Briver Black-Head

The Briver black-head is a French fancy pigeon associated with Brive in south-central France, sometimes encountered in translation as the Brive black-headed pigeon. It is best understood as a marked colour breed of domestic pigeon: the dark head is the feature that gives the breed its name, set against a contrasting body and wing pattern defined by the applicable standard. Because it is kept by relatively small specialist circles, descriptions can vary, but selection usually favors a tidy outline, steady carriage, clean feathering, and a sharply placed head marking rather than flight performance.

Fanciers keep Briver black-heads in ordinary pigeon lofts, with dry shelter, dependable nesting spaces, grit, bathing water, and a diet suited to the season. Breeding is mainly a matter of fixing the head color and border while maintaining vigor and fertility, so matings are planned more carefully than a casual color pairing suggests. Anyone seeking stock should compare birds with the standard used in their country and ask how consistently the black-head marking appears in the breeder's young.

Colors: Almond, Ash Red, Bar, Barless, Black, Blue, Brown, Checker, Dilute, Dun, Grizzle, Indigo, Mottle, Opal, Pied, Recessive Red, Red, Silver, Splash, Spread, White, Yellow