates him with a well-spangled Splashed hen, as the 
hen will give the spangling, while the ground will come from the cock. No bird would, of course, 
suit this class of cock so well as a good Almond well broken in feather, but the difficulty, of course, 
is to get an Almond hen well spangled, which is necessary, for which reason we put up with the 
Splash. The reason of this we have already hinted at ; it is simply that an Almond hen rarely 
becomes properly spangled till from four to six years old, and even more rarely ever breeds at such 
an age. She might, if let alone, perhaps ; but in most cases, when any amateur is fortunate enough to 
possess such a hen, he sends her to be exhibited, and then, if successful, all chances of her breeding 
are gone. Hence we see very few Almond hens of the proper colour to breed with a Yellow cock ; 
since, by the time they have got the colour, their breeding days are over, and most of such birds 
fall into the hands of the great exhibitors and dealers, showing being all they are then good for. 
It is needful to be plain about this, and we repeat distinctly that no one in purchasing must 
or can expect an Almond hen to be a breeder, if she has become in feather what she is expected to 
be in order to gain honours. We know there are occasional exceptions, but they are very few. 
What we say is an almost universal rule. 
Some fanciers we have known match up two good Almonds ; that is, a cock and hen each fit 
for competition. We will not affirm it is so in all cases, but we can state with confidence that 
when this is done, the result is very seldom at all satisfactory, the progeny being generally either 
light-coloured Agates or Splashes, or too often nearly all white. But even worse than this is the 
fact that birds from such matching often conie, which are what is termed “ bladder-eyed.” This 
singular term denotes birds which, instead of having pearl eyes like the parents, have large 
projecting eyes quite black, and perfectly blind. There is, therefore, great risk in breeding birds 
together, both which are really good show Almonds, and it seems as if it was necessary to have a 
considerable difference in feather in order to get the colour desired. In all the various matches, it 
will be seen that the one bird supplies what is wanting in the other, a bird too light being matched 
with one too dark, and any bird containing only two of the three desired colours being always 
