350 
The Illustrated Book of Pigeons. 
Trumpeter, and the other ‘tufts’ are only peculiar to Priests and Brunswicks or imperfect 
Trumpeters, I think it should be preferred as being further removed and more dissimilar thereto, 
more especially as either ‘tufts’ are very remarkable and eccentric, and equally fixed as a perma- 
nent novelty, far enough asunder not to be mistaken for little Trumpeters, which, in many points 
the ‘rosed ’ variety unquestionably resemble. There are also birds of this kind entirely devoid of 
frontal tuft, but such are of little value. The top mandible of beak should be white, the 
lower one black or coloured. The frontal ‘ tuft ’ (no matter which shape) must be white, 
the entire skull right away to the ‘ shell-crest,’ and in straight direction with line of 
mouth, and through the eye to rise of ‘ crest,’ should be white ; the crest itself is dark ; 
all else coloured, except the wing-bars, which should be pure white. The eye in each kind 
is dark, or ‘ bull-eye.’ Should there appear a white band upon the tail primaries, we 
may welcome such as an additional point of attraction; but it is so rarely seen that one can 
scarcely record it as a point in the composition of the species. Priests are either grouse-muffed 
viz., with soft feathering upon the legs and feet to the toes, or else * slippered,’ or medium-muffed ; 
the former style is most desirable. 
“ Black Priests : Intensity and brilliancy of black, purity of white, and accuracy of markings 
are essential qualities. The eye is dark. 
“ Red Priests : Richness, depth, and uniformity of colour highly essential ; slaty thighs, rump, 
and tail frequently occur as blemishes upon otherwise good birds. Eye dark. 
“ Yellow Priests : Purity, richness, and uniformity are great points ; soft, mossy, pale colour, 
with ashen thighs, are often seen, but should be avoided. Eye dark. 
“ Blue Priests should be of a nice uniform blue, save, of course, frontal ‘ tuft ’ and upper part 
of head and ‘ bars,’ which should be white, with a narrow ridge or edging of black at their nether 
extremities. Primary flights blue-black. A band of black also is upon the tail. The neck and 
‘ shell-crest’ is of a darker shade, and nicely illumined with prismatic colours. The eye is dark. In 
the young of these, as with many others, the bar is invariably tinted with brown, but in the course of 
moult assumes its normal whiteness; but in youngsters where the bronzy tint is strong upon the bar 
at first, they frequently retain a fine edging alongside the black, thus showing a nice variety — black, 
brown, white — which colours against the body-blue make a charming unity. Each colour should 
be clear and distinct. In many birds with the tri-coloured ‘bar’ the colours blend too much, and 
present a smeared appearance. In such cases the brown is objectionable, and would be better out 
altogether, but each successive moult often tends to remedy this fault, which rarely is a permanent 
blemish. Of the Priest variety there are several other sorts, such as Plain Blue-chequered, in 
which the entire body is marked as in ordinary pigeons, the tuft and head only being white. There 
are also Plain Light-blue, or Lavender-coloured barless birds, and Plain barless Reds and Yellows, 
and ordinary Blue black-barred ones. But none of these are so attractive as the four first-named, 
but are simply peculiarities obtainable in the produce and working out of other sorts in greater 
esteem. 
BRUNSWICKS. 
“These possess nearly the same properties as Priests — general form, shell-crest, nasal ‘tuft,’ 
or plain front, dark eye, white upper and dark lower portion of beak, Grouse-legged, ‘slip- 
pered,’ and ‘ long muffed ; ’ in fact, they are of one and the same origin, the chief difference 
being that in Brunswicks the entire top part of head, including both crests, is white, the ten 
primary flights white, instead of dark, and in Brunswicks long muffs are in greater esteem ; thus 
it will be seen that there is scarcely enough difference to constitute a severance, simply because 
they are, to all intents and purposes, white-flighted- Priests. 
