Ablaq Abyad

A house now all but extinct: very few remain, and birds meeting the standard are close to unobtainable. Among the causes of its decline was its use in crossing to create new colours or lighten existing ones — crossed over the Istanbuli Sokrota it produced the Sokrota Rayeq, and over the green it produced the Dokhani, Tawadri and Amrikani among others. The greater failure was not preserving the white itself, since once other colours enter a white bird, restoring the purity of the colour demands patience, effort and skill. Body brilliant white throughout, with pearl-coloured cheeks — like the neck flush of a white pigeon, iridescent — visible clearly only in direct sunlight, and shoulders in a very pale grey close to an off-white. Very pale mastic iris with a slightly darker speckled mastic ring.