'STANDARD FOR THE “ENGLISH MODENA”

 

Standard Defining Authority: Great Britain. The National Modena Club of Great Britain.

 

Origin: The pigeon now known as the ‘English Modena’ was developed in the early years of the nineteenth century by a group of English Breeders headed by the late W.F. Holmes and once the ‘type’ was fixed the Standard for breeding such birds was written down by Holmes and adopted by the National Modena Club of Great Britain. The principal feature of the ‘English Modena’ is that it is a bird of ‘curves’ and it is bred in two distinct types, namely, the Schietti and the Gazzi. It has also been produced in a large variety of colours.

 

Overall Impression: Medium in size, and as short as possible. Where birds are of different size but of the same proportions, the medium sized bird should be preferred, but a medium bird lacking in type and stoutness should be placed below a rather larger bird of more cobby (stocky) build; style always taking precedence. Chest broad, round and prominent. Back wide at the shoulders, short and well rounded, not flattened. Body short and cobby (stocky).

 

Carriage: Proud and erect, with head high, and held a little back. The tail should be tilted upwards. The flights must never be carried below the tail, but should rest on it, with the tips of the wings just meeting.

 

Head: Medium length. Face well filled in and not pinched. The top of the skull should be well rounded, forming a graceful curve with the neck. It should not be flat topped.

 

Eyes: Iris, red or orange. Brown family birds may have a lighter shade of eye. A pearl eye is undesirable; a broken eye is an objectionable fault.

Cere: The cere is small.

 

Beak: Medium length, fairly stout, and with scarcely any stop. Dark or horn-coloured according to the colour of the bird. Dark-coloured birds must not have a light coloured texture.

 

Wattles: Small and of a fine texture.

 

Neck: Of medium length, with a gradual but well-marked increase in fullness from the throat to the chest. It is slightly arched and the head carried a little backwards

 

Breast: Chest broad, round and prominent.

 

Back: Back wide at the shoulders, short and well rounded, not flattened. Body short and cobby (stocky).

 

Shoulders: Wide at the shoulders.

 

Wings: Short, tightly folded, carried well tilted up and rather prominent at the chest. The tips of the flights meet above the tail, which they should never equal in length. The flight feathers should be short and broad.

 

Tail: Very short, tightly folded, and broad webbed. It should be cocked (tilted) upwards, but not carried erect or above the flights.

 

Legs & Feet: Legs must be very straight and of a length that is proportionate with the approved standard for size, type and appearance. The legs must also be unfeathered and bright red with toes fine and well spread out. Crooked legs or cow hocks are a great fault.‡

 

Feather: Tight feathered. The flight feathers should be short and broad.

Colours & Markings:

 

Colour: In every variety, richness of colour is desirable.

 

Markings.—Modena Pigeons are divided into Gazzi or Pied, Schietti or Self-coloured, and Magnani or Harlequin. The Gazzi have the head, the upper part of the throat, the wings, flights and tail coloured, all other parts are white. On the head, the colour ends at the back of the skull and the line of demarcation runs in an even curve about a finger's breadth below the eye to the upper part of the throat. When the beak is pressed down on to the throat, the coloured bib should not extend beyond the tip of the beak, and the coloured marking should then appear egg-shaped when viewed from above. There must not be more colour on one side of the head than the other, and the bib must be well rounded and not end in a point. Too deep a bib is objectionable. White feathers under the tail are a bad fault an even more serious fault is white flights or tail feathers. (White flights are permitted in both Gazzi & Schietti Mottles.*) The back on (Gazzi) should be white, and coloured feathers here are objectionable, also on the legs and hocks. (* This should not be confused with the Magnani where this is a fault.)

Faults:

 

Major Faults: (Disqualifications) Crooked legs or cow hocks. Split eyes, Bull eyes or Pearl eyes. White flights or tail feathers (in other than White or Mottled birds).

 

Other lesser Faults: Wren Tailed, Split Wing. #2 Droopy Eyelid. (At the judge’s discretion).

 

 

Evaluation: THE FOLLOWING IS THE SCALE OF POINTS.

 

Carriage ... ... ... ... ...  ... .. 20

Size and Shape of Body ... . 20

Head, Neck and Eye ... ... .. 20

Colour and Marking ... ... ... 20

 Legs ... ... .  .. ... ...  .     . . 10

Condition ... ...     ... ... ...   10

___

 Total ... ...  ... ...   ... ... ... .100

 

Group: Form Pigeon

Ring size: 9 MM - (UK size “C”)

 

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‡ Amendments.   As agreed at the 25th October 2014 AGM.

 

‡1. Black Gazzi Image was accepted to be the standard image at 2014 AGM

 

‡2. A Droopy Eyelid is to be considered as a fault at 2014 AGM