Berliner Kurzen Tummlers

Wittig (1927) Trans. from German.

In appearance this variety resem-bjes the Ancient Tumbler and one may well admit if not to all that the foundation of the Berlin Kurzen was built from the Magpie colored Ancient Tumbler.

This small pleasant pigeon with its lively ways had a hard core of fanciers supporting it even 10 years before WW I. During the war it was such fanciers who helped to keep the race from hecoming extinct and in the period immediately following the war this variety actually went for-ward to an amazing record.
 

In these short faces are combined, what is always a joy to the usual taste of pigeon fanciers, such assects as a small, doll-like figure, rare, beautiful colors and of all things the shaking neck which is a delightful characteristic along with the stance of the bird which makes the decorative bodies to appear always so right in posture.

It is to be wondered, also, that since the self colors of black, red, and yellow are not available in the Berlin Kurzen for crossing purposes, that the existing color kinds can keep the present colors and tints fully pigmented without his assisance.

The varieties of Berlin Kurzen should be kept in confinement except possibly the Schoenberger Barred, which are orientated for flying and are accustomed to being chased.

Almost all varieties of Kurzen are smooth headed but every now and then the Isabel (powered yellow) colored variety will have a nice shell crest, This has been accomplished by crossing on the Markisehe (Sch-wcdter) Magpie Tumbler, which is a crested variety and very similar. Only recently (around 1900) has this variety became more popular in the Kingdom.

The exhibition demands that one  places on the single color kinds are some different in each color or de-signed variety.  For example, the neck of the Kurzen Red and Yellow Barred, the Blues and the Grizzled
is carried strongly curved to back and must shake. But these demands for the Magpied and the Copper Red Kurzen take second place to other more important points for these separate varieties. In general however, the required characteristics for all varieties of Kurzen are as follows:

The beak is short, wide and thick and with the head, is inclined to be held in a downward position. A blunt angle is formed between the forehead and beak. The wattle is strongly developed without being mishapened. Point beaked birds with nearly straight set-on beaks are reffered to as "nosey".

The head is short, round, with rounded high and wide forehead without corners or flatness.

The eye is pure pearl colored, suerounded by a fine narrow cere matching the beak in color. The stamp of fine breeding shows in Red Barred Kurzen when they have a dark beak and cere, the so call "black mask" characteristic.

The neck is, as mentioned before (in Barred, Blues and Grizzles) is curved ed backwards with a tremulous action  it  inclines in proper position with the back. As concerns the varieties of Kurzen, one must or less put up with the lack of this particular characteristic. As to the proper stance of these "shaker necks", the pictute shows back, the right position of the wings which must be carried under the tail, not touching the floor. The tail is short and closed and carried horizontally. The rump is just a bit elevated and rounded. The feet and legs are low and short muffed. It is much desired that the foot feathering  project out forming a point, the so called "thorn  appearance.

By Gary L. Gilbert (1971)

A strong interest is being shown lately for this little toy German Short-faced Tumbler known as the Berlin Kurze Tumbler, sometimes referred to as the Kurzen or Berliner. This breed was first written on about ten years before World War 1 and was almost rare in this country until about ten years ago. As better birds are being imported the past few years, the breed is starting to catch on and birds are in demand, bringing $60 per pair and more for good stock birds.

In this country ash red and blue bar and the same in grizzle are the prominent patterns found, although different colors are found from impure crosses with other birds. Also found here are the mahogany and copper colorations which were bred down originally from the old Brander Tippler, I believe. The copper color resembles just that, a copper base with black wing and tail tips, while the mahogany resembles the Ribbontail of mahogany coloration with the white wingtip and tail bar. The latter is a product of crossing the copper with the ash red bars. In Europe the Magpied markings and the Isabel and pearl-grey are found but occur rarely in this country at this time. The Isabel and pearl are powdered yellow and silver, respectively, and will be cropping up in the U.S. soon.

A group of us interested in starting a U.S. club for the breed have drawn up the following basic Standard taken primarily from the European version. We have F1 crosses in the process introducing check and spread patterns in brown, indigo, and laced (reduced). We would enjoy hearing from interested parties in forming a U.S. club for this lively, dainty breed of pigeon.

Proposed U.S. "Kurzen" Standard

Body Stance - Short and round, honzontal position with neck shaking.

Head - Small, with high, wide rounded forehead, no flatness, the back head short, rounding into the neck.

Neck - Short, curved, shaking motion. Curved backwards with a tremulous motion inclining in proper position with the back.

Beak - Short, wide and thick, as short as possible, and with the head is inclined to be held in a downward position. A blunt angle is formed between forehead and beak.

Wattle - Is strongly developed without being mishaped.

Eyes - Pure pearl colored, surrounded by a fine narrow care matching the beak color.

Breast - Wide, protruding and pure white in grizzle varieties.

Back - Short  but wide between the shoulders.

Wings - Short and strong, held tightly on breast so the breast feathens fluff over the shoulder bones; in other words, no wing butts appearing and good cover over the back. The flights should always be carried under the tail but not touching the ground.

Legs - As short as possible, thickly feathered up to the toes; but is much desired that the
foot feathering project out formlng a point, the so called "thorn" appearance.

Colors - Principle colors existing with the correct style and neck shaking motion are ash red bar and blue bar, ash red bar grizzle, all in selfs. The powdered color previously mentioned, the coppers and a few others are usually not developed yet to the point of the other birds and most do not have the shaking motion. In the future, we will conform the rigid requirements of these colors to match the others. Alsp, birds are under development in Check and Spread and in the colors of brown, almond, as well as  Indigo, reduced.

Tail - Short, compact extending 1/4 to 1/2 an inch beyond wing tips with 12 tight feathers carried just above wings.

Faults - Large coarse bodies, red pointed beaks, red or yellow Iris, or dark eyes, too high on legs, bare toes or toe muffed, flat head, wings dragging.

Summary: - Proper stance of "shaker necks", the bird arched and the right position of the wings which must be carried under but not touching the ground. The tail is short and closed narrow showing good muscle structure, and carried horintally. The rump is just bit elevated and rounded. The and legs are low and short mi In these short faces are combined what is always a joy to the  taste of pigeon fanciers, such as as a small, doll-like figure, rare beautiful colors and of all things the shaking neck which is a delightful characteristic along with the stance of bird which makes the decoritive bodies to appear always so right in  posture. A description was so given by H. P. Mackiln in an article several years ago. The bird still exists, unspoiled, like so many just waiting for a few fanciers to together and further it to U.S. popularity.

By Chet Whitted, Durrant, FL (1995)

Hi, my name is Chet Whitted, and this is my first attempt at writing an article, so please bear with me.

My interest in pigeons has been going on now for about four years, but I want to share with you a bird I really enjoy, and that is the Short Face Berliner.  I truly enjoy these birds. The first pair of birds I had were two black  Lahores (they turned out to be males). I picked these birds up for my son at a bird sale in Lakeland, Florida and since then I have had Saxon Monks, Komorners, Frills, Short Face Budapest, Short Face Viennas, Rollers, and soon. Now I have Pigmy Pouters, Tipplers, Ancient Tumblers, and Moor- heads.  Lately I have added Saddle Back Muff Medium Face Tumblers. As you can see, I like the rare breeds, but absolutely the best breed for me are the Short Face Berliners.

I have found one draw back-not much has been written about them. I have only found three articles about them and I feel that if more people knew about them they would see what I have found in this little bird.

I was so taken with these birds that a friend of mine, Mr. Jim Haywood of Orlando, Florida helped my get my first few pairs. Several people told me they were extremely hard to breed but I found them easy to breed and they can feed their young with some help.

This bird's origin was in Berlin, Germany and it is made up of several breeds such as the Ancients, Kazaner Tumblers, and maybe others. Their eyes are pearl white in color with a medium short beak, slightly down faced. In the past year, I have worked on shortening the beak and lowering the wings and adding width to the chest. On two of my Fl crosses the beak is somewhat shorter and the chest is wider. The biggest problem I have found is shortening the beak and lowering the wings. My goal is to bring the beak down to the size of the Ancient.

These birds come in lots of colors but I have mostly blue grizzles and red bars. This is a beautiful looking little bird, some-what on the small side and can come with a crest.

As you know it is almost impossible to get good birds unless you are willing to pay a lot of money for them. I recently purchased a pair from John Heppner of California and hope to get more to add to my stock. I plan on adding more colors such as Copper and Ice Blue.

As with most short face birds you need feeders and this has been my downfall. My birds do lay eggs that "pip" and hatch out but do not live. I think this is due to the birds' inexperience. I talked with Mr. Jim Zerbo of Gulfport, Florida. This man knows more about short face birds than I will ever know. He said to let the feeders feed their own babies for about a week or so to get experience at feeding, then pull the babies and let them work on the short face from there on (sounds good to me).

    I will work more on these short face birds like Ancients, Moorheads, and Berliners. If you have an idea or any information, please send it is as I would like to hear more on short face birds. Iwould like to thank one and all who have helped me.