• Robert FONTAINE (Les races de pigeons et leur élevage de 1925)
  Extract to chapiter XII - Oriental Breeds.
  

Damascene - Page 1/3 -

This is one of the most beautiful Syrian breed. It’s look like with French owl, as body and head shape, whitout frill, ice blue colour.
Someone think about this pigeon come from Palestine, because an writer call it " Jerusalem pigeon ", but his real name is " Damascener pigeon ", which will give as area Damascus City.

Description

General view : Short and compact pigeon, size to china owl.

Head : Stout, short, wide between the eyes, profile view convex, the part between beak and skull, the front, must be wide and well developed, the head always smooth.

Beak : Short, upright, wide and black colour. Wattles are broader than longer, thin tissue, and a nice white mealy.

Eye : Red orangish, but with more red than yellow, as Dragoon, that we call " Ruby eye ". He is surround with broad membrana not go out, well regular, to a fine seed and very dark slate colour. It’s one of the most particularities of species, very hard to keep, cere eye will become sometime redish.

Neck : Especially short.

• Robert FONTAINE (Les races de pigeons et leur élevage de 1925)
  Extract to chapiter XII - Oriental Breeds.
  

Damascene - Page 2/3 -

Throat : Rounded with small gullet.

Chest : Broad, belly and lightly stand up.

Back : Broad and flat.

Wings : They are wear little down, however settle on the tail, but never below.

Tail : In the back prolongation, not very close, little bit bend.

Legs : Thighs and tarsus are short and free feather.

Colour : The Damacene colour is the first qualitie. Feathers must be a good self-white silver, especially to the neck base where sometime we can find a dark colour crescent, thi is a great fault. Wings are deep black barred colour, the fly when wing is close up is dark gray, the internal remige are silver and the tail is broadly black barred to one centimleter to the end. This bar look like a crescent when it’s open. Under the tail feather and too the sous caudale, are dark gray.

Usually, Damacene feather has got two hues, the first part near skin is gray and the external part is white silver.

When we waching Damacene for show, we can see, that he is wet, his feathers is ash gray, and found his colour only when he is very dry.

Rustic breed, good breeder and goob flying abilities. Yougest are darker colour in young age, and become nice silver colour only after moult.

• Robert FONTAINE (Les races de pigeons et leur élevage de 1925)
  Extract to chapiter XII - Oriental Breeds.
  

Damascene - Page 3/3 -

The principal qualitie for show is :

1 Very pale silver colour ;

2 Cere eye blue black ;

3 Stout head and short beak ;

4 Bar wing and tail deep black.