Exhibiting Babbs. 
241 
points, save colour of eye-wattle, which, as a rule, is a brilliant coral red. We cannot, as we write, 
remember to have seen more than one really good pair; that is, good enough to compare, as Barbs, 
with exhibition birds of other colours ; and this pair was a chance product or “ sport ” from Blacks 
and Duns. Pure Whites generally breed true ; but the other colours are so far from fixed, that 
any one desiring to improve a strain of Whites could readily do so by procuring as good a young 
White cock as possible, and mating him to a light, soft Dun. Some of these light-coloured Duns 
are really extraordinary in head properties ; and as such a hen would probably breed, if not 
Whites, several birds with a great deal of white, suitable for matching to Whites again, the fancier 
would soon get what he wanted ; and after the pure colour was once got, all difficulty would 
be over. We cannot say, however, that in our opinion the white would be so attractive as other 
colours, lacking the fine contrast which gives such beauty to especially the Black Barb. 
As regards general points in breeding, if more wattle is desired, we would advise breeding 
together of old or matured parents, for it is found, as in all wattled pigeons, that the progeny of 
birds which are fully developed in their own wattles soonest develop their own. It may be too 
much to say that if a young and old pair be of the same quality, the progeny of the old pair will 
ultimately have more wattle ; but we should certainly expect them to show it sooner. In breeding 
for shortness of face and beak, the general mode is to select the smaller specimens, by which 
unusually short-faced birds can soon be secured, while, on the contrary, such will not present the 
width of skull desired in a Barb. For these reasons it often happens that birds extraordinary in 
both properties are more often produced from a small and short-faced parent mated with a fine, 
large, wide-skulled, but rather long-faced one, than from the medium birds, and the crossing of 
one with the other is therefore advisable. The size and development of a bird also depends much 
on whether one or tw r o birds are reared in a nest, a single one reared by good feeders often 
becoming too large and coarse, while, on the other hand, if a pair be brought up by poor nurses, 
they will be stinted, and never become what they really might have been well nourished ; thence, 
again, their real good quality may be dormant, yet come out when breeding. 
The Barb being a wattled pigeon, its diseases are generally very similar to those of the Carrier, 
and are to be treated in the same way. It has the same liability to canker in the ear and about 
the head, and needs the same protection against draughts, and a similar watch kept from time to 
time upon the condition of its eyes and eye-wattles. In good Barbs, it will often be found that 
about the age of three months, when the first moult begins, is a critical period, the bird either 
appearing roupy or dwindling away without any apparent cause. If a capsule of cod-liver oil be 
given every other day it will generally bring the young birds safely through, and it is as well to do 
so, whether the birds appear ill or not, if the moulting time happens to occur in chill or damp 
weather. 
Barbs need little preparation for exhibition, A careful w'ashing will bring out all the honest 
colour there is in the eye-wattle, and any dyeing (which is beyond doubt sometimes practised) is at 
the exhibitor’s peril. Sometimes a few ragged feathers project over the outside of the eye-wattle, 
and they may be removed without much wrong, as injuring neatness; there is fortunately no 
inducement to go beyond this, as diminishing the apparent width of skull. The legs of course 
will be carefully washed. We have seen some eye-wattles much cut and carved ; but the signs of 
what had been done were very evident. It sometimes happens, when the birds are fed from 
hoppers, that the upper mandible will overgrow the under one; and as this never occurs when the 
birds feed on the ground, but is analogous to the extra growth of a rat’s tooth when the resisting 
tooth is absent, we see no harm in trimming off the upper to the length of the lower mandible. 
As much as this simply reduces the bird to what would be a state of nature ; to attempt more is 
31 
