Greywing budgerigar mutation
Encyclopedia
The Greywing budgerigar mutation is one of approximately 30 mutations affecting the colour of budgerigar
s. It is the underlying mutation of the Greywing variety. When combined with the Clearwing
mutation the variety is known as a Full-bodied Greywing.
In comparison to other varieties, the grey markings on a Greywing are of a similar intensity to the brown markings on a Cinnamon
, maybe a little deeper, and considerably deeper than those on any Clearwing
or Dilute
. The body colour is deeper than most Dilutes, yet much paler than the body colour of Clearwings.
As with Dilutes and Clearwings, there is considerable variation in the depth of body colour and wing markings of Greywings. Greywings at the paler end of the range correspond with the World Budgerigar Organisation's standard of 50% of the intensity of normal colouring, while those at the darker end approach the depth of colour of normals. Greywings which are split for Dilute are often slightly paler than pure Greywings.
When pure-breeding (homozygous) Greywings are paired with pure-breeding Clearwings the resulting offspring, known as Full-bodied Greywings, are quite distinct in appearance from both parents. They have a body colour almost as deep as the corresponding normal variety and with the rich sheen of the Clearwing, but with medium grey markings marginally darker than the parent Greywing. The tail and flight feathers are like the parent Greywing, but the cheek patches are violet, almost as dark as those of the corresponding normal.
, Germany, bred a budgerigar with a description exactly matching the present-day Greywing Light Green
. This bird died when six months old, and no further birds of this description were reported for more than forty years.
In 1919 Mrs Ransome or Ranson of Wimbledon
, London, sent an example of a variety she was breeding to J W Marsden, which she called Jades. It was later identified as a Greywing green. She bred this from a 'blue-bred green hen' and a 'badly coloured Yellow cock', so either the Yellow cock was a Greywing and the hen split Greywing, or the bird bred was not a Greywing at all but a deeply suffused Yellow.
G F Hedges established a Greywing strain from birds obtained, it is believed, from the Blanchard aviaries in Toulouse
, France. His first Greywings appeared in 1920
. B Jackson of Bingley
in West Yorkshire also obtained Greywings from the same French aviaries in 1923
, so it seems likely that Mon A Blanchard was the first to establish the Greywing variety in Europe, although there is an opinion that these might have been Yellows of deep suffusion.
The Greywing variety was gradually established during the 1920s in Germany, France, Great Britain and Australia, although in Australia the appearance of the Clearwing
mutation in Greywing stock soon afterwards led to the two mutations intermingling.
In the early 1920s birds of this variety were known variously as Jades, Apple Greens, May Greens or Satinettes in the green series and as Pearls or Silverwings in the blue series. One of the first tasks of the newly-established Colour Committee of the British Budgerigar Society was to sort out this confusion of names, and on their recommendation the standard name 'Greywing' was adopted.
By the late 1920s the Greywing had been recognised by the British Budgerigar Society as a standard variety, and most of the top breeders had stocks. A Greywing Blue was exhibited at the Crystal Palace
show in 1931 by Mrs Mallam of Redhill, Surrey
, and won fourth best in show, and at the same show in the following year Mr Ivor I J Symes gained second place with a team of Greywings bred from a pair he had imported from Germany in 1930.
Greywings continuted to increase during the 1930s, but the new mutations appearing around that time, such as the Cinnamon
, Opaline
, Ino
, Grey
and Clearwing
, began to compete for the attention of breeders. After the war, when stocks were being established again, it was these latter varieties which caught the fanciers' interest, and the Greywing became (and remained) a rare variety bred by only a few specialists. In 1981 it was reported that no one was known to have a substantial stud of Greywings, although at least three breeders had or wanted Greywings
.
of the dil locus with the symbol dilgw, and so is a member of the multiple allelic series which also includes the Dilute
(dild) and Clearwing
(dilcw) mutations. The Greywing allele is recessive to the wild-type, dominant over the Dilute allele and co-dominant with the Clearwing allele.
The effect of the Greywing mutation is fully visible only in a bird which is homozygous for the Greywing allele with the genotype dilgw/dilgw or is heterozygous with the Dilute allele, with genotype dilgw/dild. The effect is to reduce the number of melanin
granules in both the cortical and medullary cells of feather barbs
over the whole body by around 50%.
When heterozygous with the wild-type allele with the genotype
dil+/dilgw the phenotype
is identical to the wild-type Light Green and the bird is known as a Greywing/dilute.
When the Clearwing and Greywing alleles are both present the genotype is dilcw/dilgw and the bird is known as a Full-bodied Greywing. Both alleles are partially expressed, giving the bird wings like a Greywing and a body coloured like a Clearwing. A fuller description is given under Appearance above.
Budgerigar
The Budgerigar , also known as Common Pet Parakeet or Shell Parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot, and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus...
s. It is the underlying mutation of the Greywing variety. When combined with the Clearwing
Clearwing budgerigar mutation
The Clearwing budgerigar mutation is one of approximately 30 mutations affecting the colour of budgerigars. It is the underlying mutation of the Clearwing variety, often known as Yellowwings in the green series and Whitewings in the blue series. When combined with the Greywing mutation the...
mutation the variety is known as a Full-bodied Greywing.
Appearance
The body colour of the Greywing variety is about half the intensity of the corresponding normal variety, and the wing, head and neck markings are similarly reduced in intensity from black to mid-grey. The spots are grey and the cheek patches are pale violet. The tail feathers are grey with a bluish tinge. The overall effect is a very pleasing combination of pastel shades, particularly so in the blue series.In comparison to other varieties, the grey markings on a Greywing are of a similar intensity to the brown markings on a Cinnamon
Cinnamon budgerigar mutation
The Cinnamon budgerigar mutation is one of approximately 30 mutations affecting the colour of budgerigars. It is the underlying mutation of the Cinnamon variety and, with Ino, a constituent mutation of the Lacewing variety.- Appearance :...
, maybe a little deeper, and considerably deeper than those on any Clearwing
Clearwing budgerigar mutation
The Clearwing budgerigar mutation is one of approximately 30 mutations affecting the colour of budgerigars. It is the underlying mutation of the Clearwing variety, often known as Yellowwings in the green series and Whitewings in the blue series. When combined with the Greywing mutation the...
or Dilute
Dilute budgerigar mutation
The Dilute budgerigar mutation is one of approximately 30 mutations affecting the colour of budgerigars. It is one of the constituent mutations of several recognised varieties: the Light, Dark, Olive, Grey and Suffused Yellows and the Grey and Suffused Whites....
. The body colour is deeper than most Dilutes, yet much paler than the body colour of Clearwings.
As with Dilutes and Clearwings, there is considerable variation in the depth of body colour and wing markings of Greywings. Greywings at the paler end of the range correspond with the World Budgerigar Organisation's standard of 50% of the intensity of normal colouring, while those at the darker end approach the depth of colour of normals. Greywings which are split for Dilute are often slightly paler than pure Greywings.
When pure-breeding (homozygous) Greywings are paired with pure-breeding Clearwings the resulting offspring, known as Full-bodied Greywings, are quite distinct in appearance from both parents. They have a body colour almost as deep as the corresponding normal variety and with the rich sheen of the Clearwing, but with medium grey markings marginally darker than the parent Greywing. The tail and flight feathers are like the parent Greywing, but the cheek patches are violet, almost as dark as those of the corresponding normal.
Historical notes
The first breeding of a Greywing in captivity could have been as early as 1875, when the director of Breslau Zoo in KasselKassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
, Germany, bred a budgerigar with a description exactly matching the present-day Greywing Light Green
. This bird died when six months old, and no further birds of this description were reported for more than forty years.
In 1919 Mrs Ransome or Ranson of Wimbledon
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
, London, sent an example of a variety she was breeding to J W Marsden, which she called Jades. It was later identified as a Greywing green. She bred this from a 'blue-bred green hen' and a 'badly coloured Yellow cock', so either the Yellow cock was a Greywing and the hen split Greywing, or the bird bred was not a Greywing at all but a deeply suffused Yellow.
G F Hedges established a Greywing strain from birds obtained, it is believed, from the Blanchard aviaries in Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
, France. His first Greywings appeared in 1920
. B Jackson of Bingley
Bingley
Bingley is a market town in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal...
in West Yorkshire also obtained Greywings from the same French aviaries in 1923
, so it seems likely that Mon A Blanchard was the first to establish the Greywing variety in Europe, although there is an opinion that these might have been Yellows of deep suffusion.
The Greywing variety was gradually established during the 1920s in Germany, France, Great Britain and Australia, although in Australia the appearance of the Clearwing
Clearwing budgerigar mutation
The Clearwing budgerigar mutation is one of approximately 30 mutations affecting the colour of budgerigars. It is the underlying mutation of the Clearwing variety, often known as Yellowwings in the green series and Whitewings in the blue series. When combined with the Greywing mutation the...
mutation in Greywing stock soon afterwards led to the two mutations intermingling.
In the early 1920s birds of this variety were known variously as Jades, Apple Greens, May Greens or Satinettes in the green series and as Pearls or Silverwings in the blue series. One of the first tasks of the newly-established Colour Committee of the British Budgerigar Society was to sort out this confusion of names, and on their recommendation the standard name 'Greywing' was adopted.
By the late 1920s the Greywing had been recognised by the British Budgerigar Society as a standard variety, and most of the top breeders had stocks. A Greywing Blue was exhibited at the Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...
show in 1931 by Mrs Mallam of Redhill, Surrey
Redhill, Surrey
Redhill is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead, Surrey, England and is part of the London commuter belt. Redhill and the adjacent town of Reigate form a single urban area.-History:...
, and won fourth best in show, and at the same show in the following year Mr Ivor I J Symes gained second place with a team of Greywings bred from a pair he had imported from Germany in 1930.
Greywings continuted to increase during the 1930s, but the new mutations appearing around that time, such as the Cinnamon
Cinnamon budgerigar mutation
The Cinnamon budgerigar mutation is one of approximately 30 mutations affecting the colour of budgerigars. It is the underlying mutation of the Cinnamon variety and, with Ino, a constituent mutation of the Lacewing variety.- Appearance :...
, Opaline
Opaline budgerigar mutation
The Opaline budgerigar mutation is one of approximately 30 mutations affecting the colour or appearance of budgerigars. It is the underlying mutation of the Opaline variety...
, Ino
Ino budgerigar mutation
The Ino budgerigar mutation is one of approximately 30 mutations affecting the colour of budgerigars. It is the underlying mutation of the Albino and Lutino varieties and, with Cinnamon, a constituent mutation of the Lacewing variety.- Appearance :...
, Grey
Dominant Grey budgerigar mutation
The Dominant Grey budgerigar mutation, often called the Australian Grey or simply Grey, is one of approximately 30 mutations affecting the colour of budgerigars. It is the basis of the Grey-Green and Grey standard varieties.- Appearance :...
and Clearwing
Clearwing budgerigar mutation
The Clearwing budgerigar mutation is one of approximately 30 mutations affecting the colour of budgerigars. It is the underlying mutation of the Clearwing variety, often known as Yellowwings in the green series and Whitewings in the blue series. When combined with the Greywing mutation the...
, began to compete for the attention of breeders. After the war, when stocks were being established again, it was these latter varieties which caught the fanciers' interest, and the Greywing became (and remained) a rare variety bred by only a few specialists. In 1981 it was reported that no one was known to have a substantial stud of Greywings, although at least three breeders had or wanted Greywings
.
Genetics
The Greywing is an autosomal mutationMutation
In molecular biology and genetics, mutations are changes in a genomic sequence: the DNA sequence of a cell's genome or the DNA or RNA sequence of a virus. They can be defined as sudden and spontaneous changes in the cell. Mutations are caused by radiation, viruses, transposons and mutagenic...
of the dil locus with the symbol dilgw, and so is a member of the multiple allelic series which also includes the Dilute
Dilute budgerigar mutation
The Dilute budgerigar mutation is one of approximately 30 mutations affecting the colour of budgerigars. It is one of the constituent mutations of several recognised varieties: the Light, Dark, Olive, Grey and Suffused Yellows and the Grey and Suffused Whites....
(dild) and Clearwing
Clearwing budgerigar mutation
The Clearwing budgerigar mutation is one of approximately 30 mutations affecting the colour of budgerigars. It is the underlying mutation of the Clearwing variety, often known as Yellowwings in the green series and Whitewings in the blue series. When combined with the Greywing mutation the...
(dilcw) mutations. The Greywing allele is recessive to the wild-type, dominant over the Dilute allele and co-dominant with the Clearwing allele.
The effect of the Greywing mutation is fully visible only in a bird which is homozygous for the Greywing allele with the genotype dilgw/dilgw or is heterozygous with the Dilute allele, with genotype dilgw/dild. The effect is to reduce the number of melanin
Melanin
Melanin is a pigment that is ubiquitous in nature, being found in most organisms . In animals melanin pigments are derivatives of the amino acid tyrosine. The most common form of biological melanin is eumelanin, a brown-black polymer of dihydroxyindole carboxylic acids, and their reduced forms...
granules in both the cortical and medullary cells of feather barbs
Feather
Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds and some non-avian theropod dinosaurs. They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates, and indeed a premier example of a complex evolutionary novelty. They...
over the whole body by around 50%.
When heterozygous with the wild-type allele with the genotype
Genotype
The genotype is the genetic makeup of a cell, an organism, or an individual usually with reference to a specific character under consideration...
dil+/dilgw the phenotype
Phenotype
A phenotype is an organism's observable characteristics or traits: such as its morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties, behavior, and products of behavior...
is identical to the wild-type Light Green and the bird is known as a Greywing/dilute.
When the Clearwing and Greywing alleles are both present the genotype is dilcw/dilgw and the bird is known as a Full-bodied Greywing. Both alleles are partially expressed, giving the bird wings like a Greywing and a body coloured like a Clearwing. A fuller description is given under Appearance above.